Friday, June 12, 2009 MADRID: Spain said on Thursday that the number of schools in the Madrid region hit by swine flu has reached 22, with 139 children infected, as the World Health Organisation in Geneva declared a pandemic. The children are among 488 people confirmed to have contracted the A(H1N1) virus throughout the country, the health ministry reported. Most of the children infected in Madrid are at the Isaac Albeniz secondary school in the suburban town of Leganes.Local authorities said on June 1 they believe the outbreak began with a girl at the school who apparently picked up the disease during a visit to the United States. Since then, other schools in the town and in the capital itself have confirmed cases of the disease. The total is up from 18 schools and 122 children reported by the ministry on Wednesday.Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez also appealed for "calm" after the WHO said the crisis has escalated into the world's first influenza pandemic in 40 years, infecting tens of thousands of people in 74 countries. As a result of the WHO's decision, she said the health ministry will focus on trying to contain the pandemic. But she recommended against closing schools and other public places that have been hit by the virus. Spain was the first European country to confirm a case of the A(H1N1) virus, and is second only to Britain in the total number of cases in the continent.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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