In Brief [Archives:2006/923/Local News]

– A workshop on assessing police officers' human rights progress concluded last Saturday at Sana'a International Hotel. The workshop was organized by the Human Rights Information and Training Center.

With 18 participants, the workshop was inaugurated Feb. 18 in the presence of the Human Rights Minister, the Interior Ministry Undersecretary, the British ambassador to Sana'a and many others interested in human rights.

– The General Authority for Environmental Protection-Aden branch organized two workshops Feb. 21-22 marking National Environment Day in the presence of numerous media personnel.

The first workshop presented several assessment lectures, discussing the environmental impact of some construction work. It invited media members to work seriously on various environmental issues and suggest possible solutions to them.

The second workshop, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Al-Tawahi and organized by the Tawahi Local Council, in cooperation with the General Authority for Environmental Protection-Aden branch, featured a program on sustainable natural resources management.

– The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that bird flu has proliferated among birds since early February, with the virus having transmitted to 13 countries. No human fatalities have been reported in newly infected countries, except in Iraq, which reported two deaths from the infection. Other cases are undergoing medical testing.

Iraq, Nigeria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany Egypt, India and France are experiencing the spread of bird flu. Malaysia recently announced some new cases after being free of it for more than a year.

Approximately 170 people have reported bird flu infection, 92 of whom died, mostly in China and Southeast Asian countries, since the disease was announced on the continent in 2003. WHO warned that the disease may become a human epidemic, as it is communicable from birds to humans.
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