USA – “Everything we look at with this (Zika) virus seems to be a little scarier than we initially thought,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, CDC principal deputy director, told reporters during a White House briefing on Monday. She was joined by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease at the NIH. “The more and more we learn, the more you get concerned about the scope of what this virus is doing,” he said. Both continued to remind the public that new information about the virus is being learned every day.  They reviewed what’s been learned in the two weeks since they last addressed White House reporters on the virus.

The mosquito-borne disease is a cause of microcephaly, according to the World Health Organization, but Schuchat said experts are now linking the virus to premature birth, eye problems and other neurological conditions in babies born to mothers who were infected while pregnant. These concerns are no longer limited to exposure to the virus only during the first trimester.(CNN)…[+]

GERMANY – Chancellor Angela Merkel has made a “big mistake” by failing to support freedom of the press in the scandal over a poem insulting the Turkish President, Germany’s top satirist said on Tuesday. “It was a big mistake that is hopefully causing her pain,” Oliver Welke, presenter of Friday-night satirical news show “heute show”, told Bild.

The government is battling through a lose-lose situation where it risks appearing to undermine press freedom or gravely insulting a key foreign ally in Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan initially took umbrage against German TV comedians when satire show Extra 3 broadcast a song accusing him of crushing democratic protests and press freedoms. The Turkish government demanded that the song be taken offline and never broadcast again.(thelocal.de)…[+]

BRAZIL – A congressional committee in Brazil’s lower house on Monday voted in favor of impeaching President Dilma Rousseff. After a full day of debating, the majority of the 65-member special committee voted in favor of the impeachment: 38 lawmakers voted yes, while 27 voted no.  The heated debate ended at approximately 8:30 p.m. As the results were read, lawmakers yelled and waved a mix of colorful signs. Some said, “There won’t be a coup” while others demanded “Impeachment now.”

The impeachment proposal will now be taken to the full session of the lower house, where representatives will begin debating on Friday. The final vote is expected to be delivered this Sunday. If impeachment is approved by at least two-thirds of the 513 members of the lower house, it will then be sent to the Senate, where the president of the Supreme Court will oversee the process.  If the impeachment is not approved in the lower house, the process is nullified.  Pro- and anti-government demonstrations are expected to gather near the congressional esplanade this weekend.

(CNN)…[+]

UK – Taking a cue from Iceland, thousands of Brits swarmed London’s streets at the weekend to try to get their leader to quit. Drummed up via Facebook and other social media, the protest called on David Cameron to “close tax loopholes or resign” as the U.K.’s prime minister, in the face of the Panama Papers revelations.

The dress code was “Panama” – liberally interpreted as Hawaiian shirts and straw hats, according to reports – but the theme of the day was “pig”. The porky piñata and porcine face masks on parade suggest it’ll be a while before Cameron’s opponents let him forget “Pig Gate.” Still, in true British fashion, it was more decorous than a similar march in Iceland, where citizens showed their displeasure by throwing eggs and pots of thick local yoghurt at parliament. That protest helped prompt the departure of Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. He was the first national leader to quit over a mention in the Panama Papers, millions of leaked documents showing who has parked their wealth in offshore tax havens.(Market Watch)…[+]

UKRAINE – Ukraine has become “very volatile” since Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk resigned, the head of the Council of Europe said on Monday, calling for the swift formation of a new government and speedier progress on reforms. Yatseniuk tendered his resignation on Sunday, opening the way to seeking a more stable government for Ukraine which is struggling with an economic crisis and a conflict with Russia-backed rebels in its eastern regions. “The situation in Ukraine is now very volatile,” Thorbjoern Jagland told reporters in Brussels. “It is urgent that they establish a new government and even more urgent that they speed up the reform process.”(Reuters)…[+]

UK – A mother has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years after being found guilty of murdering her toddler daughter Ayeeshia Jane Smith by stamping the child to death.

Kathryn Smith, 23, was convicted by majority verdict at Birmingham Crown Court after a six-week trial of her and ex-partner Matthew Rigby, 22. Rigby was convicted of causing or allowing little Ayeeshia’s death at the family home in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire on May 1, 2014, but cleared of her murder. Rigby, who closed his eyes tight as he was asked to stand in the dock by Mrs Justice Andrews, was jailed for three years and six months for what she called his “failure to act”.(PA/Irish Independent)…[+]

CHAD – Six million Chadians on Sunday went to the polls in an election likely to see president Idriss Déby extend his 26-year rule in a country increasingly on the frontline of the global war on terror.

Déby, the warrior president who took office in a 1990 military coup, faces 12 challengers but is widely expected to win a fifth term after consolidating his grip on power in the central African nation. Polling stations opened shortly after 7am and were to close at 6pm. Early votes were cast on Saturday by soldiers, nomads and refugees. Official provisional results may not be released for two weeks. At polling stations in the capital N’Djamena, men and women waited in separate queues to cast their ballots. Security forces were out en masse for the election.(theguardian)…[+]

MYANMAR – Myanmar authorities have dropped charges against nearly 200 political activists since Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to fight for their freedom, a senior police officer has said. The cases were dismissed on Friday, following Suu Kyi’s announcement the day before that she was working with her new civilian-led administration to secure the release of scores of political prisoners languishing in Myanmar’s jails.  “Police have dropped 199 cases against political activists around the country as of yesterday,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.

(theguardian)…[+]

BRAZIL – A smaller majority of Brazilians favor the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff compared to last month, while more than half want her immediate successor to be impeached too, according to a survey released on Saturday by polling firm Datafolha.

The poll also showed growing support for former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a potential 2018 presidential bid, another boost for the ruling Workers Party as it fights opposition leaders’ efforts to impeach Rousseff.

The survey was the first to gauge support for a possible impeachment of Vice President Michel Temer, who will become Brazil’s president if Rousseff is suspended in coming weeks to face impeachment hearings. Many analysts have questioned his capacity to muster a stable coalition with little popular support and many leaders of his PMDB party under investigation for alleged corruption.(reuters)…[+]

AUSTRALIA – The organizers of a feminist bake sale intended to highlight pay inequality between men and women have been targeted by death and rape threats. At the University of Queensland’s pay-gap bake sale, held during their Feminist Week of talks and events, customers were charged based on the average amount their social demographic earns in proportion to men, in a move meant to highlight the ongoing disparity in pay between men and women.  The Facebook description for the event at the Brisbane university explained: “For example, if you are a woman of color in the legal profession, a baked good at the stall will only cost you 55 cents!… if you identify as a man, all baked goods with cost you $1!”

However, the event organizers were targeted online with rape and death threats, posted on the public event page and sent privately via email, Facebook and voicemail.

(The Independent UK)…[+]