W.H.O. SAYS SWINE FLU NOW IN 15 COUNTRIES

The World Health Organisation said on Saturday that 15 countries have reported 615 infections with the new flu virus A-H1N1, widely known as swine flu.

Most of the increase from Friday’s 331 toll reflects the results of ongoing tests from Mexico, which had a backlog of samples in WHO labs, the United Nations agency said.

Mexico, the epicentre of the disease outbreak, now has 397 laboratory-confirmed human cases including 16 deaths, according to the WHO, whose data has been lagging national figures and is considered most authoritative.

The second-most affected country, the United States, has 141 cases confirmed in WHO labs including one death, the Mexican infant whose family crossed the border to seek medical help.

Other countries have had the following number of confirmed H1N1 infections, with no deaths: Austria (1), Canada (34), Hong Kong – China (1), Denmark (1), France (1), Germany (4), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), South Korea (1), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and Britain (13).

Mexico has cut its suspected death toll to 101 from as many as 176 because of test samples coming back negative in its labs, the government said late on Friday, in a sign the flu pandemic the WHO says is “imminent” may not be as severe as first feared.

On Saturday, the WHO repeated its view that borders should stay open and travel should not be limited as a result of the virus, but said “it is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention.

“Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness,” the WHO said on its website.

UN SUPPORTS INQUIRY IN SOMALI ABUSES

A United Nations official said on Friday an international commission of inquiry should be set up to investigate war crimes he said had been committed in Somalia.

“I honestly think that there have been very serious war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed by most if not all the parties to the conflict,” the U.N. refugee agency’s representative to Somalia, Guillermo Bettocchi, said.

“I certainly think that there should be a mechanism to bring those responsible for that to justice,” he said, speaking at an event in London.

Bettocchi said his personal view was that an international commission of inquiry should be formed to investigate such violations and that the evidence should eventually be handed over to an international criminal tribunal.

Bettocchi, who is based in Nairobi, said there was an environment of total impunity in Somalia. “People in Somalia commit the most serious violations knowing that nothing will happen to them,” he said.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has also called for a commission of inquiry to probe abuses in Somalia, which has been in chaos since warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other.

U.S. ally Ethiopia sent its army into Somalia to topple an Islamist administration in Mogadishu and rescue the Western-backed transitional government at the end of 2006.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

SENEGAL’S LEADER INCLUDES SON IN NEW GOVT.

Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade named a new government on Friday, with his son Karim a notable inclusion in the team despite losses in local government elections, which dealt a serious blow to the Wade family.

Karim Wade, until now the head of a powerful state agency and his father’s adviser, takes on a wide-ranging portfolio including international cooperation, infrastructure and aviation in his position as minister of state, state radio announced.

The key interior, finance and foreign affairs ministries remain unchanged but analysts say the reshuffle pointed to the replacement of technocrats in the government with a team of politicians closer to Wade.

The nomination of the new government, which will be headed by Prime Minister Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye, who took over from Cheikh Hajibou Soumare on Thursday, follows a heavy defeat for Wade’s governing coalition in March local elections.

Wade’s party lost control of the council in Dakar and several other key cities in the West African country.

The polls were largely seen as a referendum on Wade’s government of Senegal, which has long been a bastion of democracy in West Africa but critics have said is becoming increasingly authoritarian under the 82-year-old’s charge.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

NATO FOILS PIRATES’ ATTACK ON NORWEIGIAN SHIP

Portuguese warship Corte-Real captured, disarmed and briefly detained 19 pirates armed with high-explosives after they attempted to attack a Norwegian-owned oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said on Saturday.

Crude oil tanker MV Kition radioed for help on Friday afternoon after a skiff full of pirates brandishing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades approached them, said NATO Lieutenant Commander Alexandre Fernandes from on board the NATO warship.

Heavily armed pirates from Somalia have been attacking vessels in Indian Ocean shipping lanes and the Gulf of Aden, capturing dozens of vessels, kidnapping hundreds of hostages and raking in millions of dollars in ransoms.

“They were about 20 nautical miles south of us and we were the nearest warship, so we immediately scrambled our helicopter,” said Fernandes.

Helicopter pilots Marco Coimbra and Pedro Gomes-Bras spotted the skiff and began tracking the pirates who fled the circling helicopter to the safety of their mothership.

The Portuguese escort frigate began hunting the mothership, a dhow with 19 heavily armed pirates aboard. After a high-speed chase the dhow was intercepted and by evening, eight marines managed to board the vessel.

The special forces discovered four 200g sticks of the chemical high-explosive P4A, four AK-47s and one rocket propelled grenade launcher with nine grenades, Fernandes said.

“It was almost a kilogram of high explosives,” he said. “If used correctly it can open a hole in the hull of a ship and sink her.”

“It is the first time we have spotted high explosives on board a pirate ship, normally they just stick to AK-47s and RPGs,” Fernandes said, adding that he did not think the explosives signaled an escalation in violence.

“They thought they needed it, but an RPG is a more offensive weapon,” he said.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

TSVANIGIRAI SAYS GOVT. IS BROKE, NO PAY RISE

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has said the new unity government is broke and can not meet trade union demands for higher wages.

Mr Tsvangirai said no state worker, including President Robert Mugabe, was earning more than $100 (£67) a month.

The unions have called for a monthly minimum of $450 and threatened to go on strike if their demand is not met.

But Mr Tsvangirai told a May Day rally in Harare that the government needed more time to fix the economy.

“This government is broke, and we are only able to pay the $100 allowance,” Mr Tsvangirai told the crowds, adding that this would “graduate into a proper salary” when the situation improved and more people were paying tax.

“We have been in office for less than three months. I plead with you to please give us time,” he said.

Mr Tsvangirai said the union demands “must be realistic” and take into account the government’s financial situation and the underperformance of Zimbabwean industry.

“You supported us during hard times, we will pay you back,” he said.

Earlier, Lovemore Matombo, the president of Zimbabwe’s Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) told cheering workers that the unions were prepared to call a national strike, but he did not give a deadline.

Zimbabwe has asked for billions of dollars to help rebuild its economy, but Western countries have demanded broad reforms before restoring aid.

SOURCED FROM BBC