Washington State Polio-Like Cases Linked to Rare Syndrome

Eight of nine children hospitalized in Washington state for a polio-like illness have a rare syndrome that causes varying degrees of limb weakness, state health officials confirmed on Friday. The eight cases from five counties in the state were determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be acute flaccid myelitis, also known as AFM, which affects the nervous system and specifically the spinal cord. A ninth child who died this week at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a 6-year-old boy from Bellingham, was found not to have the syndrome…

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Air Pollution: Environment Minister to Meet State Counterparts

Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave is set to hold a meeting on Friday with his counterparts from five states to discuss short, medium and long-term measures to tackle air pollution in the capital. The call came as Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to alarming levels and witnessed its worst smog situation in 17 years on Wednesday and Thursday. “MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) to hold meeting with secretaries of five neighbouring states of Delhi tomorrow (Friday). Later, I will meet ministers of concerned states,” Dave said in…

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Andhra Pradesh Government Aims to Make State Mosquito-Free in 2 years

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said his government would work to make the state “100 per cent mosquito-free” in the next two years. “It is possible. We have recently launched a war on mosquitoes. We have to work on this daily and in two years make AP mosquito-free,” the Chief Minister said, inaugurating the two-day conference of District Collectors here today. Sri Lanka has achieved the distinction of being a mosquito-free nation and the World Health Organisation has also declared it so, he pointed out. Andhra Pradesh…

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Apple’s Battle With FBI Underscores Android’s Poor State of Encryption: Report

Google CEO Sundar Pichai last month backed Apple in its ongoing fight with FBI over encryption. While privacy advocates welcomed Pichai’s stand on supporting Apple, they are still concerned about the poor state of encryption on Android devices. According to estimates, fewer than 10 percent of Android phones are encrypted. If San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook was using an Android phone, FBI may have closed the case within hours without much assistance from Google. The reason is simple: most Android phones aren’t as secure as an iPhone. In fact,…

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