U.S. Drones to Fly Over the Caribbean Sea
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to monitor the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico using drones to combat the smuggling of drugs that targeted to the USA.
After 18 months of testing, DHS implemented the controversial program of unmanned aircraft known as drones, used in other areas as instruments of intelligence and espionage under cover of fighting terrorism,drugs and illegal immigration.
According to Fox News, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection asked the federal government the sum of 5.8 million USD to carry out new operations with drones.
The decision to use drones arose after Janet Napolitano, Secretary of U.S. Homeland Security, met with senior officials of the governments of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, who were concerned about increased drug trafficking in the Caribbean waters.
The drones are currently used in spying missions, mainly in areas of conflict in the Middle East and Asia.
Thailand: First Dead for HFMD Reported
A Thai girl was the first victim of a variant of the Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease (HFMD), as health authorities confirmed on information published by Bangkok Post diary.
This variant of the disease, called Enterovirus 71 (EV 71) causes fever, pain and sores in the mouth, hands and feet and the treatment to follow is not clinically defined while control measures throughout the country increased.
Until now, it was decreed the closure of more than 30 schools in the capital and other similar actions in the rest of this nation of just over 65 million people bordering Cambodia, where 54 people have died from the disease.
Pornthep Siriwanarangsan, director from the Department of Disease Control, made a call to the media to handle information in this regard without alarming people and have the population go to the health centers with the first symptoms.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in a widely spread report that this disease is a more severe variant of the human form of fever.
Egypt’s President Morsi appoints Hesham Qandil as new PM
Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi appointed Irrigation Minister Hesham Qandil as new prime minister on Tuesday, state media reported.
Morsi assigned Qandil to form a new cabinet as soon as possible, acting spokesman of the presidency Yasser Ali was quoted by official MENA news agency as saying.
Morsi is set to hold a meeting with Qandil later on Tuesday, said Ali.
Qandil was named as irrigation and water resources minister last July in a cabinet reshuffle by then-Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, who resigned in late November 2011.
Qandil graduated in Faculty of Engineering of Cairo University in 1984, and obtained the Master and Doctor degrees in the Faculty of Irrigation and Drainage of North Carolina University in 1988 and 1993 respectively.
Qandil joined the National Council for Water Researches and gained professorship in 2002, and worked as Director for the Irrigation and Water Resources Minister’s office from 1999 to 2005.
He also served as the head of the Nile sector in the African Development Bank.
The appointment came just one month after Morsi was declared winner of the presidency. Egypt held its historic presidential election in May and June, with Morsi winning the election. The former senior official of Muslim Brotherhood was sworn in at the end of June.
Via PL