AAS, Norway (AP) — Norway reported Thursday dozens of confirmed and suspected cases of bluetongue, an insect-borne virus that is harmless to humans but can be fatal to sheep and other livestock, for the first time in the country since 2009.
The Norwegian Veterinary Institute said the virus known as bluetongue serotype 3, or BTV-3, was first detected in livestock in southern Norway on Sept. 6.
The institute said the cases followed outbreaks of bluetongue in several European countries. Cases have also recently been reported in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and France. The disease is spread by midges and ticks that are typically found in warmer weather.
In Sweden, cases were reported this week along the country's west coast, and earlier this month, several cases in Denmark prompted zoos and animal parks to protectively vaccinate animals to try and contain the spread. The first case in Denmark was recorded in early August, on a Danish farm with sheep and cows near the German border.
Symptoms in animals include high fever, mouth ulcers and swelling of the face and tongue, as well as a blue color of the tongue, known as cyanosis, stemming from a lack of oxygen. Sheep, cattle and goats may also have breathing difficulties.
Infected animals yield less milk, though the milk is safe for human consumption, authorities said.
A cow infected with bluetongue stands in the barn in Wymeer, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2024. (Lars Penning/dpa/dpa via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — Less than two weeks before his 100th birthday, former President Jimmy Carter is receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation, which has set aside its longstanding rule that the winner accept the honor in person.
The Ohio-based foundation announced Thursday that Carter was this year's winner of the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, named for the late diplomat. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his human rights advocacy and for brokering such agreements as the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.
Carter, who turns 100 on Oct. 1, is in hospice care in Plains, Georgia. His grandson, Jason Carter, will accept the prize on his behalf during a November ceremony that will honor the former president’s peace efforts and his authorship of more than 30 books — what the foundation calls “the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.”
“For the past 17 years, one of the standing requirements to receive the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award was a guaranty that the recipient would appear in person in Dayton, OH for an on-stage interview and an awards ceremony," Nicholas A. Raines, executive director of the Dayton foundation, said in a statement. “This year we have decided to waive that requirement and present the award in absentia, to President Jimmy Carter.”
Jason Carter said in a statement that two of his grandfather's “most enduring interests have been a devotion to literature and a near-constant pursuit of a peaceful resolution to conflict.”
“It is gratifying to have the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation choose to honor my grandfather with the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award for a lifetime of work melding two of his loves — literature and peace,” Jason Carter added.
On Thursday, the Foundation also announced that Paul Lynch's “Prophet Song” won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction and Victor Luckerson's “Built from the Fire” won for nonfiction.
Lynch and Luckerson each will receive $10,000. Fiction runner-up, “The Postcard” author Anne Berest, and nonfiction finalist, “Red Memory” author Tania Branigan, each get $5,000.
FILE - Egypt's President Anwar Sadat, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, looks on at Camp David, Md., Sept. 7, 1978. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the North lawn of the White House as they completed signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in Washington on March, 26, 1979. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)
FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at the Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., Aug. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
