Measles jumps borders in North America with outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and US

Measles jumps borders in North America with outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and US
A health worker gives a child a measles vaccine at the health center in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, Apr. 30, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 01 May 2025
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Measles jumps borders in North America with outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and US

Measles jumps borders in North America with outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and US
  • North America’s three biggest measles outbreaks continue to balloon, with more than 2,500 known cases
  • Mexican and US officials also say the genetic strains of measles spreading in Canada match the other large outbreaks

NEW MEXICO: Dr. Hector Ocaranza knew El Paso would see measles the moment it began spreading in West Texas and eastern New Mexico.
Highways connect his border city with the epicenter of Texas’ massive outbreak, which is up to 663 cases. They’re the same roads used by thousands of families and commercial truckers who cross into Mexico and back each day.
“Diseases know no borders,” said Ocaranza, El Paso’s top public health doctor, “so as people are mobile, they’re going to be coming and receiving medical attention in El Paso but they may be living in Juarez.” It took a couple of months, but El Paso now has the highest measles case count in the state outside of West Texas with 38. Neighboring Ciudad Juarez has 14 cases as of Monday.
North America’s three biggest measles outbreaks continue to balloon, with more than 2,500 known cases; three people have died in the US and one in Mexico. It started in the fall in Ontario, Canada; then took off in late January in Texas and New Mexico; and has rapidly spread in Chihuahua state, which is up to 786 cases since mid-February.
These outbreaks are in areas with a notable population of certain Mennonite Christian communities who trace their migration over generations from Canada to Mexico to Seminole, Texas. Chihuahua health officials trace their first case to an 8-year-old Mennonite child who visited family in Seminole, got sick and spread the virus at school. And Ontario officials say their outbreak started at a large gathering in New Brunswick involving Mennonite communities.
Mexican and US officials also say the genetic strains of measles spreading in Canada match the other large outbreaks.
“This virus was imported, traveling country to country,” said Leticia Ruíz, director of prevention and disease control in Chihuahua.
North and South American countries have struggled to maintain the 95 percent measles vaccination rate needed to prevent outbreaks, said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization. And a recent World Health Organization report said measles activity in the Americas region is up elevenfold from the same time last year and that the risk level is “high” compared to the rest of the world’s “moderate” level.
Measles cases have been confirmed in six of the region’s countries — Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Mexico — and investigating the disease’s spread is labor-intensive and pricey. The response to each measles case in the US costs an estimated $30,000 to $50,000, according to Dr. David Sugerman, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist.
Measles at the US-Mexico border

The cases in Ciudad Juarez have no direct connection to the Mennonite settlement in Chihuahua, said Rogelio Covarrubias, a health official in the border city. The first measles case in El Paso was in a child at Fort Bliss, Ocaranza said.
More than half of El Paso’s cases are in adults, which is unusually high, and three people have been hospitalized. The health department is holding vaccination clinics in malls and parks and says hundreds have gotten a shot. The vaccines are free — no questions asked, no matter which side of the border you live on.
Communication about measles between the two health departments is “informal” but “very good,” Ocaranza said. Covarrubias said his team was alerted last week to a case of someone who became sick in El Paso and returned home to Juarez.
“There is constant concern in Ciudad Juarez … because we have travelers that pass through from across the world,” Covarrubias said. “With a possible case of measles without taking precautions, many, many people could be infected.”
Measles at the US-Canada border
Michigan health officials said the outbreak of four cases in Montcalm County are linked to Ontario.
The state’s chief medical executive, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, expects to see more cases. Michigan has a 95 percent vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella, but it hides weak spots — counties with 70 percent vaccination rates and individual schools where just 30 percent of kids vaccinated.
“If we think about measles as a forest fire, we’ve got these burning embers that are floating in the air right now,” Bagdasarian said. “Whether those embers result in another wildfire just depends on where they land.”
In Canada, six out of 10 provinces have reported measles cases. Alberta has the second-most with 83 as of April 12, according to government data.
Case counts in Ontario reached 1,020 as of Wednesday, mostly in the southwest part that borders Michigan. In one of the hardest-hit regions, Chatham-Kent Public Health officials announced a public exposure at a Mennonite church on Easter Sunday.
“It sometimes feels like we’re just behind, always trying to catch up to measles,” Dr. Sarah Wilson, a public health physician for Public Health Ontario. “It’s always moving somewhere.”


UN chief says strike on Port Sudan a ‘worrying development’

UN chief says strike on Port Sudan a ‘worrying development’
Updated 16 sec ago
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UN chief says strike on Port Sudan a ‘worrying development’

UN chief says strike on Port Sudan a ‘worrying development’
  • Army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “targeted Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse and some civilian facilities in the city of Port Sudan with suicide drones”

UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN chief Antonio Guterres is “concerned” by reports that Sudanese paramilitaries for the first time struck Port Sudan, the seat of the army-aligned government during the country’s two-year war, a spokesman said Monday.
“The attack on port Sudan is a worrying development threatening the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations in an area so far spared from experiencing the devastating conflict seen in many other parts of the country,” Farhan Haq told reporters.
He said that Sunday’s attacks “appear to be the latest in a series of retaliatory military operations” conducted by paramilitaries and the army to target airports in each other’s areas of control.
Army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “targeted Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse and some civilian facilities in the city of Port Sudan with suicide drones.”
He reported no casualties and “limited damage.”
AFP images showed smoke above the airport area, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) from the nearest known RSF positions on capital Khartoum’s outskirts.
The RSF, battling the regular army since April 2023, have increasingly used drones since losing territory including much of Khartoum in March.
The paramilitaries led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo are battling the regular army, headed by Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands and uprooted 13 million.
In the conflict’s early days, the government relocated from Khartoum to Port Sudan, which until Sunday had been spared the violence.
UN agencies have also moved their operations to Port Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge.
Haq said the attacks “have not had a direct impact on the humanitarian operations or activities in Port Sudan,” but said that UN aid flights to and from the city had been temporarily put on hold.
“None of our offices, premises or warehouses have been impacted, and we continue to carry out our regular operations,” he added.

 


Army pausing helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls

Army pausing helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls
Updated 5 min 48 sec ago
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Army pausing helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls

Army pausing helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls
  • Two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon
  • Pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport

WASHINGTON: The Army is pausing helicopter flights near a Washington airport after two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon.

The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press.

The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not publicly announced. The unit is continuing to fly in the greater Washington, D.C., region.

The unit had begun a return to flight within the last week, with plans to gradually increase the number of flights over the next four weeks, according to an Army document viewed by the AP.

Thursday’s close call involved a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

They were instructed by air traffic control to “perform go-arounds” because of a “priority air transport” helicopter, according to an emailed statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The priority air transport helicopters of the 12th battalion provide transport service to top Pentagon officials. It was a Black Hawk priority air transport known as PAT25 that collided with the passenger jet in midair in January.

That crash was the worst US midair disaster in more than two decades. In March, the FAA announced that helicopters would be prohibited from flying in the same airspace as planes near Reagan airport.

The NTSB and FAA are both investigating the latest close call with an Army helicopter.

The Army said after the latest incident that the UH-60 Blackhawk was following published FAA flight routes and air traffic control from Reagan airport when it was “directed by Pentagon Air Traffic Control to conduct a ‘go-around,’ overflying the Pentagon helipad in accordance with approved flight procedures.”

But helicopter traffic remains a concern around that busy airport. The FAA said that three flights that had been cleared for landing Sunday at Reagan were ordered to go around because a police helicopter was on an urgent mission in the area. All three flights landed safely on their second approaches.

The NTSB said after the January crash that there had been an alarming number of close calls near Reagan in recent years, and the FAA should have acted sooner.


Malta brings six crew members off ship in drone strike row

The damaged Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel “Conscience” is anchored at sea outside Maltese territorial waters, after it was bombed
The damaged Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel “Conscience” is anchored at sea outside Maltese territorial waters, after it was bombed
Updated 47 min 34 sec ago
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Malta brings six crew members off ship in drone strike row

The damaged Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel “Conscience” is anchored at sea outside Maltese territorial waters, after it was bombed

VALLETTA: Pro-Palestinian activists aboard a boat damaged in an alleged Israeli drone strike have allowed a Maltese surveyor to inspect the vessel and six crew members have agreed to disembark, Malta’s premier told parliament Monday.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has said that Malta could tow the stricken Conscience to port for repairs once a maritime expert has been allowed to board the ship and study the results of Friday’s alleged attack.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition had hoped to pick up supporters, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, in Malta then sail on to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinian victims of Israel’s blockade of the territory and renewed military assault against the Hamas militant group.
But, on Friday, a fire broke out on board the vessel after what the group says was a double drone strike, which the activists argue was most likely launched by Israel to halt or delay their mission.
Neither Israel nor Malta, whose vessels intervened to help douse the fire, have confirmed the attack.
But Abela promised that the Conscience will be allowed to continue on its mission once any necessary repairs are concluded. The Flotilla Coalition has welcomed the offer.
“Six people on this ship made a request to come ashore to our country and then immediately leave to their countries,” Abela told parliament Monday.
Previously, the international activists had resisted calls for them to abandon ship, fearing being forced to drop their mission.
“This request was accepted immediately and those people are in the process of being transported to Malta by the Armed Forces of Malta, and they will catch a plane back to their country later today,” the premier said.
Initially, Flotilla Coalition volunteers had said the surveyor would only be allowed on board if the ship was towed into Maltese territorial waters, but Abela said that was not acceptable, as Malta wanted to know more about the condition of the vessel before taking charge of its safety.
Malta also refused a request that three individuals currently not on board be taken out to the Conscience with the inspector.
“The ship’s captain now has accepted that the surveyor is allowed on board while the ship sits outside Malta’s territorial waters, and I’m informed that the surveyor is in process of arriving at the ship,” Abela said.
During an online press conference on Sunday, before Monday’s departure of six crew members, the flotilla group said there were 18 people on board, 12 crew members and six “human rights observers.”


The activists explained the Conscience has no flag because the government of the Pacific nation of Palau had announced that they were withdrawing their registration on Friday, the day of the alleged strike.
Otherwise, they insisted they had made every effort to comply with international maritime law when embarking on the mission to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the Flotilla Coalition, the Conscience was attacked in international waters, causing a fire that disabled the vessel and minor injuries to crew members.
Online flight tracking service ADS-B Exchange showed that an Israeli C-130 military cargo plane had been in the area immediately before the incident and had made several low altitude sweeps over the area.
Israel is known for conducting covert operations beyond its borders, including several during the Gaza war that it only acknowledged later.
The activists said the strike appeared to target the boat’s generator.
Thunberg told reporters that the incident should not distract from the focus of the boat’s mission to Gaza.
“What we are doing here is to try our very best to use all the means that we have to do our part, to keep trying to break the inhumane and illegal siege on Gaza and to open up humanitarian corridors,” she said.


Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in China

Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in China
Updated 05 May 2025
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Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in China

Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in China

BEIJING: Four boats capsized in a sudden storm at a tourist spot in southwestern China, killing 10 people, state media said Monday.

More than 80 people fell into a river when strong winds hit the scenic area in Guizhou province late Sunday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV said. The boats capsized after a sudden rain and hail storm on the upper reaches of the Wu River, a tributary of the Yangtze, China’s longest river. In one video shared by state media, a man could be seen performing CPR on another person, while one of the vessels drifted upside down.

Initial reports said two tourist boats had capsized, but state media said on Monday that four boats were involved. The other two boats had no passengers, and the seven crew members were able to save themselves, CCTV said.

Guizhou’s mountains and rivers are a major tourism draw, and many Chinese were traveling during a five-day national holiday that ended Monday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to find the missing and care for the injured, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday. 


Trump administration offers $1,000 to migrants who self-deport

Trump administration offers $1,000 to migrants who self-deport
Updated 54 min 42 sec ago
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Trump administration offers $1,000 to migrants who self-deport

Trump administration offers $1,000 to migrants who self-deport
  • Donald Trump: ‘We’re going to pay each one a certain amount of money, and we’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from’
  • Trump: ‘We’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in if they’re good people’

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration said Monday it will pay for the travel and give $1,000 to undocumented migrants who “self-deport” back to their home country.

US President Donald Trump said some of the undocumented migrants who take advantage of the self-deportation scheme will be given a path to legally return to the United States.

“We’re going to pay each one a certain amount of money, and we’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from,” Trump told reporters during an event at the White House.

“We’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in if they’re good people, if they’re the kind of people that we want in our (country),” he said. “It will give them a path to coming back into the country.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, announcing the travel assistance and $1,000 stipend program, said “self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is “offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”

CBP Home refers to an app already created by the DHS through which people can deport themselves.

DHS said the stipend of $1,000 will be paid after a person’s return to their home country has been confirmed through the app.

“Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the US and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” the department said in the statement.

DHS said that even with the payment of travel assistance and the stipend “it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent.”

It said that the average cost currently to arrest, detain, and remove an undocumented migrant is $17,121.

DHS said an undocumented migrant from Honduras had already taken advantage of the program to return home.

Trump pledged during his presidential campaign to carry out mass deportations and claimed during the White House event that there are as many as 21 million undocumented migrants in the United States.

However the number of undocumented migrants stood at 11.0 million in 2022, according to Pew Research Center estimates based on data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.