London: Four more people in China have died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing the death toll from the H7N9 virus to 36 from 131 confirmed cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
The United Nations health agency said the four deaths were from cases that had already been identified in laboratories. Since May 8, there have been no new cases of infection with H7N9, it added.
The WHO reiterated that there is no evidence that the new strain of bird flu, which was first detected in patients in China in March, is passing easily from human to human - a feature that, if it emerged, could spark a pandemic. It cautioned, however, that until the source of infection has been identified and controlled, there are likely to be further cases of human infection with H7N9.
The WHO said Chinese health authorities were continuing with enhanced surveillance, epidemiological investigations, close contact tracing, clinical management, laboratory testing and sharing of samples as well as prevention and control measures. It added that in past week as the number of new cases has dwindled, some provinces have begun to scale back emergency operations....
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11:30 AM, May 18, 2013
Geneva: The number of Syrian refugees, who are either registered or awaiting registration, has surpassed 1.5 million, while the actual number is much higher, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The increasingly widening gap between needs and available resources is a growing challenge, reported Xinhua citing UNHCR's spokesperson Dan McNorton on Friday . "Over the past four months, we have seen a rapid deterioration compared to the previous 20...
10:59 AM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to travel to Washington in a few months at the invitation of US President Barack Obama. Obama's invitation to Singh was delivered by US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns during his recent visit here, sources said. Singh has accepted the invitation and will be travelling to Washington, the sources said. The Prime Minister's visit to Washington could be clubbed with his...
09:20 AM, May 18, 2013
Beirut: At least 94,000 people have been killed during Syria's two-year conflict, but the death toll is likely to be as high as 120,000, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. The group said that at least 41,000 of those confirmed killed were Alawites, the sect of President Bashar al-Assad. Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, said that the Alawite death figures were confirmed by eight different...
02:06 AM, May 15, 2013
Dhaka: A top UN official on Monday termed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's dialogue offer to the opposition as a good "starting point" to resolve the current political crisis in Bangladesh, but feared the failure of talks could invite an unwanted scenario. "It is good starting point," visiting UN assistant secretary general Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said, referring to the Prime Minister's dialogue offer to opposition parties to end the ongoing political impasse...
01:59 AM, May 14, 2013
Rome: The latest weapon in the UN's fight against hunger, global warming and pollution might be flying by you right now. Edible insects are being promoted as a low-fat, high-protein food for people, pets and livestock. According to the UN, they come with appetizing side benefits: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and livestock pollution, creating jobs in developing countries and feeding the millions of hungry people in the world. Some edible...
10:24 PM, May 13, 2013
Reyhanli: Turkey accused a group with links to Syrian intelligence of carrying out car bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town, and said on Sunday it was time for the world to act against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The two car bombs, which ripped through crowded shopping streets in Reyhanli on Saturday, increased fears that Syria's civil war is dragging in neighbouring states, despite renewed...
06:40 AM, May 13, 2013
United Nations: Congratulating the people of Pakistan on the successful elections, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday applauded the courage and determination of political parties to engage in the electoral process despite the challenging security situation ahead of the voting. "The Secretary-General congratulates the people and government of Pakistan on the successful conduct of national and provincial elections on 11 May 2013," said a UN statement. "This is the...
01:32 AM, May 13, 2013
London: The number of mobile phone subscriptions are set to outnumber the world's population by the end of 2014, a United Nations agency report has said. According to the International Telecoms Union's (ITU) prediction, mobile phone subscriptions will pass a whopping seven billion early in 2014. Currently, there are 6.8 billion mobile phone subscriptions while the world's population is 7.1 billion. More than a third of the global population are...
08:03 PM, May 12, 2013
Quinetra Crossing: A UN sergeant stationed on the Golan Heights said all Filipino UN peacekeepers abducted last week have been released and are in good condition. The peacekeeper, who gave his name as Sgt Ratton, told the reporters on Sunday that his comrades were freed at 08:30 local time. He said that all four are in good health. Four UN peacekeepers were seized along the UN-patrolled demarcation line separating the...
03:25 PM, May 12, 2013
United Nations: Four UN peacekeepers, all from the Philippines, were abducted on the Golan Heights on Tuesday by an armed group believed to be the same one to have abducted 21 Filipino peacekeepers two months ago, the United Nations said. The abduction took place "near Position 86", a UN spokeswoman told Xinhua. "Efforts to secure their release are underway." This is the second abduction of UN peacekeepers on the Golan...
04:56 AM, May 08, 2013
New Delhi: The United Nations Wednesday expressed regret that the anti-rape law passed by the government after the December 16 gang-rape incident did not fully reflect the recommendations of the Justice JS Verma Committee. "Recommendations on marital rape, lesbians and age of consent (for sex) were not adopted in the legislation," UN special rapporteur on violence against women Rashida Manjoo told reporters here. She said: "I welcome the government of...
09:59 PM, May 01, 2013
Beirut: Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halki survived a bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus on Monday, state media and activists said, as rebels struck in the heart of President Bashar al-Assad's capital. Six people were killed in the blast, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, the latest in a series of rebel attacks on government targets including a December bombing which wounded Assad's interior minister. Halki wields...
08:10 PM, Apr 29, 2013
Washington: President Barack Obama warned Syria on Friday that its use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer" for the United States but made clear he was in no rush to intervene in the civil war there on the basis of evidence he said was still preliminary. Speaking a day after the disclosure of US intelligence that Syria had likely used chemical weapons against its own people, Obama talked...
05:13 PM, Apr 27, 2013
Baghdad: Bomb blasts in Baghdad killed at least 20 more people on Friday at the end of a week of bloodshed that prompted a United Nations envoy to warn Iraq was "at a crossroads". More than 160 people have been killed since Tuesday, when troops stormed a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk, triggering clashes that quickly spread to other Sunni areas in western and northern provinces. Although well below the...
06:41 AM, Apr 27, 2013
New Delhi: Deploring the rape of a five-year-old child in Delhi, UN Women on Tuesday stressed the "urgent need" to promote and protect the rights of girls in India besides speedy implementation of the recently passed Criminal Law (Amendment) Act. "UN Women joins the government, civil society and UN agencies in calling for focused and time bound public action against the perpetrators and also urges for the speedy application of...
10:16 PM, Apr 23, 2013
London: Malala Yousafzai, who emerged as a global icon for women's rights after being shot at by Taliban for advocating girl's education in Pakistan, will give her first public speech in New York on her 16th birthday on July 12, a day that would now be marked as 'Malala Day'. UN Special Envoy and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Friday that Malala is determined to continue campaigning...
07:54 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Washington: Aspiring for a permanent seat at the powerful UN Security Council, India has renewed its call for reforming and expanding the 15-membered highest decision making body of the United Nations, to make it more reflective of the 21st century realities. "Now that we have renovated the Chamber, it is time to renovate the institution," Union Minister for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor said during a ceremony to mark the...
11:45 PM, Apr 17, 2013
United Nations: The UN Security Council has listed Syria's Army and intelligence agency and an allied militia as sexual war criminals for assaults on women and children, along with the al Qaeda movement in Mali and various African rebel movements. The "name and shame" tally of sexual predators and outlaws was in a report on Wednesday adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council as part of a debate on 'Women...
11:29 PM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi/Berlin: India and Germany will jointly intensify efforts to gain permanent membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council as also for broader reform of the world organisation, top ministers of the two sides say. "Security Council reform was naturally one of our focus areas of discussions. We have decided to continue to collaborate with Germany and intensify the pressures," Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told this IANS...
05:43 AM, Apr 15, 2013
