TURKMENISTAN
Jabs made mandatory
Ashgabat yesterday announced that it was introducing mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all adults, even though the nation claims to have registered no cases of the disease. The Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper said that all citizens aged over 18 “should be vaccinated.” Those with medical contraindications will be exempted from inoculations, the newspaper said, citing the Ministry of Health. “To make preventive vaccinations effective, each of us should actively participate in this process,” the ministry said.
CYPRUS
Customs force boosted
Authorities at a British military base in Cyprus have hired 50 percent more customs officers and procured detection equipment to better thwart illegal immigration from the breakaway north of the island. The addition of 24 new officers and four sports utility vehicles — two with thermal imaging cameras — allows authorities to patrol around-the-clock along a 45km boundary, Customs and Immigration head Adam Chatfield said. There has been a rising trend in migrant arrivals over the past three years.
NETHERLANDS
Crime reporter shot
A crime reporter was rushed to hospital after being shot on a street in central Amsterdam on Tuesday and was in a serious condition, police said. Peter R. de Vries — a journalist known for speaking on behalf of people affected by crime — was “fighting for his life,” Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema told a news conference. Eyewitnesses told local media that the 64-year-old journalist and TV presenter was shot up to five times, including once in the head. Police said three people had been arrested, among them the suspected shooter, but gave no details on the possible reasons for the attack.
ZIMBABWE
New note introduced
The central bank on Tuesday announced the introduction of a new 50 dollar note, the country’s highest denomination, worth only about US$0.60. Insufficient to pay even for a loaf of bread, the bill’s entry into circulation has revived memories of the hyperinflation of more than a decade ago in the nation. As price growth spiraled out of control, denominations at the time mounted as high as a 100 trillion dollar note. Journalist and government critic Hopewell Chin’ono scoffed at the new banknote, which at the unofficial black-market exchange rate will be worth just US$0.35. “It tells you something about inflation in your country if you need 3 notes of your highest currency denomination to buy a premium beer in a supermarket,” Chin’ono wrote on Twitter.
IRAQ
Blackout exacerbates heat
When the mercury soared to 52°C this week, Ali Karrar placed his baby for a couple of minutes in the fridge, but when the power went off on Thursday last week across the nation, people were left at a loss as to how to escape the heat. Those with the means hooked up fridges, air conditioning units and fans to private generators — but not Karrar, who lives in the town of Al-Hillah, as well as others across the impoverished and rural south. Four southern provinces have been without electricity since Tuesday. Sizzling temperatures have been compounded by high levels of humidity. “The children sleep right on the floor to try and stay cool, but us, the adults, haven’t slept a wink these past nights,” said Meshaal Hashem, a Basra docker and father of three.
UNITED STATES
Most Belarus travel banned
The Department of Transportation on Tuesday issued a final order that blocks most travel between the US and Belarus, underscoring Washington’s concern about the forced landing of a passenger jet to arrest dissident Belarussian journalist Roman Protasevich. The order, which was requested by the Department of State, bars airlines from selling tickets between the two countries, with exceptions only for humanitarian or national security reasons. The Transportation Department proposed the ban last week and said on Tuesday that it received no objections. There are no direct passenger flights between the US and Belarus.
UNITED STATES
Ex-cop could be NY mayor
Former policeman Eric Adams was on track on Tuesday to become New York’s next mayor after the city’s election authorities released new results showing he had maintained his lead in the Democratic primary. The 60-year-old Brooklyn borough president claimed victory after the Board of Elections said he held a lead of 1 percentage point over his nearest rival Kathryn Garcia. The elections board did not say how many absentee ballots were left to count. It is not due to release final results until the middle of this month.
UNITED STATES
Dozens of teens delay flight
An American Airlines flight from North Carolina to the Bahamas was delayed by a day after about 30 teenagers refused to wear masks, local media said on Tuesday. Flight 893 was scheduled for take off from Charlotte Douglas International Airport late on Monday, but only left the tarmac on Tuesday morning, with the troublemakers still on board. An initial delay of several hours was caused by mechanical problems, but when the plane was finally ready to leave arguments broke out between the crew and a group of teens who refused to comply with rules that all passengers must wear masks on flights to fight the spread of COVID-19, local channel WSOC-TV reported. “It was bad. First, they were yelling. They were cursing. They were being very obnoxious,” witness Malik Banks told the station. The teens were high-school students from Boston celebrating their graduation.
MEXICO
Five die in heavy rains
Four residents of the southern state of Chiapas died when a landslide caused by heavy rains collapsed their house, and a Portuguese tourist died when she fell into a rain-swollen river, authorities said on Tuesday. The state civil defense office said the landslide claimed the lives of a woman and three children in a rural community just outside the Chiapas state capital on Monday. On Tuesday, rescuers found the body of the 23-year-old Portuguese woman several kilometers downstream from where she fell or dove in at a series of pools and small waterfalls known as Agua Azul.
EGYPT
‘Ever Given’ to leave Suez
The container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March and has been detained there since was yesterday due to finally resume its journey after the owner and insurers reached a compensation settlement with the canal authority. One of the world’s largest container ships, the Ever Given became wedged diagonally across a single-lane stretch of the canal for six days, disrupting global trade. The Suez Canal Authority held the ship under court order as it pursued a compensation claim, creating a dispute with the ship’s insurers and Japanese owner Shoei Kisen.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
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