India reports its first 3 cases of the Zika virus
AP, New Delhi
India has reported its first three cases of the Zika virus, including two pregnant women who delivered healthy babies.
Health Ministry officials said Sunday that the three patients in western Gujarat state had recovered. “There is no need to panic,” Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, a top Health Ministry official, told reporters.
The World Health Organization said in a statement Friday that the three cases that India reported to the WHO on May 15 were detected through routine blood surveillance in a hospital in Ahmadabad, Gujarat’s capital. Two cases were detected in February and November last year, while a third case was detected in January this year.
13 Kurdish militants killed in Iraq
Reuters, Ankara
Turkey’s military killed 13 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes in northern Iraq on Sunday, the military said in a statement.
The warplanes struck seven PKK targets in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq, and killed militants believed to be preparing for an attack, the military said.
In a separate air strike in Turkey’s southeastern province of Van late on Saturday, the military said warplanes had killed another 10 PKK militants.
Islamist militants kill 19 in Philippines
AFP, Marawi
Islamist militants locked in street-to-street battles with security forces in a southern Philippine city have killed 19 civilians, the military said Sunday, bringing the official death toll from nearly a week of fighting to at least 85. The violence prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law on Tuesday across the southern third of the Philippines to quell what he said was a fast-growing threat of militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) group.
Canada’s oppon pick new leader
AFP, Ottawa
Canada’s main opposition Conservative Party elected Andrew Scheer as its leader Saturday to take on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the next election, expected in 2019. Scheer, 38, is a lawmaker from western Saskatchewan province who has pledged to reduce government spending and trim deficits. After a year of campaigning, he defeated 12 other hopefuls at a suspenseful party meeting outside Toronto.
Scheer now faces the difficult task of uniting two deeply divided wings of the party ahead of the next election.
