International
Israel premier calls for vaccination push in Arab communities
AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Wednesday for new efforts to promote coronavirus vaccination within Arab communities, which are now the leading hotspots of Covid transmission.
Before leaving New York where he addressed the UN General Assembly, partly on Israel’s pandemic response, Bennett said “the 40 ‘reddest’ communities in Israel are from the Arab sector”, referring to transmission rates.
Bennett has faced criticism from some health experts over his refusal to reimpose lockdown restrictions despite persistently highly daily case counts.
But Bennett said his government’s policy was to keep Israel “as open as possible alongside focused work on the non-vaccinated and the centres of morbidity”.
“What will help is… going to the Arab sector, and persuading them,” he told reporters.
Israel’s Arab citizens, Palestinians who remained on their land after Israel’s founding in 1948, make up roughly 20 percent of the country’s 9.3 million population.
Zahi Said, a spokesman for the health ministry, told AFP that 40 percent of all new infections in Israel — and a similar rate of hospitalisations and deaths — were within the Arab community.
Said attributed the high rates to a “lack of vaccination and non-compliance with health ministry instructions, such as distancing and wearing masks.”
He said the ministry was promoting vaccine awareness in Arab cities and towns, but that vaccine resistance has persisted.
Israel was in December among the first countries to launch a national vaccination campaign that brought infections down to a trickle and allowed the lifting in June of nearly all pandemic restrictions.
The emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant caused infections to surge, but Bennett’s government has opted to rollout a third, or booster, jab of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine instead of a new lockdown.
Israeli data shows that those who have received a third shot are less likely to become seriously ill with Covid than those who have received the required two shots.
International
Judge declares Donald Trump not guilty in Stormy Daniels case
Judge Juan Merchan acquitted U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the case involving former porn actress Stormy Daniels.
“At this moment, I am issuing this verdict to cover all 34 charges,” Merchan stated. The judge also wished Trump good luck in his second term as president.
Trump will now become the first criminal president.
Merchan declined to impose any punishment. This decision strengthens Trump’s acquittal and clears the way for his return to the White House without the threat of prison or a fine.
“Never before has this court faced such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances,” Judge Merchan said.
International
Canada imposes sanctions on 14 venezuelan officials for human rights violations
Canada imposed sanctions on 14 high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan “regime” this Friday, including prominent members of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DGCIM), for their involvement in human rights violations in Venezuela.
Among those sanctioned are DGCIM prosecutors Dinorah Yoselin Bustamante Puerta and Farik Karin Salcedo Mora; the director of criminal investigations at the agency, Asdrubal José Brito Hernandez, as well as its former deputy director, Rafael Ramón Blanco Marrero.
The sanctions also target several members of the Bolivarian National Guard: its general commander, Elio Ramón Estrada Paredes; the commander of the capital region, Johan Alexander Hernández Lárez, and lieutenant colonel, Alexander Enrique Granko Arteaga.
Other individuals sanctioned include the director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), Alexis José Rodríguez Cabello, and his deputy director, Miguel Antonio Muñoz Palacios; Brigadier General of the Bolivarian National Police, Rubén Darío Santiago Servigna, and Domingo Antonio Hernández Lárez, commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces.
International
María Corina Machado urges Edmundo González Urrutia not to return to Venezuela for his safety
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said on Friday that she asked Edmundo González Urrutia, former candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), not to return to Venezuela to avoid putting himself at risk.
In a video message, Machado explained that the opposition evaluated the situation and concluded that González Urrutia would be in danger if he tried to enter Venezuela as he had planned.
González Urrutia, who claims to have won the July 28 elections with the support of more than 85% of the official voting records, had announced that he would return to Venezuela on January 10 to assume the presidency.
Earlier, Nicolás Maduro, who was declared the winner of those elections, took the oath of office for a third term.
Judge declares Donald Trump not guilty in Stormy Daniels case
Canada imposes sanctions on 14 venezuelan officials for human rights violations
María Corina Machado urges Edmundo González Urrutia not to return to Venezuela for his safety
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
International4 days agoMachado calls Venezuelans to the streets one day before the presidential investiture
-
International3 days agoThe US ambassador says goodbye to Mexico without regretting “anything” despite bilateral tension
-
International3 days agoArgentine Jorge Fernández Díaz wins the 81st Nadal Award with ‘El secreto de Marcial’
-
International2 days agoTrump considers declaring National Economic Emergency to justify universal tariffs
-
International3 days agoA military judge sends the Supreme court trial against colonels accused of coup in Brazil
-
International2 days agoThirteen cuban military members missing after explosion at arms warehouse
-
International2 days agoIsraeli forces recover hostage remains amid ceasefire talks with Hamas
-
International4 days agoSheinbaum defends Mexico’s presence in Maduro’s investiture
-
International4 days agoBathing with elephants, the popular Thai tourist activity criticized by animal rights activists
-
International4 days agoJustin Trudeau announces his resignation from the leadership of his party and as Prime Minister of Canada
-
International4 days agoBoluarte promises to reduce citizen insecurity in Peru this year
-
International2 days agoAt least 13 civilians killed in russian missile attack on Zaporizhzhia
-
International2 days agoAmerican citizen killed by mexican police officer in Ciudad Juárez shooting
-
International2 days agoVenezuelan opposition candidate Enrique Márquez detained ahead of Maduro’s inauguration
-
International1 day agoMaría Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
-
International1 day agoMaria Corina Machado calls for nationwide protests ahead of presidential inauguration
-
International3 days ago
Donald Trump insists that Canada should be part of the US after Justin Trudeau’s resignation
-
International3 days agoThe Pentagon reaches an agreement with LGTBIQ veterans discharged for their sexual orientation
-
International1 day agoGovernor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
-
International1 day agoHundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
-
International3 days agoCuba records just under 13,000 earthquakes in 2024, a record year of earthquakes
-
International4 days agoThe trial against Sarkozy opens for financing his campaign with Gaddafi money
-
International4 days agoThree Israelis killed in a Palestinian attack in the northern West Bank
-
International4 days agoNew Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip leave at least 48 dead in the last few hours
-
International4 days agoEmmanuel Macron accuses Elon Musk of supporting “a reactionary international” in a world in “disorder”
-
International39 mins agoOAS chief calls for strengthening democracy in the region amid Venezuela’s crisis
-
International4 days agoThe federal president of Austria commissions the far-right Herbert Kickl to form a government
-
International4 days agoNorth Korea launches an intermediate-range missile, its first test in two months
-
International4 days agoRussia announces the capture of the Ukrainian bastion of Kurákhove in the Donestsk region
-
International33 mins agoMaría Corina Machado urges Edmundo González Urrutia not to return to Venezuela for his safety
-
International24 mins agoCanada imposes sanctions on 14 venezuelan officials for human rights violations
-
International21 mins agoJudge declares Donald Trump not guilty in Stormy Daniels case