The Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) says that about 45 per cent of Jamaicans suffered from the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) during the outbreak in 2014. A special module fielded on the chikungunya virus outbreak by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) revealed that 45.4 per cent of the respondents reported that they had the illness.

Regional figures were 49.5 per cent in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA), 47.7 per cent in “Other Towns”, and 42.1 per cent in Rural Areas. Of those who reported an illness or injury, 74.3 per cent sought care, with similar figures by region, and an average of 1.3 visits were made to health facilities over the four-week reference period.

Comparison by sex showed that a larger proportion of females (77.7 per cent) than males (68.8 per cent) sought care. The larger proportion of those who sought care used private health facilities exclusively (51.3 per cent), compared with 46.1 per cent who used only public facilities. Some 2.6 per cent used both public and private facilities. The poorest quintile recorded 70.9 per cent going to public facilities exclusively.(Jamaica Observer)…[+]

A man has been jailed for 10 years for killing and sexually assaulting the British teenager Scarlett Keeling in Goa in 2008. Samson D’Souza was found guilty of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” by an Indian court on Wednesday.

The court upheld the acquittal of another man, Placido Carvalho. The 15-year-old’s mother said the 10-year sentence was “a year less than it’s taken us to get this far”.

Fiona MacKeown told the BBC she was happy D’Souza had been sentenced to “rigorous imprisonment” – meaning he has to work behind bars. “I just hope he stays inside for that long,” she added.Both men were previously acquitted by a lower court in 2016 after a prolonged trial, but the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appealed against the verdict.

Scarlett’s bruised and partially clothed body was found on Anjuna beach in Goa just after dawn on 18 February 2008. The 15-year-old from Bideford in Devon was on a six-month “trip of a lifetime” to India with her family when she died. The family had spent two months at the Goan resort before travelling down the coast to neighbouring Karnataka – but Scarlett was allowed to return to attend a Valentine’s Day beach party. She was left in the care of 25-year-old tour guide Julio Lobo, Ms MacKeown told media outlets.(BBC)…[+]

Thousands of police will be on the streets in French cities for the Algeria-Senegal football final of the Africa Cup of Nations on Friday night after more than 200 people were arrested when Algeria fans celebrated their semi-final win on Sunday.

France, which was a colonial power in Algeria for more than 130 years, has a large number of dual nationality French-Algerians. More than half of the Algerian football team are players who were born, raised or trained in France. When, on Sunday, Algeria reached the final of the tournament – which is being held in Egypt – large crowds gathered for celebrations in the streets of cities such as Marseille and Paris.

Cars drove around central Paris beeping, with people hanging from windows waving Algerian flags, and crowds gathered on the Champs-Elysées to cheer. But a minority of people were stopped by police after smashing windows or attempting to break into shops. Riot police fired teargas to disperse crowds around the Champs-Elysées and 169 people were arrested in Paris. In total, 282 arrests were made across France after the semi-final, most for refusing to comply with police orders, throwing projectiles or endangering life.(The Guardian)…[+]

Although the woman who snatched his day-old baby from the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in January has pleaded guilty, Sinclair Hutton is not convinced she acted alone. Peta-Gay Ffrench, the woman who stole his child from the hospital in Kingston on January 9, pleaded guilty to child stealing yesterday and is to be sentenced on September 19. When the matter was called up in the Supreme Court, Ffrench’s attorney-at-law, Rachel Donaldson, told the court that her client would like to take a particular course of action. Ffrench subsequently pleaded.

“I am guilty,” the soft-spoken woman said. At that time, Justice Leighton Pusey asked her if she was forced to enter a plea. “No,” she replied, before sitting in the dock and holding down her head. The judge subsequently ordered a social inquiry report and an antecedent report. Speaking to the Jamaica Observer yesterday, Hutton said he was glad she pleaded guilty, but said he felt others should’ve been charged for assisting her with stealing the child from the hospital.(Jamaica Observer)…[+]

Twelve Israeli teenagers have appeared in court in Cyprus over the alleged rape of a 19-year-old British woman. The alleged attack was said to have taken place in a hotel in the popular holiday resort of Ayia Napa. The boys – who are aged between 16 and 18 except one, who is 15 – have not yet entered any pleas.

They have been remanded in custody and police have been given a further eight days to investigate. The British woman contacted police in the early hours of Wednesday morning saying she had been raped in a hotel in Ayia Napa. Later that day police arrested the 12 teenagers. During the hearing on Thursday morning, judge Tonia Nicolaou confirmed the names of those arrested before reporters were told to leave the courtroom due to the age of one suspect, the 15-year-old boy.

The parents of several of those arrested flew from Israel to the court hearing in Paralimni, near to the Ayia Napa resort. The suspects were led through the court building handcuffed to each other in pairs. Some parents shouted messages of support and embraced them. The mother of one of the suspects told the BBC her son had done nothing wrong. An Israeli diplomat was present in court and said they would monitor but not interfere with the case. The Foreign Office has said it is supporting a woman who was assaulted and says it is in contact with local police. The town of Ayia Napa is a resort popular with young people.(BBC)…[+]

WASHINGTON– The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to sideline an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump, effectively killing the measure for now but not burying the issue that has divided Democrats.

The resolution’s sponsor, Democratic Representative Al Green, was seeking to capitalize on growing criticism of Trump after the president’s recent attacks on minority congresswomen. The House voted 332 to 95 to set aside the measure.

“Impeachment of your President…., is now OVER. This should never be allowed to happen to another President of the United States again!,” Trump tweeted.

Green had failed twice before to get an impeachment resolution pass-ed, but yesterday marked the first time the full House had addressed the matter since Democrats took the majority earlier this year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has long tried to restrain Democrats from initiating the impeachment process against Trump, pending a House Judiciary Committee probe into whether he colluded with Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and obstructed Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the matter.(Reuters)…[+]

 A woman who ad­mit­ted to ar­rang­ing the mur­der of her friend and steal­ing her new­born ba­by is ex­pect­ed to be sen­tenced next month. The sen­tenc­ing hear­ing for Ker­ry-Ann Hosang was ex­pect­ed to take place at the Hall of Jus­tice in Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day, but it had to be post­poned as a bio-so­cial re­port on her con­duct while in prison was not yet com­plete.

Jus­tice Althea Alex­is-Wind­sor, who pre­vi­ous­ly stat­ed that she want­ed to com­plete the sen­tenc­ing be­fore the 2019/2020 Law Term term opens in Sep­tem­ber, agreed to ad­journ the case to Au­gust 5. Hosang was ini­tial­ly be­fore Alex­is-Wind­sor charged with mur­der­ing 28-year-old Reena Kissoon, but on Ju­ly 3, the Of­fice of the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP) agreed to al­low her to plead guilty to felony mur­der.

Un­der the felony mur­der rule, judges are giv­en the dis­cre­tion to waive the manda­to­ry death penal­ty in mur­der cas­es where death re­sults in the com­mis­sion of a less­er crim­i­nal of­fence.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]

Footage of a friendly exchange between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at a party has surfaced after the president tried to distance himself from the wealthy financier who was arrested earlier this month over the alleged sex trafficking of minors. The video was released on Wednesday morning from the NBC archive and was shot in 1992 for a segment on the Faith Daniels talkshow A Closer Look about Trump’s then life as a newly divorced bachelor.

In between clips of Trump smiling and dancing with a group of young women at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump can be seen making friendly conversation with Epstein. Though the conversation is mostly drowned out by loud music, Trump is shown pointing out women to Epstein. “Look at her back there – she’s hot,” he appears to say. At one point in the clip, Trump tells something to Epstein that makes him double over with laughter. Epstein was arrested in early July on sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy charges. Some victims allege he assaulted them when they were as young as 14. Epstein is being held at a federal jail in Manhattan, though his request to be put under house arrest in his mansion is to be decided by a judge this week. (Theguardian)…[+]

Women can be assured that menstrual cups are as leakproof as tampons and pads, say researchers who have carried out the first, large scientific review of sanitary products. Menstrual cups collect rather than absorb period blood. They fit into the vagina but, unlike tampons, are reusable.

Although they have been gaining in popularity, the review found awareness of menstrual cups among women was relatively low. The work, published in the Lancet Public Health journal, looked at 43 studies involving 3,300 women and girls living in rich and poor countries. Common concerns about trying a menstrual cup included pain and difficulty fitting or removing it, as well as leakage and chafing.

But the review found complications were rare. Results from 13 of the studies found about 70% of women wanted to continue using menstrual cups once they were familiar with how they worked. Four studies, involving nearly 300 women compared leakage between menstrual cups and disposable pads or tampons. Leakage was similar in three of the studies and significantly less among menstrual cups in one study.(BBC)…[+]

Three former Princess Margaret Secondary School students have been found guilty of the manslaughter of a fellow student in a case of bullying ten years ago. The verdict was handed down moments ago in the No. 2 Supreme Court…[+]