Canada
A strike by 24,000 Toronto municipal workers shut down parks, recreation programs, ferry service and garbage collection June 22. Negotiations continued as the strike entered its second week with no end in sight. Meanwhile, garbage was piling up around bins, and residents were dumping trash at 19 temporary dump sites, including city parks. Visitors were surprised to see mounds of trash throughout a city known for cleanliness. Windsor faces a similar strike that just entered its 12th week.
Honduras
Congress extended 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfews throughout the country Wednesday after a military coup that sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile. Demonstrations for and against the coup occurred in Tegucigalpa and elsewhere, and tensions remained high. The U.S. State Department advised deferring non-essential travel to Honduras until the situation was resolved.
Mexico
Cases of dengue fever are rising in Mexico. Incidence of the disease this year is up 15 percent from last year, and it has spread to 21 of Mexico’s 31 states. The central Pacific coast state of Colima has the highest rate in the country, and eradication efforts are under way through mosquito control.
North Africa
An outbreak of bubonic plague in Libya has neighboring countries trying to prevent spread of the disease across their borders. Algeria already has seen 50 cases near its border and has tightened medical surveillance there. Concerns are that Algerian Bedouins are crossing into Libya and returning with the disease or the fleas that spread it. Plague also can be spread by handling contaminated hosts, usually rodents, though it does not pass from human to human. Health officials also are taking precautions in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
Thailand
Authorities plan to invoke an internal security act to prevent disruption of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum to be held July 10-24 in Phuket. This will permit the military to help police keep order on the island of Phuket and within 3 miles around it. In other news, a British couple falsely accused of shoplifting at a duty-free store in Bangkok’s airport were detained for five days until they paid more than $13,000 in bribes. The extortion scam, they alleged, involved tourist police and an interpreter. Their release order acknowledged that there was no evidence against them. At least one other foreigner, a Danish woman, has been snared by the same interpreter at a cost of about $7,400.
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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.
