Day: June 13, 2021

Moscow on Saturday announced that next week will be a non-working week due to a surge in coronavirus cases.

In a decree, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Muscovites will have “a long holiday” on June 12-19 aiming to stem the rise in cases.

The city’s enterprises are also being recommended to transfer to remote work.

Children’s playrooms and food courts are temporarily suspended, and restaurants, bars, cafes, nightclubs, karaoke, bowling, and other entertainment venues are prohibited from serving visitors at night (from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.). However, takeaway service is allowed.

In addition, major city parks have closed attractions, along with children’s and sports grounds and rental shops. But the parks will be open for walks.

The mayor urged the public to get free vaccinations against the virus.

Moscow has seen a significant surge in coronavirus cases for several days – over the last 24 hours officials in the capital saw 6,701 cases, the highest number since last December, and the infection rate rose to 1.7, the highest since last September.

In addition, the number of difficult cases has been growing, including those under ventilation.

A total of 13,510 new infections were reported in Russia on Saturday. The overall number of people who have been exposed to the virus is 5.19 million.

Although Russia was the first country in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine – Sputnik V – it lags badly in the rate of vaccinated people, with only 9.53% of the population having gotten a shot against COVID-19.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.78 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 175.31 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Naftali Bennett, expected to become Israel’s new prime minister later Sunday, said his government will back settlement construction in all areas of the occupied West Bank, including the areas classified as C areas.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was divided into three portions – Area A, B, and C – with area C under administrative and security control of Israel until a final status agreement is reached with the Palestinians.

Bennett made the statement in a speech at a special session of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) to hold a vote of confidence for his coalition government, which is expected to oust Benjamin Netanyahu from power.

Bennett also vowed not to allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, adding that Israel will boost both its defense and offense capabilities.

He also said he will maintain a cease-fire with Gaza but threatened Hamas with attacks if it chooses to escalate, and pledged to work for the return of Israeli soldiers in Hamas captivity.

Israeli official channel KAN said a number of lawmakers from the far-right Religious Zionist party were taken from the Knesset when they tried to block Bennett’s speech.

Bennett’s eight-party coalition is expected to take power later Sunday, with Bennet and centrist Yair Lapid alternating in the premier’s seat for two years, starting with Bennett.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara

Source: Anadolu Agency

Around 25,000 people poured into the streets of Madrid on Sunday to protest the Spanish government’s impending move to pardon several jailed Catalan separatist leaders.

Red and yellow, the colors of the Spanish flag, filled the central square of Colon, where right-wing politicians and intellectuals accused the country’s left-wing government of destroying Spain’s territorial integrity.

“Today we ask Prime Minister Sanchez for coherency, dignity and to protect the national unity and constitution that he swore to defend,” Popular Party leader Pablo Casado said before the rally. “We ask him not to sell Spain’s national sovereignty for a handful of votes.”

“The pardons are a betrayal to all the Catalans who suffered from the separatist coup d’état and to all the Spaniards who respect the constitution,” said Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right party Vox.

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo told La Vanguardia newspaper on Sunday that the pardons could be issued shortly.

“The decision will be of great political importance,” she said. “We want to normalize the institutional relationship with Catalonia, stop the confrontation provoked by the separatists and right-wing Spanish forces and stabilize the situation.”

Pardons could be issued for 12 Catalan separatist leaders, including former vice president of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, who was handed 13 years behind bars for his role in organizing an illegal independence referendum and subsequently declaring independence from Spain in 2017.

Spain’s Supreme Court recently denied their requests to be pardoned, stating in the ruling that the leaders showed no sign of regret for their actions.

But amid talk of the pardons, Junqueras, who remains the leader of the left-wing separatist group ERC, said last week that he believes in abandoning the “unilateral” route to independence.

Junqueras, like the separatist Catalan government, still wants to see the wealthy Spanish region become an independent republic. But he now thinks the only way to do it would be through a legal independence referendum like that of Scotland in 2014.

Whether Spain’s left-wing government would go as far as reforming the constitution to permit a legal referendum on the Catalan independence remains to be seen.

According to a recent poll conducted by Sigma Dos, 61% of Spaniards are against pardoning the Catalan independence leaders.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Three Ivorian soldiers were killed and four others injured when their vehicle hit an explosive device on the Tehini-Togolakaye road in a border town with Burkina Faso on Saturday night, an official said Sunday.

It was an ambush with the use of an improvised explosive device in which one of the army vehicles was blown up, Gen. Lassina Doumbia said in a statement.

According to him, the injured security personnel were taken to hospital.

This is the second attack in a week, targeting security forces in the West African country.

On June 7, a soldier died of his wounds after an attack by armed men in Tougbo, an area bordering Burkina Faso, according to the Ivorian military.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen is stable and in hospital “for further examination” after he collapsed on the football pitch during a EURO 2020 game against Finland on Saturday, the Danish Football Union (DBU) said on Sunday.

“This morning we have spoken to Christian Eriksen, who has sent his greetings to his teammates. His condition is stable, and he continues to be hospitalized for further examination,” the DBU announced on Twitter.

“The team and staff of the national team has received crisis assistance and will continue to be there for each other after yesterday’s incident,” the statement read referring to Saturday’s Euro 2020 game between Denmark and Finland in Copenhagen where the 29-year-old midfielder collapsed during the match.

“We would like to thank everyone for the heartfelt greetings to Christian Eriksen from fans, players, the Royal Families from both Denmark and England, international associations, clubs etc,” the statement added.

“We encourage everyone to send their greetings to the Danish FA, where we will make sure they are all passed on to Christian and his family,” it said.

On Saturday, near the end of the first half at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Eriksen seemed to pass out while trying to get control of the ball.

Medical staff rushed to the pitch to give a cardiac massage to the 29-year-old Inter Milan star.

Following their efforts, Eriksen was put on a stretcher to exit the Group B match.

When he was put in an oxygen mask on the stretcher, he could be seen putting his left hand on his forehead.

The Danish team formed a ring around him to block people from taking pictures or video.

Eriksen is a Denmark regular, having scored 36 goals in 108 international caps for his nation since his debut in 2010.

Seen as one of the most reputable players in Europe, Eriksen played for Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur before his move to Inter in 2020.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Somali national army on Sunday said it conducted military operations in three different regions in the Horn of Africa country, killing at least 50 al-Shabaab terrorists in the past 48 hours.

The operations took place in the central region of Hiiran, Middle Shabelle and southwestern province of lower Shabelle separately, Somali state television quoted military commanders as saying.

Many bases of the terror group were destroyed in the past 48 hours, the army said.

As the country is preparing to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in the coming months, the military has intensified operations against the group.

The Somali army’s recent operation against al-Shabaab in Middle Shabelle region has so far killed over 130 terrorists and liberated at least six villages, according to the military.

Source: Anadolu Agency