Plague cases double in Madagascar
JOHANNESBURG— With dozens dead from a plague outbreak in Madagascar, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Friday it is deploying its first-ever plague treatment center to the island nation off the southeast coast of Africa.
“We’ve seen a doubling of cases over the last week,” said Julie Hall, the Red Cross federation’s director of health and care. The World Health Organization said 561 cases have been reported so far, with another in the Seychelles.
Red Cross officials have said the situation is particularly worrying because pneumonic plague, which is spread from person to person, has occurred for the first time in non-endemic areas and crowded cities. About 70 percent of the cases are the pneumonic form. Cases of bubonic plague, transmitted from animals to people through flea bites, occur almost annually in Madagascar.
Steel scandal expands
TOKYO— A scandal about falsified quality data at Kobe Steel expanded Friday, as the Japanese steel maker said nine subsidiaries, including several outside Japan, had either failed to carry out required product checks or had lied about the results.
Including products sold by the subsidiaries, Kobe Steel said it now estimated that it had shipped substandard or potentially substandard materials to about 500 customers, up from an initial estimate of around 200.
Kobe Steel supplies metal components to industries where safety is vital, including car, train and aircraft producers.
Threat dropped
MANILA — The Philippines on Friday backed away from President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat the day before to expel European ambassadors, his spokesman said, after apparently misunderstanding the source of criticism of his deadly drug crackdown.
After visiting the Philippines this month, the European liberal advocacy group Progressive Alliance issued a statement saying it was “extremely alarmed” over “gross human rights violations” and hinting that the European Union might tighten its terms of trade with the Philippines over its spotty rights record.
Mr. Duterte’s spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said the group “falsely portrayed itself as an E.U. mission.”
Also in the world …
Austrian voters appear poised to give populism a new push in elections Sunday by granting the far-right Freedom Party at least a share of power in the next government. … Audrey Azoulay, a former culture minister from France, was elected Friday to lead UNESCO, the United Nations educational and cultural agency, after a vote at its headquarters in Paris that was overshadowed by the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the organization. … Hurricane Ophelia, with peak winds of 100 mph, was about 550 miles southwest of the Iberian coast Friday and expected to near Ireland on Monday, although by then its winds were expected to decrease to 80 mph.