An individual who has not yet been identified has died in Georgia, United States, after being infected with the Naegleria fowleri amoeba, commonly known as the 'brain-eater' amoeba, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported on Monday.

The event has also been confirmed by the Georgia State Department of Public Health.. Although at the moment the authorities do not detail at what point it has occurred exactly, they assure that this person has been infected while swimming in a lake or in a freshwater pond.

It is also the second case that has occurred in two weeks, since another two-year-old boy died on July 26 in the state of Nevada due to infection with this same amoeba and also by bathing in a contaminated pool in which he was with his family.

This type of organism is found precisely in lakes, rivers, ponds and sources of fresh and warm water, according to the health authorities.. The way this amoeba enters our body is through the nose and can cause a brain infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

Once inside our body, the symptoms usually appear after five days: intense headache, fever, nausea and vomiting are the most common, although if the disease is in an advanced state, hallucinations and convulsions begin to appear.. The death of who is affected by this amoeba usually occurs five days after starting to have the first symptoms.

For the moment, although the health authorities assure that the risk of becoming infected is low, they have advised citizens to avoid bathing in fresh water. Since 1965 this amoeba has affected 150 people in the United States, of which only five have survived.

The find had been underground for two thousand years and was only mentioned in past texts, but this historic coincidence has revealed its whereabouts, and it turns out that it was located a few meters from the Vatican, in the courtyard of the Palazzo de la Rovere.

“With this excavation we were able to propose an identification proposal that is based on a series of archaeological clues that are very consistent with each other and that lead us to identify this space as the ancient theater of Nero,” said Alessio de Cristofaro, an archaeologist at the City Council. of Rome who has worked on the excavation.

The Nero theater was a luxurious building from the imperial era where the emperor liked to exhibit himself. It was built by himself in the area dominated by those known as “Horti de Agrippina la Mayor”, mother of Caligula, a large property of the imperial family Julio Claudia, where a huge circus for horse racing was built.

The texts of ancient authors such as Pliny, Svetonio and Tacitus commented on the existence of the theater in the area now occupied by the Vatican and its adjoining streets, but the large number of buildings that rise in this Roman neighborhood, many of them of high artistic and cultural value, made it difficult to start excavations to prove the location.

The discovered remains are part of the left side of the cavea, in the shape of a hemicycle, and the scene, where architectural elements that testify to the luxury and splendor of Nero's Theater were preserved, such as columns and decorations.

“The extremely rich architectural decoration, consisting of white marble and colored marble with fluted columns of the Ionic order and stucco covered with gold leaf, and the presence of a certain type of brick allow us to accurately date the building between the time of Caligula and that of Nero”, detailed Cristofaro.

The “Theatrum Neronis”

The “Theatrum Neronis” was a large theater with capacity for thousands of spectators, which was regularly enjoyed by Emperor Nero, a great fan of the arts and remembered for going up to the Roman stages to recite poetry, before the imperial family, his closest circles. and, on special occasions, a larger audience.

But in addition, the excavations have allowed the discovery of rare examples of glass goblets, pitchers, ceramic materials, pilgrim insignia, bone objects and rosary matrices from the Middle Ages accumulated over the millennia.

Since this was the path by which pilgrims from half the world arrived at the place where Christian tradition indicates that the tomb of Saint Peter, the first pope, is located under the current basilica of the same name, and they left behind religious objects and souvenirs.

“The Middle Ages are not easy to find in this city. It is known for its palaces, churches and certain historical sources, but from the material point of view there are not many remains like the ones we have here, which go from the 10th to the 15th century and which tell us part of the economic and social history of the city,” said Renato Sebastiani, also an archaeologist.

After almost three years of excavations and archaeological documentation, the work continues with the aim that the discovered elements can be visited in the coming years thanks to a museum space of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, owner of the Rovere Palace.

The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC, for its acronym in English) has alerted this July 27 about an outbreak of salmonella that affects several countries in Europe and whose origin, according to the investigations that continue to be carried out, seem be cherry tomatoes.

The outbreak began in France in August 2022 and the last registered case occurred in Sweden on June 24 of this year.. At the moment, there are 92 people affected, of which 81 are confirmed cases and another 11 continue to be studied.. In addition, one person has already died from this infection.

How did the outbreak start?

The salmonellosis outbreak was first detected in France in August 2022. The strain was detected there in a plate of mixed salad that contained cherry tomatoes among green leafy vegetables and that was made specifically on August 17 of that year.

It was a few days later, on August 22, when the first case of salmonella derived from this outbreak was confirmed. Since then, another 16 cases have been registered in the French country and the number of those affected has been increasing throughout Europe, although the authorities assure that the majority have occurred between October 2022 and March 2023 and that the current risk of exposure It is low.

How many affected are there?

So far, a total of 14 countries have been affected by this salmonella outbreak.. To the 16 that have been reported in France, we must add many others spread throughout the European continent: Germany has 26 affected, Finland with 12, Sweden with 11, Austria and the Netherlands with 5 cases each, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Czechia with 4 affected and Norway, Ireland and Estonia with a single case. In addition, two other similar cases have been reported in the United States. In Spain, for the moment, there has been no case.

In total, 92 people have been affected by this outbreak of salmonellosis. Of these, 81 are confirmed cases, while another 11 are still under study.. According to the center there is also one deceased among all those affected.

The origin: cherry tomatoes

According to the investigations that continue to be carried out, the origin of this salmonella outbreak is tomatoes, specifically its cherry-shaped variety, popularly known as cherry tomatoes.

Authorities have investigated tomatoes from France and Austria, where the outbreak is believed to have originated, and have led to wholesalers in Spain, the Netherlands and Germany and tomato growers, also located in Spain, the Netherlands and Morocco.

However, it has not yet been possible to establish any microbiological evidence in these tomatoes, so it has not been possible to detect the point of infection and/or contamination in the companies and producers investigated.

How is salmonella?

As stated by this organization, salmonellosis is an infection that affects humans after eating raw or undercooked food contaminated with salmonella bacteria.

Although the incubation period and its symptoms may depend on the type and number of bacteria ingested, as well as the immune status of each person, it is normal for symptoms to appear 12 to 36 hours after consumption of these foods.

These include fever, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, accompanied by nausea and vomiting.. These symptoms usually last only a few days and antibiotic treatment is not needed, although due to dehydration, hospital admission may be necessary.. In the case of the elderly or people with suppressed immunity, a salmonella infection can be fatal.

Poland has decided to strengthen security on its border with Belarus after finding that more than 100 mercenaries belonging to the Russian-linked Wagner group have moved near the border with Poland, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday.

Morawiecki told a press conference that the mercenaries had approached Suwalki Gap, a strategic point in Polish territory located between Belarus and Kaliningrad.

Poland is a member of both the European Union and NATO, and has worried about its security with Russian ally Belarus and Ukraine on its eastern border. Those fears have grown since mercenaries from the Wagner group arrived in Belarus since the group's short-lived rebellion earlier this summer.

Just a few days ago it was the Polish Minister for Special Affairs, Stanislaw Zaryn, who warned that “we must be prepared in the event that mercenaries from the Wagner Group are used against Poland.”. “It is not clear what mission they will finally carry out,” he added.

The President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, has also asserted that the presence of mercenaries from the Wagner Group in Belarusian territory constitutes a “serious threat” to Lithuanian security, as well as to the rest of the countries bordering Belarus, such as Poland and Latvia.

The Wagner Group mercenaries were sent to Belarus as a solution to their attempted rebellion against the Russian authorities at the end of June.. In response, Lithuania took additional security measures and prepared its Armed Forces to collaborate with the Border Guard in case of emergency.

Niger's ministers of Oil, Mines and Transport, as well as the leader of the ousted president's party, Mohamed Bazoum, have been detained, according to police sources.

They are Sani Issoufou Mahamadou, Minister of Oil and son of former President Mahamadou Issoufou (2011-2021); Ousseini Hadizatou Yacoub, Minister of Mines; Alma Oumaru, Minister of Transport, and Foumakoye Gado, Chairman of the Niger Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNSD).

According to the same sources, several more people from the PNSD, the party in power in Niger until the military coup a few days ago, were also arrested for posting messages on social networks calling for resistance.

The Nigerian coup board asked citizens in the last hours not to use social networks to “transmit information and political messages likely to disturb public order”, under threat of arrest.

In networks, former president Issoufou also stated that he was negotiating to obtain the release of President Bazoum, held since last day 26 by the coup junta in the Presidential Palace of Niamey, and “to restore him to his functions.”

On the other hand, the transitional president of Chad, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, shared this morning the first photograph of the deposed president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, since the military coup that country suffered last Wednesday.

As reported by himself through the social network Twitter, Déby Itno met with Bazoum in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.

Year-on-year inflation in the euro area stood at 5.3% in July, two tenths below the June rate, according to preliminary data published this Monday by the community statistics office, Eurostat.

By components, food, alcohol and tobacco were the main factor influencing prices, registering year-on-year growth of 10.8%.

After food came services (5.6%, compared to 5.4% in June).

The interannual rate of non-energy industrial goods stood at 5%, compared to 5.5% in June.

For its part, the drop in the energy rate in July was 6.1%, when in June it had been 5.6%.

According to the data by country, in Spain the inflation rate stood at 2.1% in July, one of the lowest in the EU along with those of Luxembourg (2.0%) and Belgium (1.6%). .

At the opposite extreme, the highest inflation rates in July were recorded in Slovakia (10.2%), Croatia (8.1%), Lithuania (7.1%) and Austria (7.0%).

The rate in Germany was 6.5%, while in France it was 5.0%.

Eurostat will publish the final inflation data for July on August 18.

rise in GDP

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the euro area, during the second quarter of the year, grew by 0.3%, as reported on Monday by the community statistics office, Eurostat.

The preliminary estimate published today shows, on the other hand, that the GDP remained stable in the EU.

In Spain, GDP grew by 0.4% between April and June.

Compared to the second quarter of 2022, the rise in GDP was 0.6% in the euro area and 0.5% in the EU.

In the first quarter of 2023, GDP had remained stable in the euro area and had increased by 0.2% in the EU.

Of the Member States for which data are available for the second quarter of the year compared to the previous one, Ireland registered the largest increase (3.3%), followed by Lithuania (2.8%).

On the other hand, decreases were registered in Sweden (1.5%), as well as in Latvia (-0.6%), Austria (-0.4%) and Italy (0.3%).

Comparing the data for the second quarter with those for the same period in 2022, Spain, with year-on-year growth of 1.8%, was among the most important rates, only surpassed by Ireland (2.8%) and Portugal (2.3 %).

On the other hand, decreases were recorded by Sweden (2.4%), the Czech Republic (0.6%) and Latvia (0.5%).

Eurostat specified that the preliminary estimates of GDP are based on incomplete data still subject to revision.

When it comes to talking about universities, there is no one with greater fame and prestige than Harvard. Founded in 1636 (140 years before the United States itself), the Massachusetts institution is considered the best university in the world. Studying (let alone graduating) there is the dream of millions of university students around the world who aspire to excellence.

However, many of them have to give up that dream for different reasons.. One of the most frequent, the economic one: according to El Comercio, being a Harvard student costs more than 82,000 dollars.

But what if they told you that you can study for free at Harvard? And it is that the famous university offers a series of course and career programs that can be done online and for free and only assuming the costs of issuance and the title, according to El Español

Harvard offers more than 130 free training

Harvard University itself has a course search engine on its website, where you can filter by price, duration, field of study or modality, among others.. If you filter by free price, you can see that the University offers different free courses.

Up to 9 pages of courses that are several weeks long and that only require the payment of the verification certificate at the end of the course (and that costs around 150 dollars in most cases).

What free courses does Harvard have?

The free courses, which can be found on the official Harvard website, are varied: most are dedicated to programming and new technologies, such as 'Introduction to game development', 'Introduction to computing', or 'Introduction to Intelligence Artificial with Python'.

There are also different formations of the Humanities branch, such as 'The first empires of China and the emergence of Buddhism', 'Contemporary China: the People's Republic, Taiwan and Hong Kong' or 'Religion, conflict and peace'. Other courses offer global visions, such as 'Justice' or 'EE public policy. USA: social, economic and foreign policies'.

Social Sciences also have a place in these study programs, with training such as 'Big Data Solutions for social and economic disparities'; as well as the branch of Medicine, with courses such as 'The opioid crisis in the United States' or 'MalariaX: defeating malaria from the genes to the world'.

Art, Business, Education or Data Science or even Law training: up to 133 free Harvard programs that can be consulted at this link.

How to Enroll in Free Harvard Courses

To enroll in the free Harvard courses, you have to search for the desired course on the online training website of the university center: Harvard edX. Once there, you simply have to select the course (from which we can consult information about the program, the cost of the certificate and other aspects) and open an account or log in on the web to enroll in one of the different dates offered at based on the duration of the course.

You can sign up for free courses and be a graduate of Harvard University through this link.

The Ukrainian presidency has announced that it will begin negotiations with the United States in the coming days to agree on a bilateral agreement with security guarantees to guarantee Washington's support until Kiev achieves NATO membership.. “Security guarantees for Ukraine will be concrete and long-term commitments that guarantee Ukraine's ability to win now and deter any Russian aggression in the future,” said the head of the Office of the Ukrainian Presidency, Andri Yermak.. These guarantees “will be valid until Ukraine becomes a member of NATO,” Yermak added.