BRAZIL
Some 33,000 people have contracted dengue fever and 48 have died in Rio de Janeiro state this year in what appears to be an epidemic of the disease. Already more people have died this year than in all of 2002, the last year Rio had a dengue epidemic, and the vast majority have been in the city, not rural areas. Overall dengue is down throughout Brazil, but it is up significantly in Rio.
KENYA
The U.S. State Department has softened its warning about travel to Kenya after the widely accepted power-sharing agreement signed Feb. 28 to resolve the disputed presidential election of Dec. 27. The current travel warning says “threats of political demonstrations and violence have dramatically receded” and U.S. government personnel and their families are now permitted to return to Kisumu and environs.
SPAIN
In the past few weeks the Basque separatist group ETA has assassinated a former politician and detonated a car bomb outside a police station in Calahorra in northern Spain, raising fears among security officials that the group may be planning attacks on tourist areas this summer.
ARMENIA
The government ended the state of emergency it imposed on Yerevan March 1 when it broke up a week of mass protests over a disputed presidential election.
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Compiled from various news services and travel sources. For the latest on world conditions, check the State Department’s automated service at 888-407-4747; fax 202-647-3000; travel.state.gov.
