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Israeli PM warns of new virus outbreak as cases rise

AFP

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Tuesday of a “new outbreak” of coronavirus in Israel after a rise in infections he said was likely due to returning travellers carrying the Delta variant.

“Our goal is to end it, to take a bucket of water and pour it on the fire when the fire is still small,” Bennett said at Ben Gurion airport, where the government announced an expanded testing facility would be set up.

Israel recorded 125 new cases on Monday — the most per day since April, in a country where more than half the population has been fully vaccinated.

At the peak of the country’s outbreak in January, Israel was recording some 10,000 daily cases.

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Bennett said a recent spike in infections appeared to be due to the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus that likely came from overseas.

An outbreak in the town of Binyamina, north of Tel Aviv, saw more than 1,000 people quarantined and appeared to be due to travellers returning from Cyprus, he said.

“Whoever doesn’t have to fly abroad, please don’t,” Bennett added.

Israel remains largely closed to non-citizens.

Bennett, who ousted former premier Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month, said he was reconvening a “corona cabinet” to handle the challenge.

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“We reached an initial decision to treat this as a new outbreak,” Bennett said.

Israel launched a sweeping vaccination campaign after obtaining millions of doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

More than 55 percent of Israel’s population — some 5.2 million people — have received both doses of the vaccine.

Bennett urged parents to get their children vaccinated too, calling for children aged 12 and older to get jabs “as quickly as possible”.

Health ministry figures show that young people aged 10-19 were the most affected by the virus last month.

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On June 15, Israel lifted its requirement to wear face masks in enclosed public places — one of the last measures in force to fight the country’s outbreak.

The country has recorded over 840,000 novel coronavirus cases, including 6,428 deaths.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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