April 24th, 2013
06:39 AM ET
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WHO: H7N9 virus 'one of the most lethal so far'

As the death toll from China's bird flu outbreak rose to 22 with news of another victim in eastern Zhejiang Province, the World Health Organization warned the H7N9 virus was one of the most lethal that doctors and medical investigators had faced in recent years.

"This is an unusually dangerous virus for humans," Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health, security and the environment told a news conference in Beijing Wednesday.

"We think this virus is more easily transmitted from poultry to humans than H5N1," he added, referring to the bird flu outbreak between 2004 and 2007 that claimed 332 lives.

"This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses that we have seen so far."

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Filed under: China • Health
Rights group accuses Myanmar of 'ethnic cleansing'
HRW warns of a further humanitarian crisis in Rohingya camps with the coming of the rainy season .
April 22nd, 2013
09:49 AM ET
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Rights group accuses Myanmar of 'ethnic cleansing'

Burmese security forces backed by Buddhist monks have "committed crimes against humanity" in a campaign of ethnic cleansing that has displaced more than 125,000 Rohingya Muslims in the southwest of the country, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch.

The report comes as the European Union was due to meet this week to decide whether to lift sanctions on Myanmar, the South East Asian country also known as Burma.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority living in Rakhine - thought to number between 800,000 and one million - who claim they have been persecuted by Myanmar's military during its decades of authoritarian rule.

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Filed under: Myanmar