Amman ( Middle East will be vaccinated against polio this month )

AMMAN: Millions of children in the Middle East will be vaccinated against polio this month after the crippling disease resurfaced in conflict-hit Syria, the United Nations said Sunday.
Mass vaccinations have already been launched in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria, while a similar campaign in Lebanon will start on March 9, the UN Children’s Fund Unicef said in a statement.
“Polio does not respect borders,” said Ala Alwan, World Health Organization regional director for the eastern Mediterranean.



“The detection of polio in Syria is not Syria’s problem alone, but one requiring a regional response. The safety of children across the Middle East relies on us being able to put a stop to polio in Syria.”
Preliminary evidence suggests the virus in this outbreak — and also polio samples found in sewage in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip — came from Pakistan, one of the disease’s last bastions.
The Syrian Ministry of Health said in October that polio had returned to the country for the first time in almost 15 years.
“We need to get two drops of polio vaccine into the mouth of every child under the age of five, regardless of their previous immunization history, every time there is a campaign,” Khouzama Al-Rasheed, a medical worker at a health center in rural Damascus, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Inside Syria, the campaign is targeting 1.6 million children with vaccines against polio, measles, mumps and rubella,
Seven countries across the Middle East are planning to vaccinate more than 22 million children multiple times over six months, in the region’s largest-ever coordinated immunization plan, said UNICEF.
“To vaccinate so many children in different countries is a huge undertaking,” said Maria Calivis, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“Each country faces its own set of challenges in order to make the campaign effective — above all in Syria — but this is the only way we can ensure children across the region are properly protected against this terrible disease.”

Ukraine ( Ukraine’s navy chief announced Sunday he had switched allegiance to the pro-Russian ) He should be arrested on the spot !

KIEV: Ukraine’s navy chief announced Sunday he had switched allegiance to the pro-Russian authorities of the flashpoint peninsula of Crimea, a day after he was appointed to the post by interim leader Oleksandr Turchynov.
“I swear to execute the orders of the (pro-Russia) commander-in-chief of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” Denis Berezovsky said in a televised statement from inside the Crimean headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, adding that he “swears allegiance to the residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.”

Pakistan ( 11 killed in a Shopping mall " along with a Judge " )

ISLAMABAD: Gunmen burst into a court in a busy shopping area in the heart of Pakistan's capital, killing at least 11 people in a bomb and gun attack likely to shatter any prospect of meaningful peace talks with insurgents.
The Pakistani Taliban, who have declared a month-long ceasefire to pursue peace talks with the government, immediately distanced themselves from the attack as well as a separate blast on the Afghan border which killed two soldiers.


 An explosion reverberated in central Islamabad just after 9 a.m., followed by bursts of gunfire. Police said at least 30 were wounded. A judge was among those killed.
"There was a blast, then there was a lot of gunfire. Gunmen were spraying bullets at everyone," said Faisal Ali, a businessman who witnessed the attack.
Even as the Taliban declared willingness to talk peace, almost daily attacks have continued around Pakistan in past weeks, showing that the central Taliban leadership is not entirely in control of its operations.
"We have already declared a ceasefire for a month and we stand by our promise," a Taliban spokesman said.
Bomb attacks are rare in Islamabad, the leafy and hilly seat of Pakistan's government.
The judge, Rafaqat Awan, was killed on the spot. He had rejected a petition last year to file a murder case against former President Perzez Musharraf over his order to storm a hardline mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
Many radical Islamists hold a grudge against Musharraf over the storming in which more than 100 people were killed, and any official seen as obstructing their fight for justice is likely to be on their hit list.
During Monday's attack, two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the courtroom where a hearing had just started, police said.
Two other attackers were killed in the ensuing gun fight with police. Police said gunmen fired at random targets in the area after the initial explosion.
Shortly afterwards, police blocked entry and exit points to the area, a maze of narrow, dusty streets lined with one-room shops and offices.
Commandos in camouflage knocked on doors and secured street corners as they combed the area for more militants. Police secured the area an hour later and the market resumed normal operations.
At the court, broken glass and charred human remains littered the site of the blast at the F8 market area as residents and police rushed around in bloodstained clothes.
A severed leg lay atop the rubble. Pools of blood and severed body parts were scattered on the floor of several offices.
"There is one policeman among the dead," local police station head constable Mohammad Yousaf said.
"We also have unconfirmed reports that two lawyers have died."
The Taliban, a fragmented group consisting of dozens of smaller bands of militants, said at the weekend they would observe a one-month ceasefire to try to revive peace talks and called on all groups to observe it.
Talks broke down last month after a series of attacks and counter-attacks by the army and insurgents.
Observers say striking a deal with the central leadership would not stop the violence because many fridge militant groups operate independently from the central Taliban command.
The Pakistani Taliban, who are fighting to bring down the Pakistani state, are allied with, but separate from, the Afghan Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban are fighting to expel foreign forces from Afghanistan and do not fight Pakistani security forces.

Hong Kong ( Protest after attack on " former Chief Editor " of Ming Pao )

 

A Hong Kong news editor injured in a cleaver attack is improving, officials say, as journalists held vigils condemning the violence.

Kevin Lau, the former chief editor of newspaper Ming Pao, was critically wounded after being attacked by two men on Wednesday.

Police are investigating the attack.

Mr Lau was recently replaced by a Malaysian editor viewed as pro-Beijing, sparking fears among staff that the paper's independence was under threat.

Ming Pao is a respected Chinese-language Hong Kong paper known for its investigative reporting.
'Heartbroken'
In a statement, Mr Lau's family said that he was now conscious and able to communicate by writing.

"We are confident that with your support and Kevin's own determination, he will not only recover but continue to serve shoulder by shoulder with his fellow journalists," his family added.

On Thursday, at least 200 people held a vigil outside the government headquarters denouncing the attack and calling for press freedom to be protected.

Journalist groups have organised a protest on Sunday against the violence.

Thousands had demonstrated the previous Sunday over fears that Hong Kong's press freedom was under threat.

California ( 25 kids get " Polio-like disease ) see video

Arizona ( Activists Monitor Border Patrol Checkpoints in Arizona )

 

PHOENIX – A group of volunteers from communities in southern Arizona on Wednesday began monitoring Border Patrol checkpoints with the aim of documenting possible civil rights violations.

Leesa Jacobson, spokesperson for the volunteer group, told Efe on Wednesday that six people are taking photographs and videotaping near the Border Patrol’s Arivaca Road checkpoint, 25 miles north of the border with Mexico.

She said that about a third of the residents of Arivaca, as well as local business-owners, have signed a petition to have the checkpoint immediately removed using the argument that it is hurting the local economy.

The American Civil Liberties Union has documented cases and collected testimony from several U.S. citizens who have complained about the treatment they receive at Border Patrol checkpoints in Arizona.

The main complaints include unwarranted detentions, reviews that take a long time and verbal abuse.

The checkpoint is located near the town of Arivaca and is called “temporary,” but it has been in operation for seven years.

Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva sent a letter to the head of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, Manuel Padilla, in which he expresses his support for the residents of Arivaca and asks that the checkpoint be dismantled.

Jacobson noted that each day Arivaca residents must pass through the Border Patrol checkpoint to go shopping, take their children to school or go to their jobs.

Meanwhile, the Border Patrol on several occasions has defended the establishment of checkpoints and has said that they are a “weapon” in the fight to keep undocumented immigrants from crossing the border and to prevent drug smuggling.

China ( 33 people killed in " Knife attack " at train station ) Video