AUSTRALIA
Suburbs under lockdown
Authorities were to lock down more than 300,000 people in suburbs north of Melbourne for a month from yesterday to contain the risk of infection after two weeks of double-digit rises in new COVID-19 cases in the country’s second-most populous state. From midnight, more than 30 suburbs in the country’s second-biggest city would return to stage 3 restrictions, the third-strictest level in curbs to control the virus. That means residents would be confined to home except for grocery shopping, health appointments, work or caregiving, and exercise.
HAITI
Government defends opening
The country defended its decision to reopen its air borders to the US, with the first plane due to arrive yesterday morning. The US has been one of the worst-hit countries by the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting more than 127,000 deaths from the disease as some states see a spike in fresh cases. The first commercial flight in three months was to land in the capital, Port-au-Prince, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida — a state with a large Haitian diaspora, but which is among those reporting a sharp uptick in infections.
UNITED STATES
Biden not to hold rallies
Former vice president Joe Biden on Tuesday said that he would not hold presidential campaign rallies during the pandemic, an unprecedented declaration that stands in stark contrast with President Donald Trump, who has already held large campaign gatherings. Biden also ramped up his criticism of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying that he had “failed” the American people and “waved the white flag” of surrender in the fight against COVID-19.
ETHIOPIA
Four die as protests spread
At least four people were on Tuesday killed as protests spread across several cities after a prominent singer from the country’s largest ethnic group was shot dead. The unrest, which prompted the government to switch off the Internet in the capital, highlighted ethnic tensions that threaten to derail the country’s fraught democratic transition, overseen by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The singer Hachalu Hundessa was shot on Monday night. With his political lyrics, he was seen as a voice of the Oromo people during years of anti-government protests that swept Abiy to power in 2018. On Tuesday morning, protesters poured into Addis Ababa from the surrounding Oromia region. Protests were reported in several towns in Oromia, such as central Adama, where the injured said they had been shot by security forces, said Desalegn Fekadu, a surgeon at the Adama Hospital. “Three patients died and there are still critical patients,” he said. “There are also more than 10 patients with burn injuries. They said their houses were set on fire.” A resident of Western Hararge, in Oromia, on condition of anonymity said that his cousin had been killed by young Oromo nationalists, because he was from the Amhara ethnic group.
SOMALIA
Mortars hit stadium
At least three mortar blasts on Tuesday evening sent people ducking for cover, hours after the Mogadishu Stadium reopened following years of instability. The mortar shells struck in and around the stadium, police Colonel Ahmed Muse said. There was no immediate word on any casualties. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab extremist group often targets the city. The blasts occurred after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed attended the opening ceremony, which included a soccer match in the nearly empty stadium. He left before the shells hit. The 35,000-seat stadium’s opening, complete with a large ceremonial flame, was a symbol of the nation’s attempts at rebuilding after nearly three decades of conflict.
IRAN
Clinic explosion kills 19
A powerful explosion at a clinic in northern Tehran on Tuesday killed at least 19 people, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. The blast at Sina At’har health center damaged buildings in the vicinity and sent a plume of thick black smoke into the night sky, state television reported. “An explosion was reported at 20:56 followed by a fire at Sina At’har clinic. Medical units were dispatched immediately,” Tehran’s emergency medical services said in a statement. “The death of 13 people has been confirmed. Six have also been injured and transferred” to a hospital, it added. Tehran fire department spokesman Jalal Maleki also told the agency that firefighters recovered the bodies of six more people after the blaze was extinguished. The explosion occurred as gas canisters caught fire in the clinic’s basement, Maleki said.
UNITED STATES
Comedy legend dies
Carl Reiner, a driving force in American comedy as a writer for television pioneer Sid Caesar, partner of Mel Brooks, and creator and costar of the classic sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, has died at the age of 98. His career spanned seven decades and every medium from theater and recordings to television and movies, including directing Oh, God!, three collaborations with Steve Martin and a role as an elderly con man in the revived Ocean’s Eleven series. Reiner died on Monday night of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, his assistant Judy Nagy said on Tuesday.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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