Nicolas Maduro Wins Presidential Elections in Venezuela
The candidate of Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) to the presidency of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, today won the elections to define the head of state in the period 2013-2019.
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), with the result of 99.12 percent of polling stations, the socialist candidate won 50.6 percent of the vote cast (7 505 338 votes).
Meanwhile, the main candidate of the right, Henrique Capriles, nominated by the so-called Democratic Unity Table (MUD) received the 49.07 percent of the vote (7 270 403).
During the report of the results, the president of the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, said that these data were released when the trend is irreversible and the votes pending to count do not change the final balance of the process.
Lucena said the institution spoke with the candidates to communicate the report and urged people to remain calm, after successfully completing the Election Day.
Today Venezuela has spoken and did it strong, she added noting that now people has to act as a quiet after decided the fate of the country at the polls.
According to reports 18.9 million Venezuelans were eligible to vote, including about 100,000 abroad, to choose the new leader of the country.
The elections were called after the death of Commander Hugo Chavez, which occurred last March 5, and in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution.
China Concerned About Possible Human Transmission of H7N9
Although without any confirmation of transmission between humans of the H7N9 virus of bird flu, the World Health Organization (WHO) today expressed concern about that possibility after reports about a married couple infected in Shanghai.
Michael O Leary, representative in China of that institution said that the information on the infection of a couple in the eastern city of this country is actively investigated.
In a statement released by the local press, O Leary said it is difficult to determine if the man was infected by his wife or by the same source that trannsmmitted her the H7N9, who is one of the mortal victims.
If there are only isolated cases of transmission between humans is totally different from a continuous transmission, which medical experts believe could raise the risk of a pandemic.
Shanghai health officials said there is insufficient information to determine whether there was contagion between marriage.
Feng Zijian, director of emergency response center for Disease Prevention and Control in China, said it is vital to track people who have maintained close contact with H7N9 patients, especially their families.
In that sense, he said, help will be expanded to determine if the transmission between humans is continuous or sporadic.
Until Sunday, 60 Chinese had been infected with this variety of avian flu and 13 died.
Inhuman Conditions in US Guantánamo Prison Denounced
Prisoners held in the US Guantánamo Base are ever more frustrated due to the terrible conditions they suffer in that prison, affirmed a defendant of several detainees, indicated today a press report.
Counselor Carlos Warner told CNN that over the last months this feeling of frustration has increased among the detainees who are aware that the ongoing legal process will keep them in a limbo (without a solution to their cases) for an indefinite period of time.
“They are left with the perspective that the only way they will be able to leave Guantanamo is death” stressed Warner referring to the hunger strike started last February 6 by a group of prisoners suspected of terrorism who protest the abuses from the military.
The jurist warned that unfortunately he thinks those men are prepared to accept death. Warner criticized the lack of action on the part of President Barack Obama to make true his commitment (established in 2008) of closing that prison, opened in 2002 in the military base the Pentagon holds in this nation, against the will of the Cuban people.
According to the testimony of Yemenite Samir Naj al Hasan Moqbel, detained in Guantanamo since 2002, he has reduced about 30 pounds, is willing to die and will not eat until his dignity has been restored, says The New York Times in its Monday edition.
This prison was designed to be exactly what it is, nobody’s legal land, where there is only one way, to exit in a box, emphasized Warner.
Last Saturday, there was a clash between interns and guards, in which the first used improvised weapons to defend themselves from the latter, an episode that occurred amidst increasing tensions in the military base, added the TV network CNN.
According to a communique released by prison authorities, non-lethal bullets were used and nobody was severely injured.
For more than 10 years, interns survive in unbearable living conditions, submitted to solitary confinement, extreme temperatures and are forced to assume humiliating positions without eating any food for long periods, among other abuses.
About 166 persons still continue detained in this illegal prison, whose closure was demanded last week in several US cities by thousands of persons.
This is added to the disappearance of legal documents for the defense of the prisoners, extending the delay of this uncertain process, something described by activists as absolutely outrageous.
Via PL