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President says no birth defects from Zika are found

 
Published Feb. 7, 2016

Colombia

President says no birth defects from Zika are found

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday that there's no evidence Zika has caused any cases of the birth defect known as microcephaly in his country, though it has diagnosed 3,177 pregnant women with the virus. Santos also announced that a U.S. medical-scientific team will arrive in Colombia to help investigate the mosquito-borne virus. Brazilian officials say they suspect Zika is behind a seemingly unusual number of microcephaly cases, in which children are born with unusually small heads. The link is not confirmed, but it has helped prompt the World Health Organization to declare an emergency over the virus. Santos said Zika apparently has affected more than 25,600 Colombians overall. The virus has spread to more than 20 countries in the Americas.

Buchanan, N.Y.

Radioactive material found in groundwater

An apparent overflow at a nuclear power plant north of New York City spilled highly radioactive water into an underground monitoring well, but nuclear regulators said the public isn't at risk. Officials at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, 40 miles north of Manhattan, reported on Friday that water contaminated by tritium leaked into the groundwater under the facility. The contamination has remained contained to the site, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ordered the state's environmental conservation and health departments to investigate.

Haiti

Deal reached on interim government

Top Haitian leaders negotiated an agreement to install a short-term provisional government less than 24 hours before President Michel Martelly was scheduled to step down, an official with the Organization of American States and local authorities announced Saturday. Special OAS mission leader Ronald Sanders said the interim president will be elected by Parliament for a term of up to 120 days. He said Prime Minister Evans Paul will remain in his position until lawmakers are able to confirm a prime minister by consensus in upcoming days. The caretaker government will ensure a new Provisional Electoral Council is in place to conclude an election cycle that began last year. The plan calls for a presidential and legislative runoff to be held on April 24, with a newly elected president to be installed on May 14 for a five-year term.

Quick hits

Pakistan: Four-nation talks aimed at ending Afghanistan's 15-year war concluded Saturday in Islamabad with a call for direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban by the end of February. Representatives of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States participated in the talks. The Taliban was not present.

Washington: George Washington University has stopped accepting donated bodies at its medical school because it lost track of the identities of as many as 50 cadavers, making it impossible to return remains to families as promised.

Times wires