ISRAEL – Israel promoted an Arab police officer to deputy commissioner, the highest rank obtained by a Muslim in the nation. Jamal Hakrush will be in charge of improving the policing services in Arab neighborhoods and towns in Israel.  He will be responsible for establishing police stations in new Arab towns while strengthening the existing stations.

Israeli Arabs make up roughly a quarter of the country’s population. Internal security minister Gilad Erdan presented the officer with his rank, calling it a historic occasion. “If we are honest with ourselves and I refer to all the governments in Israel through the generations … we cannot look at the Arab society in Israel with the violence and crime in its midst, with a clear conscience,” Erdan said. “Until this day, we have not provided the Arab sector with equal law enforcement capabilities.”

(CNN)…[+]

USA – United States health officials have confirmed the worst fears of many pregnant women in the US and Latin America by saying there is no longer any doubt the Zika virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and other severe brain defects. Since last year, doctors in Brazil have been linking Zika infections in pregnant women to a rise in newborns with microcephaly, or an unusually small skull. Most outside experts were cautious about drawing such a connection. But now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says enough evidence is in.  “There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly,” CDC Director Dr Tom Frieden said. The CDC said it is also clear that Zika causes other serious defects, including damaging calcium buildups in the developing brain.

(The Independent UK/AP)…[+]