WHO estimates that 508 million people are living in 31 African countries at risk for transmission of yellow fever. Therefore, the large outbreak of yellow fever in Angola is of concern with regard to the risk of introduction of the virus through viraemic travellers to countries at risk of transmission, especially in neighbouring countries. In DRC, the confirmation of the autochthonous circulation in the capital is a major concern as Kinshasa is highly populated, representing a risk of extension to Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, that is located across the Congo river. ECDC published a rapid risk assessment on 25 March 2016 and an update on 30 May. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, a competent vector for yellow fever, is not present in continental Europe but is present on the island of Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. Proof of vaccination is required for all travellers aged nine months and above entering Angola and DRC. WHO recommends vaccination for all travellers older than 9 months of age in areas where there is evidence of persistent or periodic yellow fever virus transmission. European citizens travelling to, or residing in, Angola should be vaccinated against yellow fever as per their national health authorities’ recommendations. The vaccine should be administered at least 10 days before travelling. Yellow fever in an urban setting is considered a public health emergency that may result in a large number of cases. Vaccination is the single most important and effective measure for preventing yellow fever. Therefore, additional cases in unvaccinated populations related to this urban outbreak should be expected, until a sufficient proportion of the susceptible population is immunised. The outbreak in Angola, DRC and Uganda is not yet under control and is currently expanding to additional provinces, challenging the ongoing mass vaccination campaign with a potential vaccine shortage in the coming months. The control of the outbreak in the three countries is needed in order to prevent further spread in the region and beyond.
All posts by nedhamson
To the man who asked me if I swallow. | Rebelle Society
If we can’t recognize the links between any kind of sexual harassment and more grave sexual assault, then there is a disconnect. If you think Brock Turner’s behavior is despicable, but see no issue with harmless catcalls, then there is a disconnect. Is every man who catcalls a woman in the street a potential rapist? No. But, every man who catcalls a woman is demonstrating a belief that women exist for men’s viewing pleasure, that they are fair game for foul comments. And that line of thinking is dangerous. When we shrug off street harassment and sexual innuendo, when we minimize indecent behavior and sexist jibes, we are advocating for a world where women are oppressed and objectified. As Ann Voskamp said, “When the prevailing thinking is that boys will be boys, girls will be garbage.” We owe it to ourselves, as women, to stand up and speak out. Remember, silence is often misconstrued as acquiescence.
Source: To the man who asked me if I swallow. | Rebelle Society
Jane Marchant: A Century of Progress – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics
When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt won a landslide reelection in 1936, his New Deal political reforms brought forth the Chicago Housing Authority. Chicago’s first three housing projects opened in 1938, with space for 2,378 white families. In 1939, engineers, plumbers, steam fitters, and structural-steel workers broke ground on a forty-seven-acre property that would cost nearly nine million dollars and shelter 1,662 black families. The Homes were segregated in accordance to the federal “Neighborhood Composition Rule,” which required housing developments to mirror the racial composition of the neighborhood they were being built in. Named after the renowned black journalist and social reformer, the Ida B. Wells Homes were composed of two-to-four-story buildings; the community even had space for vegetable gardens. Some 17,544 applications were received, including my great-grandmother’s. Jean miraculously received a housing assignment and she held her head high as she walked through Chicago’s South Side, her three adolescents in tow. They were tired, they were poor, and it was 1941. They had essentially been homeless for a decade when they entered 684 East 39th Street. Between Cottage Grove to the east and South Parkway (now Martin Luther King Drive) to the west, their home had its own kitchen and bathroom. Sisters Norma and Barbara shared a bedroom; their brother, Robert, had his own room; and Jean slept downstairs on the couch. Rent was thirty-six-dollars per month – if one had it. Sometimes, payment arrangements could be made, or neighbors chipped in to help. The Homes were a community and a respite for families during the Depression. Jean’s children took free dance, music, and art lessons at the Abraham Lincoln Center. Norma tapped her pillow at night, practicing her imaginary piano. Barbara dreamed of becoming a professional ballerina. Robert wanted to be a cowboy, like his heroes on the radio. An enumerator from the Sixteenth Census of the United States marked Jean, Norma, Barbara, and Robert Galvin as “Negro” in his wide logbook. The enumerator asked Jean if she worked, to which she replied she had no income. She told the enumerator she’d been married to the same husband since she was eighteen-years-old.
Source: Jane Marchant: A Century of Progress – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics
Has It Always Been So Violent?
All was safe and prosperous for about 200 years….then the murderous horde that the world called the Mongols entered into the Middle East….the grandson of Genghis Khan entered into Mesopotamia in 1250 and set about massacred the citizens, plundered the country’s riches, wrecked irrigation canals, flatten most cities and left the countryside totally barren….this effected the region terribly.
After the Mongols destruction the region suffered constant economic depression so the once noble civilization gave way to the rivalry of the tribal or clan based existence….and existence that continues to this day.
This is the post that all have been dreading for days……one of the Professor’s historical perspectives.
In my attempts to explain or at least help people understand the Middle East I am always confronted with the same explanation…..”those people have always been a violent bunch”…..or something along those lines….
Let me begin this post with…of course there has always been violence but that can be said about any region of the planet and as always something changed somewhere for the present day to be happening…..
I was fortunate enough to study Middle East studies while in school….so I hope that this short and concise history lesson will answer your questions….if not I can provide reading material if one cares to check out my conclusions….
In the begin there were wandering peoples that came together to form the first settlements and the beginning of civilization. A natural progression was that these…
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On Sky News last night, I realised how far some will go to ignore homophobia | Owen Jones | Opinion | The Guardian
Today, the “we only care about LGBT rights if Muslims are involved” brigade are out in force. As a gay man, I am proud to live in a city represented by a Muslim mayor who has faced death threats for supporting and voting for LGBT people to have the same rights as everybody else. The bigots must not be allowed to hijack this atrocity. Tonight at 7pm in Old Compton Street – in the heart of London’s LGBT community – LGBT people and straight people will link arms in memory of what happened in Orlando. Let it be a show of solidarity – and defiance against those who hate.
Leonard Cohen – Anthem (w/lyrics) London 2008 – Peace for the Soul
There is a crack A crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. We asked for signs and the signs were sent: the birth betrayed the marriage spent Yeah the widowhood of every single government signs for all to see I can’t run no more with that lawless crowd Ah but they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up a thundercloud and they’re going to hear from me.
Source: Leonard Cohen – Anthem (w/lyrics) London 2008 – Peace for the Soul
The Cleansing of Mosul
How crazed are they? See how “we do this because we can” gone nuts and demonstrates not power but stupidity.
Gates of Nineveh: An Experiment in Blogging Assyriology
As the focus has shifted to Palmyra, relatively little media attention has been paid over the past several months to ISIS’ continued destruction of cultural sites in and around Mosul. Nevertheless, ISIS’ campaign to eliminate anything it perceives as being opposed to its ideology has continued. Over the past few months, many structures previously left untouched have been destroyed.
The Southwest Palace of Sennacherib
Situated atop the ancient tell of Kuyunjik, the Southwest Palace was one of the first buildings of Nineveh to be excavated by Austen Henry Layard in 1847. The palace contained the famous Lachish siege reliefs now preserved in the British Museum.
Over a hundred reliefs were left in situ and the palace was preserved as a museum. Some of the reliefs were broken or looted in the 1990s.
Left: Image taken by Digital Globe/ASOR on May 2, 2016 showing the Southwest Palace missing its roof but…
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Man with weapons and explosives arrested, was going to L.A. gay pride parade, police say – LA Times
- We need to find a cure for hate and fear!
Early Sunday, Santa Monica police received a call about a suspected prowler near Olympic Boulevard and 11th Street. Patrol officers responded and encountered an individual who told officers he was waiting for a friend, according to a law enforcement source familiar with details of the arrest. That led officers to inspect the car and find several weapons – including three rifles, one of them an “assault rifle” — and a lot of ammunition as well as tannerite, an ingredient that could be used to create a pipe bomb, said the source. The car had Indiana plates.
Source: Man with weapons and explosives arrested, was going to L.A. gay pride parade, police say – LA Times
Avian Flu Diary: Hong Kong’s Bird Flu Dilemma
Yuen Kwok-yung said, the most effective prevention method is banning sale of live poultry markets, reducing the risk of virus infection, Singapore, and Taiwan, and Japan and other neighboring countries and regions, has been implementing centralized slaughtering, and Taiwan, and Japan have mobile apps for people to order chicken, people just a phone order, delivered directly by the farm fresh chicken slaughter. The evidence that closing live-bird markets reduces the spread of the H7N9 virus (at least for now) is solid (see The Lancet: Poultry Market Closure Effect On H7N9 Transmission), making it the obvious first step in breaking the chain of transmission. The problem is, purchasing live market birds is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture, as it reassures the buyer that the bird is both fresh and healthy.
Reverse Thunder (prayer)
I hear thunder in the distance rolling onward like the waves gaining power it surges forward and like a child I am afraid flash and pounding ever stronger seconds now and it will hit dark the clou…
Source: Reverse Thunder (prayer)










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