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‘Every day counts’: Merkel urges tougher Covid curbs

AFP

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday renewed her call for tougher curbs to halt record coronavirus infections in Germany, stressing that “every day counts” as the country’s Covid-19 death toll passed the 100,000 mark.

“We need more contact restrictions,” the outgoing German leader said, adding that she had “today clearly told” her successor at the chancellery, Olaf Scholz, that “we can still manage this transition period together and look at all necessary measures”.

Calling Thursday a “sad day” over the grim death toll, Merkel said she had sought dialogue with Scholz and the leaders of his coalition partners Greens and FDP because of the gravity of the situation. 

“The situation is still too serious, because we are still in a phase of exponential (infections) growth and because the cases that are falling ill today will make up the intensive care patients in 10 or 14 days,” she said. 

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“We must really be careful to ensure that our hospitals are not overwhelmed.” 

Merkel had interrupted coalition negotiations between Scholz and his partners on Tuesday, summoning them for talks over the health emergency.

According to German media reports, she had urged them to order a shutdown as she found that latest rules requiring people to prove they’re vaccinated, recovered or recently tested negative to access public transport or offices were not enough.

But her call was reportedly rebuffed by the new coalition.

Instead, Scholz announced he will set up a new crisis cell in the chancellery on the pandemic.

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His ally Annalena Baerbock has also said the incoming coalition would take 10 days, until early December, to decide whether “the protective measures go far enough”.  

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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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