🇨🇩 🦠🦠 Unknown flu-like disease kills at least 79 people in DR Congo

At least 79 people have died from an unknown disease that is causing flu-like symptoms in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry says.

The health ministry says the majority of people who have died are between the ages of 15 and 18.

More than 300 people have been infected with patients exhibiting symptoms like fever, headaches, runny noses and coughs, breathing difficulties and anaemia.

Response teams have been sent to Kwango Province, specifically the Panzi health zone, where the disease is most common, to manage cases and investigate the nature of the disease.

Symphorien Manzanza, a civil society leader, told Reuters news agency the situation was worrying as the number of infected people continues to rise.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y83ejz7eeo

https://apnews.com/article/congo-mystery-disease-0df7a70c8830783bb15e66d47ad48de4

@FelipeChannel

#BREAKING

🇮🇱🇮🇱❌🇸🇾❗️ — Israeli political source: We will establish a buffer zone inside Syria in the Golan Heights if Homs falls.

🇺🇸📈❗️ - Earthquake in Northern California upgraded to 6.6

🇺🇸📈❗️ — Earthquake in Northern California upgraded to 7.3!

#BREAKING
🇺🇸📈❗️ — Tsunami warning issued for parts of California and Oregon!

🇺🇸 Moment a 7.3 earthquake, Richter scale, struck northern California.

@CIG_telegram

🇫🇷 Rumours on French social medias that Emmanuel Macron will invoke art. 16 of the French Constitution and give himself dictatorial powers.

Art. 16 has been used only once, by Charles de Gaulle between April and September 1961 after a failed coup which tried to oust him for wanting to withdraw from Algeria and put an end to the war.

French legal expert, Thibaud Mullier says about art. 16 that:

Article 16 may be triggered in the event of a “serious and immediate threat to the institutions of the Republic, the independence of the nation, the integrity of its territory or the performance of its international commitments, and, on the other hand, in the event of “interruption of the regular functioning of the constitutional public authorities”. These two conditions are cumulative.

It remains to be seen whether the non-implementation of the budget, the risk of “stopdown” that it entails, fulfils these conditions. “The regular functioning of the public authorities is not interrupted because there are several possibilities provided for in the Constitution to have the budget adopted. As for the threat to our institutions or to France’s international commitments, it must be “serious and immediate”. However, this is a discretionary power of the Head of State that has no legal constraints. The whole point of this article, cut for de Gaulle, is to question the legitimacy of the Head of State. Does a president as weak as Emmanuel Macron have the legitimacy to use it? I don't think so,"

These dictatorial powers are not meant to last forever. Every 30-60 days, the Constitutional Council or the president of the National Assembly, Senate, or a group of sixty senators and/or deputies can verify to see if the conditions for article 16 are met. If they are not met and the French president does not want to give up his powers, he can be removed from office by the Parliament and its High Court.

🔗 https://www.publicsenat.fr/actualites/politique/crise-politique-quelles-sont-les-conditions-pour-declencher-larticle-16-de-la-constitution?at_content=link&at_term=publicsenat&at_source=nonli

🇺🇸📈❗️ — A Third Earthquake has hit Northern California, this one a M5.8

🇵🇾❌🇨🇳 — The Paraguayan government canceled the visa of a Chinese delegation member participating in the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, citing "interference in internal affairs." The official, Xu Wei, was part of an 11-member delegation accredited by China for the event held in Luque.

🇹🇼 Paraguayan Vice Minister of Administration and Technical Affairs Juan Baiardi stated that Xu Wei had entered the country with a courtesy visa. However, controversy arose after Xu met with local congress members and commented on Paraguay's relationship with Taiwan.

💬 Speaking to local media after the meeting, Xu highlighted the "practical advantages" of a relationship between Paraguay and China. He also emphasized that the "One China Principle" is a "political" matter and "non-negotiable."

🌐 Taiwan currently maintains official diplomatic ties with only 12 nations, seven of which are in Latin America and the Caribbean: Paraguay, Guatemala, Belize, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Source 🖇

🇺🇸🤝💸 — President-elect Donald Trump has appointed the African-American Former CEO of Yammer David Sacks as White House cryptocurrency and AI czar.

🇪🇺🇧🇷🇺🇾🇵🇾🇦🇷🇧🇴 President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has arrived in Uruguay, to sign the EU-MERCOSUR free trade agreement.

The agreement is strongly desired by Germany who wants cheap grains and other agricultural products but it is hotly contested by France who legitimately fears its farmers will be outcompeted by those in Latin America.

The signing of the deal has the potential cause the worst and biggest farmers protests Europe has seen, bigger than the ones caused by unfair competition from Ukraine.

It will also cause the latest crisis which will rock the EU to its core, will likely result in the overthrow of French president, Emmanuel Macron, for failing to prevent the signing of the deal, will serve to consolidate anti-EU beliefs in France and elsewhere in Europe.

Every EU member state with a significant portion of their population working in agriculture, like Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Romania will see euroscepticism rise in popularity and will result in mass civil unrest and protests against national governments and the EU as a whole.

This free trade agreement has the potential to become the worst mistake the EU has made in its history and can very well lead to the fall of the union as a whole, as countries will become more incentivised to adopt nationalist policies rather than obey EU regulations.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/von-der-leyen-jets-in-to-seal-controversial-latin-america-trade-deal/