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Putin urges Russia to get Covid jabs, no mandatory vaccines

AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday made another appeal to sceptical Russians to vaccinate themselves against Covid-19 but remained opposed to mandatory vaccinations.

Putin also said he took part in trials of a nasal Covid vaccine and that he had experienced no problems after receiving a booster jab last week. 

Despite his repeated pleas, only around 37 percent of Russians are fully vaccinated. The country has in recent weeks seen more than 1,000 Covid deaths a day. 

“I recommend for everyone to not only undergo the vaccination procedure on time, but also revaccination,” the Russian leader said at a televised government meeting. 

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He said this was “extremely important” but added he was still opposed to mandatory vaccination.

“In general, I think vaccinations should be voluntary, especially for children,” he added, as Moscow expects to register a vaccine for children between the ages of 12 and 17 next month.

The long-serving 69-year-old leader said last week he had received a booster injection of Russia’s Sputnik V jab and “did not have any sensations”.

He said he took part in a Russian nasal vaccine trial the following day and felt well after both procedures.

“The next day after the jab, they put this powder in (my) nose,” he continued.

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“Today I already did some sport,” he added. 

Russia is one of the world’s hardest-hit countries and is struggling with widespread opposition to vaccination, even though it has developed several homegrown jabs including Sputnik V.

The country has recorded more than 9.4 million coronavirus cases, the fifth-highest number in the world, and more than 266,000 virus-related deaths, according to government figures.

State statistics agency Rosstat said the actual death toll from the pandemic in the country was closer to 450,000 by the end of September. 

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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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