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Brazil regulator recommends travel ban over Covid variant

AFP

Brazil’s national health agency recommended Friday the government bar foreign travelers arriving from six southern African countries over a new Covid-19 variant detected in the region.

“Considering the epidemiological impact the new variant could have on the global situation, we recommend, as a preventive and precautionary measure, the immediate suspension of all flights from” six states, health agency Anvisa said in a technical note.

The countries specified were South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe — though Brazil currently has no direct flights from any of those states.

The agency also recommended “the temporary suspension of authorization to disembark in Brazil for foreign travelers who have transited through those countries in the past 14 days,” and a quarantine for Brazilian nationals returning from the region.

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President Jair Bolsonaro’s government must now decide whether to implement the recommendations.

First detected in South Africa, the new B.1.1.529 strain has at least 10 mutations, according to scientists, who warn that may make current vaccines less effective against it.

Several countries in Europe and Asia have already implemented travel restrictions over the new variant.

The World Health Organization urged caution, however.

“It will take a few weeks for us to understand what impact this variant has,” spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a briefing in Geneva.

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“At this point, implementing travel measures is being cautioned against.”

Brazil has been hit hard by Covid-19, with more than 600,000 deaths — second only to the United States.

But its situation has improved recently.

With more than 60 percent of Brazil’s 213 million people now fully vaccinated, the average daily Covid-19 death toll has fallen from more than 3,000 in April to around 200.

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International

Brazil’s Lula wishes Trump a successful term focused on prosperity and peace

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wished the new U.S. President, Donald Trump, a “successful” term that promotes “prosperity and well-being for the U.S. people” and “a fairer and more peaceful world.”

“On behalf of the Brazilian government, I congratulate President Donald Trump on his inauguration,” said the progressive leader on his social media, shortly after Trump took the oath of office at the Capitol in Washington.

Lula, 79, highlighted that the relationship between Brazil and the United States, one of its most important trade partners, is “marked by a history of cooperation, based on mutual respect and historical friendship.”

“Our countries maintain strong ties in various areas such as trade, science, education, and culture. I am confident that we can continue to make progress in these and other areas,” he added.

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International

Iran hopes U.S. will adopt realistic approaches under Trump administration

Iran declared on Monday that it hopes the new U.S. administration under Donald Trump will adopt “realistic approaches” toward Tehran and show “respect” for the interests of the countries in the region.

The Republican tycoon will take the oath for his second term as president of the United States on Monday at noon Washington time (17:00 GMT).

“We hope that the approaches and policies of the new U.S. government will be realistic and based on respect for the interests… of the countries in the region, including the Iranian nation,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, during a weekly press briefing.

During his first term (2017-2021), Trump implemented a “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran.

In 2018, under his administration, the United States withdrew from the international nuclear deal with Iran, concluded three years earlier, which offered Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for assurances that the country would not seek to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran denies any such intentions.

In response, Tehran significantly increased its stockpile of enriched materials and raised the enrichment threshold to 60%, approaching the 90% required to produce an atomic bomb, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Tehran, which has expressed a desire to relaunch negotiations to revive the deal, defends its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop nuclear weapons.

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International

Trump to sign executive order recognizing only two sexes

Donald Trump will sign an executive order instructing his administration to “recognize” the existence of only “two sexes,” future White House officials announced on Monday, just before the Republican’s inauguration.

“What we are doing today is defining that the policy of the United States is to recognize two sexes: male and female,” said the official, speaking to the press on the condition of anonymity.

The aim of the decree is “to defend women against the ideological extremism of gender and to restore biological truth within the Federal Government,” the official added, explaining that a person’s sexual identity will be defined solely by the gametes they possess.

During his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to put an end to the “transgender delusion.”

The elected president also plans to eliminate federal funding for programs supporting diversity in the administration, the same officials from his incoming cabinet stated.

“We are going to end this type of funding, we are going to put an end to these programs,” said one source from the future team, speaking anonymously about antiracism and diversity training courses.

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