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Rio to hold New Year’s party, after all

AFP

Rio de Janeiro will hold its famed New Year’s Eve party after all, Mayor Eduardo Paes announced Thursday, five days after canceling the celebration over concerns about Covid-19.

The iconic Brazilian beach city will go ahead with its annual fireworks display, though the huge concert that usually follows remains canceled, Paes told a news conference.

“The city is open. The city is going to celebrate,” he said.

“Rio de Janeiro has low (Covid-19) infection rates, low numbers of hospitalizations, and thanks to God and the vaccine, a very low number of deaths. That enables us to hold this event in complete safety.”

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The mayor had tweeted Saturday that Rio had to cancel the festivities “with sadness,” amid concerns over the new Omicron variant.

But he said Thursday that Governor Claudio Castro told him he may have spoken too soon.

After further meetings with Rio state and city health officials, authorities decided to go ahead with a reconfigured event, Paes said.

In addition to the world-famous fireworks show on Copacabana beach, the city will hold fireworks displays in nine other spots, and encourage revelers to go to the nearest one to avoid excessive crowds.

Copacabana will be closed to car traffic and public transportation, and tour buses will not be allowed into the city after the evening of December 30.

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Paes said officials would set up spots where people could be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Brazil has registered more than 615,000 deaths in the pandemic, second only to the United States.

But with 65 percent of the country’s 213 million people now fully vaccinated, the number of infections and deaths has plunged.

Rio’s announcement came amid cautious optimism from world health authorities over Omicron.

The variant is spreading fast, but early evidence suggests it causes less severe disease, according to the World Health Organization.

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Paes did not address another famed Rio party threatened by Covid-19, the annual carnival celebration scheduled to kick off on February 25.

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International

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“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

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“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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