Spain confirmed seven cases of monkeypox and Portugal confirmed 14 cases on Wednesday night, as authorities continue to investigate at least 24 more suspected infections.

All confirmed and suspected cases were found in men in the regions of Lisbon and Madrid. They all remain in stable condition, according to the health authorities.

Earlier this month, the UK alerted about its first small outbreak of monkeypox.

And for the first time on record, the virus is now spreading widely outside of Africa. Canada, Spain, Portugal and the US all reported their first cases on Wednesday.

The virus is believed to be difficult to spread, but this novel pattern of transmission suggests more investigation is needed.

In Spain, authorities are also providing contradictory messages.

“Viral transmission for monkeypox is commonly through the respiratory system, but the characteristics of the 23 cases in Madrid suggest that it may be spread through mucosal contact during sexual relations,” said Madrid health director Elena Andradas on Wednesday night.

In the UK, recent cases have been predominately found in gay or bisexual men.

Without confirming the sexual orientation of the victims of the disease in Spain or Portugal, authorities emphasized that no cases have been found in women.

However, Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias said in an interview Wednesday night that monkeypox “is a virus” and “therefore, is not a sexually transmitted disease.”

Her remarks were heavily criticized, with many pointing out that herpes and HIV are also viral infections that can be transmitted through sexual contact.

According to the World Health Organization, several of the monkeypox cases discovered in the UK belong to the Western African clade of the virus.

While that clade can sometimes lead to severe illness, the disease is usually self-limiting and the case fatality ratio has been documented at around 1%. That is much lower than for the Congo Basin clade, which may be as high as 10%.

Monkeypox can spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the symptoms of monkeypox begin with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. After a few days, patients can develop a rash that goes through different stages before scabbing.

The illness typically lasts between two to four weeks./aa

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Wednesday said it had confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in a man who had recently traveled to Canada.

Europe's 'obesity epidemic' is killing over 1.2 million people a year, a new WHO report says

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)said its labs confirmed the infection to be monkeypox on Wednesday afternoon.

The state agency said it was working with CDC and relevant local boards of health to carry out contact tracing, adding that "the case poses no risk to the public, and the individual is hospitalized and in good condition."

The Public Health Agency of Canada late on Wednesday issued a statement saying it is aware of the monkeypox cases in Europe and is closely monitoring the current situation, adding no cases have been reported at this time.

Monkeypox, which mostly occurs in west and central Africa, is a rare viral infection similar to human smallpox, though milder. It was first recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1970s. The number of cases in West Africa has increased in the last decade.

Symptoms include fever, headaches and skin rashes starting on the face and spreading to the rest of the body.

The Massachusetts agency said the virus does not spread easily between people, but transmission can occur through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, items such as bedding or clothing that have been contaminated with fluids or sores, or through respiratory droplets following prolonged face-to-face contact.

It said no monkeypox cases had previously been identified in the United States this year. Texas and Maryland each reported a case in 2021 in people with recent travel to Nigeria.

The CDC also said it is tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox reported in several countries including Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, within the past two weeks.

A handful of cases of monkeypox have recently been reported or are suspected in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.

Earlier on Wednesday, Portuguese authorities said they had identified five cases of the infection and Spain's health services said they were testing 23 potential cases after Britain put Europe on alert for the virus.

European health authorities are monitoring any outbreak of the disease since Britain reported its first case on May 7 and has found six more in the country since then./Reuters

The US is providing an additional $215 million in emergency assistance to help the international community weather a food crisis exacerbated by Russia's war on Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. 

"Countries with significant grain and fertilizer reserves, as well as those with financial resources need to step up and do it fast," Blinken said at the United Nations. "Today, given the urgency of the crisis, we're announcing another $215 million in emergency food assistance, and we'll do much more."

The funding comes on top of some $2.3 billion announced by the US to address the global food crisis since Russia began its war in late February.

The conflict has destabilized one of the world's most important sources of grain with Ukraine's agricultural fields largely left untended this year as farmers, like much of the country, seek safety from the widespread violence.

The crops are traditionally one of Ukraine's most important exports, but the war has prevented millions of tons of grain from leaving the country.

Blinken called on the international community to pressure Moscow, which has occupied much of Ukraine's Black Sea and Sea of Azov coastlines, to create humanitarian corridors to allow grain and other vital exports to leave the country.

There are some 22 million tons of grain "sitting in silos in Ukraine right now," the top diplomat said, describing it as "food that could immediately go toward helping those in need if it can simply get out of the country."

The US is also committing $500 million to boost US production of fertilizer amid a global shortage, and Blinken encouraged other countries to follow suit.

There are some 276 million people worldwide who are severely food insecure, double the number from two years prior, according to UN estimates. Over half a million people are living in famine-like conditions.

"These frightening figures are inextricably linked with conflict, as both cause, and effect," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "If we do not feed people, we feed conflict."

The UN Security Council is slated to take up the matter on Friday./aa

Operation Claw-Lock is the key link in the chain of Turkiye’s anti-terror operations carried out so far and will be successfully completed by Turkish forces, the country’s national defense minister said Wednesday. 

Hulusi Akar made the remarks while attending a reception at the 4th Efficiency and Technology Fair held by Turkiye’s Ankara Science University at the ATO Congresium in the capital Ankara.

In his speech at the event, Akar said it was a source of pride and honor for them to dedicate the reception to the soldiers who participated in Operation Claw-Lock.

Pointing out that the operations continue with an offensive approach for the security of the country and the nation, he said they also contribute to the peace of the world and the region as much as they can.

"Operation Claw-Lock is the key link in the chain of operations we have carried out so far. The soldiers of the Turkish army will successfully complete this, as they did the other operations, will shoot the terrorists in their lairs, destroy their dens on their heads, and this struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized," he said.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralized" in statements to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

Akar said Turkish soldiers had been continuing their operations with increasing vigor, without losing focus, sensitivity or composure.

"There is no difference between the YPG in northern Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq. All intelligence reports, open sources, and practical applications clearly show that they are parts of a terrorist organization. No one should doubt it.

“By continuing our operations in this manner…the safety of our borders, citizens and security forces will be fully ensured. Our work and effort is in this order," he added.

Pointing out that Turkish soldiers continue their operations in a way that respects human rights, the environment and religious structures, Akar underlined that innocent people, the environment and historical and religious structures are inviolable for the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

-Relations with Greece, defense industry

Touching on the bilateral relations between Turkiye and Greece, Akar said: “We expect Greece to see events in a global way and to make the right and logical decisions.”

“It is really nothing short of failure for a country with so much debt to be caught up in the so-called love of armaments or to run for new alliances when there is an alliance within NATO,” he said.

He noted that domestic and national production, which has reached 80% in the defense industry, has reached a point where it will meet the basic needs of the TSK and also expressed awareness of the difficulties of the road ahead.

Describing the steps taken by Turkiye in the defense industry as "the genie is out of the bottle,” Akar added: "Our businesspeople and universities have no problem in terms of producing information, converting it into technology, and projecting it into the defense industry.”

It has not remained mentally and psychologically. These psychological barriers have been broken down."

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants./aa

The number of guns manufactured in the US has nearly tripled since 2000, according to a recently published government report.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) National Firearms and Trafficking Assessment said Tuesday that licensed gun manufacturers produced 11,302,827 million guns in 2020 -- nearly triple the 3,932,734 firearms made in 2000.

The US population increased just 18% in the 20-year interim, meaning far more guns were made than humans during that period. In 2000, there were 1,397 guns per every 100,000 people. That ratio ballooned to 3,410 per 100,000 by 2020, according to the report.

Rifles were the most common type of firearm manufactured between 2000 and 2009, but that has since changed when for every year except 2015 pistols became the much heavily manufactured firearm.

The totals only account for firearms produced by licensed manufacturers. However, home manufactured "ghost guns," which are difficult to trace, have become increasingly prevalent in police seizures.

In 2021, officers collected 19,344 "ghost guns," according to the ATF. That is nearly double the 10,109 collected the year prior as 3D printer technology used to make them has proliferated./aa

In a country still wracked by war, Ukraine’s president on Wednesday marked the 78th anniversary of the 1944 exile of Crimean Tatars from their homeland.

"In 1944, expelling the Crimean Tatars from their land, the then-torturers were convinced that none of the displaced would return home, to Crimea,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an address to the nation, referring to a peninsula occupied by Russia since 2014, in what many call a prelude to the current war.

He continued: “Now, trying to occupy Ukraine and destroy our lives, the current torturers of the people were also convinced that everything would work out for them and that we would not be able to endure it. And we endured. And we are struggling to bring life back to every corner of our home. And we are coming back.”

On May 18, 1944, Soviet authorities began the forced deportation of the indigenous people of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, from their homeland, said Zelenskyy, adding that after the "terrible war" at that time in Crimea, as well as throughout Ukraine and Europe, people were "put on the brink of survival."

Zelenskyy said the Soviet authorities wanted to deprive the Crimean Tatar people of their homeland and lives, "erase" their history and name, but the people who managed "to return home" also managed to "preserve themselves and the truth."

During and after the deportation, when the Crimean Tatar people were forced to live abroad, almost half of them died, he said, calling this a "deliberate crime of tyranny" against the people and humanity.

"Today we turn again to what was experienced then. And we are doing this in conditions when the descendants of that tyranny are not only trying to deprive Crimean Tatars of their home for the second time – since 2014. They also want to take away the home of the entire multi-million Ukrainian people – all who live on our land," he said.

Historical parallels

Referring to Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine, which it launched on Feb. 24, Zelenskyy underlined that currently "significant territories" remain under the occupation of Russian forces.

"And again, like 78 years ago, they are forcibly deporting hundreds of thousands of our people abroad to remote areas," he said.

Zelenskyy stressed that Russia's war on Ukraine "raises from ashes the experience of that time" but also encourages Ukraine to defeat "the occupiers.”

"Eternal memory to all victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people!" he said.

On May 18, 1944, tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin’s Soviet regime, which accused them of collaborating with occupying Nazi forces.

The Crimean Tatars, ethnically a Turkic group, were deported to various regions within the Soviet territories, in particular Siberia and Uzbekistan. Almost half of the exiles, who endured long months of dire living conditions, are thought to have died of starvation and disease.

Since the 2014 Russian invasion, Crimea's ethnic Tartars have faced a "systematic oppression and intimidation campaign," in the words of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, including the banning of their representative body the Mejlis, raids on homes and mass detentions, and suppression of the right to assembly and protest as well as freedom of expression./aa

Turkiye on Wednesday called for international collaboration to ensure that the war in Ukraine does not worsen the hunger crisis. 

Speaking at a high-level ministerial meeting on "Global Food Security-Call to Action" at the United Nations, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned that Russia's aggression in Ukraine poses a significant challenge "as both countries are major global food suppliers and decreasing their ability to produce and export will directly impact global food security."

"We need international collaboration to ensure that this war doesn't worsen the hunger crisis. This is yet another reason why we should end this war and we should work for the peaceful resolution of conflicts," said Cavusoglu.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, more than 800 million people currently face hunger, and Cavusoglu said conflict is by far the biggest driver of this.

"Around 60% of the world's hungry people live in the conflict zones. Every new conflict pushes a new wave of people into hunger," he added.

In his remarks, the foreign minister noted that a humanitarian approach is at the center of Turkiye's policies.

"This is also true for the crisis we face today. We facilitate the UN's humanitarian operations from Turkiye, both for staff deployment and the delivery of aid.

"We support the Secretary General's (Antonio Guterres) efforts to establish humanitarian corridors to ensure food security. Together with the UN, we are working to ensure the safe passage of Ukrainian ships carrying grain. We are working to establish a contact group on all these humanitarian issues," he added.

Russia's war in Ukraine has negatively impacted energy, food and commodity prices, and it has exacerbated high inflation, causing it to reach record-high levels in many countries./aa

More than 160 million children are in child labor worldwide, said a report released on Wednesday by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UN children's agency UNICEF.

In the report, the ILO and UNICEF warned that without relief strategies, the number of children in child labor could rise by 8.9 million by the end of this year due to higher poverty and increased vulnerability.

Children need social protection, which reduces family poverty and vulnerability, diminishing critical drivers of child labor, they said in the report.

The two organizations called for closing the social protection coverage gap for the 1.5 billion children worldwide that are still unsupported by family or child cash benefits.

"There are many reasons to invest in universal social protection but eliminating child labor has to be one of the most compelling, given its pernicious impact on children's rights and wellbeing," said Guy Ryder, the ILO's director-general.

Uneven progress

Global estimates hide uneven progress by region in the past 20 years, with Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean showing steady reductions overall, while rates increased in sub-Saharan Africa from 2012 onwards.

"Although there is much variation across countries within each region, today, there are more children in child labor in sub-Saharan Africa than in the rest of the world combined," said the report.

It cited several studies since 2010 that present evidence of the role of social protection in eliminating child labor.

They show how social protection, by helping families cope with economic or health shocks, reduces child labor and facilitates schooling.

However, too little progress has been made in ensuring that all children enjoy social protection.

According to the report, governments can deploy a range of policies to promote social protection.

It warned, however that if policymakers do not act decisively, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, rising poverty, and climate change would increase the prevalence of child labor.

For the more than 160 million children worldwide -- 1 in 10 children aged from five to 17 -- still engaged in child labor, progress has stalled since 2016, said the report. That equates to 63 million girls and 97 million boys.

To strengthen social protection for preventing and eliminating child labor, the report recommends closing the social protection coverage gap for children.

Prioritizing child benefits and extending social protection to the two billion workers in the informal economy will support their transition from the informal to the formal economy./aa