GENEVA: The World Health Organisation yesterday formally raised the global death toll from the Sars-like virus MERS to 31, after a new fatality in hard-hit Saudi Arabia. In a statement, the UN agency said that the victim was an 83-year-old man from the eastern region of Al Ahsaa. “Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 55 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 31 deaths,” it said. There have now been 41 confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia, 26 of them fatal, according to WHO figures. One person has died in France after catching the disease in the UAE, just like a fatality in Germany. There have also been two cases in Jordan, both of them fatal, as well as two in Qatar, with those patients treated in Britain and Germany. Two patients caught the disease in Britain from an individual who had been to the Middle East, one of whom died. Tunisia has seen two non-fatal cases and Italy two — one of whom caught the virus in Jordan and gave it to a contact in Italy — while France has recorded one.
France bans far-right rally today
PARIS: French authorities banned a far-right youth rally today in the southern city of Toulouse after the killing of a left-wing student this week sparked alarm over street violence by ultra-right groups. Toulouse’s Socialist mayor had expressed concern about a planned torchlit evening march to commemorate the victory of a Christian army in 721 over Muslims besieging the city, after a clash between ultra-right and far-left youths in Paris on Wednesday led to the death of a 19-year-old student. Toulouse police headquarters said it had feared a “serious risk of public disorder” if the rally went ahead. Clement Meric’s head injuries came when he fell against a metal post after being punched by tattooed right-wing youths he had been taunting in a typical clash between the two camps.
Pope quips he did not want the job
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis joked about the difficulties of being head of the world’s Catholics saying he never wanted the job in unscripted comments in which he also said he had turned down luxury Vatican housing because it would be “boring”. “Someone who wants to be Pope does not really like themselves,” the Pontiff said laughing, in answer to a child’s query during a question-and-answer session with Jesuit school students in the Vatican. “I did not want to be Pope,” he said. Francis also told his audience he had decided not to move to the official papal apartments, staying in a residence hotel in the Vatican instead. “It’s a personality problem. I need to live with people. If I lived alone, I would feel a bit isolated and it wouldn’t be good for me,” he said. “It would be bad and boring,” he added. Agencies
