GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organization declared a “public health emergency of international concern” Monday over the Zika virus and the health problems that doctors fear it is causing. The agency said the emergency is warranted because of how fast the mosquito-borne virus is spreading and its suspected link to an alarming spike in babies born with abnormally small heads – a condition called microcephaly – in Brazil and French Polynesia.

Reports of a serious neurological condition, called Guillame-Barre Syndrome, that can lead to paralysis, have also risen in areas where the virus has been reported. Health officials have specifically seen clusters of this in El Salvador, Brazil and French Polynesia, according to WHO’s Dr. Bruce Aylward. The conditions have not yet been conclusively linked to the virus.

“The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven,” Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general said. (CNN)…[+]

LYON, France – France’s anti-terror police have arrested six people who allegedly planned to attack sex clubs and leave for Syria.  The group of five men and a woman, who had already bought bus tickets to join ISIS in Syria via Bulgaria and Turkey, were arrested outside the French city of Lyon. At least two of them were planning to obtain weapons to attack French nightspots and then leave Syria-bound after 8 February, according to French security forces. The suspects had converted to Islam and were in the radar of French intelligence for extremist views. French authorities said the suspects were known for ‘active proselytism, their allegiance to Daesh, or their calls for Jihad’.  (DailyMail)…[+]

GERMANY – German authorities have resorted to issuing cartoon leaflets in public swimming pools in an attempt to stop gangs of migrants groping women. In the wake of the sex assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve and a wave of reported cases of sexual harassment in swimming baths, officials have now created a special cartoon guide on appropriate etiquette. The illustrations feature German captions with subtitles in English and Arabic and warn migrants not to wear underwear instead of swimming trunks, harass women, or push them in the water. Some 20,000 leaflets in seven languages have been issued across refugee facilities and public pools and a second edition is already in the pipeline. A spokesman for Munich public services said the leaflets contained bathing rules and ‘intercultural subjects’, developed in cooperation with the equality office, the anti-discrimination office and the Centre for Intercultural Cooperation of the City of Munich.(dailymail.co.uk)…[+]