COLOMBIA – Colombian authorities are investigating the disappearance and possible dismemberment of at least 100 people whose bodies were allegedly thrown into a sewer system underneath a notorious prison in Bogota. The investigation is focusing on La Modelo, one of Colombia’s largest and most overpopulated prisons. But officials say the practice of dismembering people and tossing their remains into sewers might have also happened at other prisons in cities such as Popayan, Bucaramanga and Barranquilla between 1999 and 2001 and possibly later. Caterina Heyck Puyana, a special prosecutor in charge of the case, said Wednesday that the Colombian attorney general’s office has been investigating what happened at La Modelo for months.

(CNN)…[+]

UGANDA – The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, extended his 30-year rule on Saturday amid deep controversy as his main opponent was placed under house arrest and international observers dismissed the election result as a sham. Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, won 60.8% of the vote in presidential elections, while the main opposition candidate, Kizza Besigye, secured 35.4%, according to the country’s electoral commission. Demanding an independent audit of the results, Besigye said: “We have just witnessed what must be the most fraudulent electoral process in Uganda.” The opposition politician also revealed that he had been placed under house arrest. A Reuters reporter confirmed that Besigye’s house was encircled by police in riot gear and that the media was barred from approaching it. Museveni, 71, has presided over robust economic growth, but has faced mounting accusations at home and abroad of cracking down on dissent and failing to tackle rampant corruption in the east African nation of 37 million people.(theguardian)…[+]

BRAZIL – Brazilian scientists in Rio de Janeiro have obtained the genome sequence of the Zika virus and found the disease is indeed related to the incidence of microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with small heads and impaired cognition, that country’s official news agency said Saturday.

The scientists were able to identify “the full order of the virus’s genetic data, a significant step towards understanding how Zika behaves in the human body and how to develop a vaccine as well as new tests,” Agencia Brasil reported.

The researchers at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro’s molecular virology lab analyzed the virus taken from the amniotic fluid of pregnant women, and the scientists also isolated the virus in the brains of fetuses with microcephaly who died in Paraiba state in northeastern Brazil right after birth, the agency said. (CNN)…[+]