Switzerland

GENEVA (AP) — The deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo is now an international health emergency, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday after a case was confirmed in a city of 2 million people .

A WHO expert committee declined on three previous occasions to advise the United Nations health agency to make the declaration for this outbreak, even though other experts say it has long met the required conditions. More than 1,600 people have died since August in the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which is unfolding in a region described as a war zone.

GENEVA, June 30. /TASS/: Speaker of the Russian Federation Council (upper house) Valentina Matviyenko has called on parliaments across the word to adopt a ban on slapping sanctions against parliamentarians.

During her speech at the headquarters of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, Matviyenko said: "I think we should further unite efforts of all parliaments to ensure the recognition that the introduction of any sanctions against parliamentarians is unacceptable."

27 June 2019; MEMO: Switzerland has banned planemaker Pilatus from operating in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), saying on Wednesday the company had breached Swiss rules on giving logistical support to foreign armed forces now engaged in a war in Yemen, reports Reuters.

LAUSANNE, June 24. /TASS/: According to a preliminary plan, the 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held on February 6-22, and Paralympic Games - on March 6-15, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Monday.

The vote to determine the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics was held at the 134th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne earlier on Monday. The Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were chosen as the hosts for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Geneva, Jun 19 (AFP) More than 70 million people were counted last year as displaced from their homes, a record that underestimates the real number of refugees and asylum seekers, the UN said Wednesday.

In its annual global trends report, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) described the figure of 70.8 million at the end of 2018 as "conservative", particularly because the number of people who fled Venezuela's devastating crisis is undercounted.

7 June 2019; DW: The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported a lack of progress in combating sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and warned of complacency in the wake of an increase in the use of dating applications.

More than 1 million people catch an STD, or sexually transmitted infection (STI), every day across the globe, with chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis and syphilis of greatest concern.

3 June 2019; DW: A group of lawyers have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a case against the European Union over its migration policy, according to a request submitted on Monday.

Although ICC prosecutors are already gathering evidence about crimes against refugees in Libya, the document goes a step further by arguing that the EU and member states are also largely to blame for migrant deaths on land and at sea.

What are the allegations against the EU?

BELLINZONA, Switzerland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the Trump administration is ready for unconditional discussions with Iran in an effort to ease rising tensions that have sparked fears of conflict. But the United States will not relent in trying to pressure the Islamic Republic to change its behavior in the Middle East, America’s top diplomat said.

1 June 2019; AFP: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will take part Saturday in a secretive meeting in Switzerland of global power brokers discreetly discussing issues like Brexit and the future of capitalism.

The State Department confirmed Saturday that Pompeo, who is on a four-nation tour of Europe, would take part in the four-day Bilderberg meeting, which kicked off on Thursday in the picturesque Swiss town of Montreux.

GENEVA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela will run out of vaccines in four months if current blockade led by the United States continues, the country's health minister said on Wednesday.

During the ongoing World Health Assembly in Geneva, Venezuela's Health Minister Carlos Alvarado cited rotavirus vaccines as an example, saying they could run out in four months if the United States insists on its blockade.

He said that since the United States started to impose sanctions against Venezuela in 2014, half of the operating pharmaceutical companies in the country have left.