27-06-2021

Australia's largest city entered a two-week lockdown on Saturday to contain a sudden Covid
surge, but several European nations lifted restrictions despite the global spread of a highly contagious
form of the disease.
Photo : AP
Australia battles Delta Covid surge
as Europe eases restrictions
SYDNEY : Australia's largest city entered
a two-week lockdown on Saturday to
contain a sudden Covid surge, but several
European nations lifted restrictions
despite the global spread of a highly
contagious form of the disease.
While vaccination drives have brought
down infections in numerous-mostly
wealthy-countries, the rise of the Delta
variant which first emerged in India has
stoked fears of new waves of a virus that
has already killed nearly four million
people.
Sydney's normally bustling
harbourside centre was nearly deserted
after the lockdown took effect at
midnight, a shock for a city that had
returned to relative normality after
months with very few cases.
The new restrictions apply to some five
million people across Sydney in addition
to other nearby population centres.
"The Delta variant is proving to be a
very formidable foe," said Brad Hazzard,
the health minister for New South Wales
Death toll in Florida collapse
rises to 4; 159 still missing
SUNFSIDE : With nearly
160 people unaccounted for
and at least four dead after a
seaside condominium tower
collapsed into a smoldering
heap of twisted metal and
concrete, rescuers used both
heavy equipment and their
own hands to comb through
the wreckage on Friday in an
increasingly desperate
search for survivors, reports
UNB.
As scores of firefighters in
Surfside, just north of
Miami, toiled to locate and
reach anyone still alive in the
remains of the 12-story
Champlain Towers South,
hopes rested on how quickly
crews using dogs and
microphones could
complete their grim, yet
delicate task.
"Any time that we hear a
sound, we concentrate in
that area," Miami-Dade
Assistant Fire Chief Raide
Jadallah said. "It could be
just steel twisting, it could be
state.
"No matter what defensive steps were
taking at the moment, the virus seems to
understand how to counter-attack."
Globally, the pandemic is still slowing
down, with the World Health
Organization (WHO) reporting the
lowest number of new cases worldwide
since February and decreasing deaths
attributed to the coronavirus.
But concerns over the Delta variant
have prompted new restrictions in
countries that had previously managed
to control their own outbreaks.
"Globally there is currently a lot of
concern about the Delta variant," WHO
chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told
a Friday press conference.
"Delta is the most transmissible of the
variants identified so far, has been
identified in at least 85 countries and is
spreading rapidly among unvaccinated
populations," he added.
Spain nonetheless brought an end to
mandatory outdoor mask wearing on
debris raining down, but not
specifically sounds of
tapping or sounds of a
human voice."
Buffeted by gusty winds
and pelted by intermittent
rain showers, two heavy
cranes began removing
debris from the pile using
large claws in the morning,
creating a din of crashing
glass and metal as they
picked up material and
dumped it to the side. A
smoky haze rose from the
site.
Once the machines
paused, firefighters wearing
protective masks and
carrying red buckets
climbed atop the pile to
remove smaller pieces by
hand in hope of finding
spots where people might be
trapped. In a parking garage,
rescuers in knee-deep water
used power tools to cut into
the building from below.
Surfside Mayor Charles
Burkett said crews were
doing everything possible to
save as many people as they
could.
"We do not have a
resource problem, we have a
luck problem," he said.
The White House said
President Joe Biden, who
spoke with Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis after the collapse,
was receiving updates from
Homeland Security.
Officials said they still
don't know exactly how
many residents or visitors
were in the building when it
fell, but they were trying to
locate 159 people who were
considered unaccounted for
and may or may not have
been there.
Flowers left in tribute
decorated a fence near the
tower, and people awaiting
news about the search
watched from a distance,
hands clasped and hugging.
Congregants prayed at a
nearbysynagoguewhere
some members were among
Saturday, a year after the rule was first
introduced in the wake of the devastating
first wave of the virus through Europe.
The decision came despite the
announcement of a major coronavirus
cluster in the capital Madrid, traced to an
end-of-school-year student trip to the
holiday island Mallorca, with more than
2,000 people ordered to self-isolate.
The Netherlands ended its rules on
outdoor mask wearing, also easing some
restrictions on indoor dining and
reopening discotheques to patrons who
tested negative for Covid.
Businesses were also allowed from
Friday to broadcast the Euro 2020
football tournament, provided customers
kept socially distanced.
And Switzerland scrapped most of its
remaining coronavirus restrictions on
Saturday, after health minister Alain
Berset said this week that the country's
use of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna
vaccines gave adequate protection
against the Delta variant.
the missing.
On the beach near the
collapsed structure, visitor
Faydah Bushnaq of Sterling,
Virginia, knelt and scratched
"Pray for their souls" in the
sand.
"We were supposed to be
on vacation, but I have no
motivation to have fun,"
Bushnaq said. "It is the
perfect time to say a prayer
for them."
Three more bodies were
removed overnight, and
Miami-Dade Police Director
Freddy Ramirez said
authorities were working
with the medical examiner's
office to identify the victims.
Eleven injuries were
reported, with four people
treated at hospitals.
Miami-Dade Mayor
Daniella Levine Cava said
rescuers were at "extreme
risk" going through the
rubble.
"Debris is falling on them
as they do their work.
With nearly 160 people unaccounted for and at least four dead after a seaside condominium
tower collapsed into a smoldering heap of twisted metal and concrete, rescuers used both heavy
equipment and their own hands to comb through the wreckage on Friday in an increasingly desperate
search for survivors.
Photo : AP
Evidence on UFOs
'largely inconclusive':
US intelligence report
WASHINGTON : A highly
awaited US intelligence
report on dozens of
mysterious unidentified
flying object sightings said
most could not be explained,
but did not rule out that
some could be alien
spacecraft.
The unclassified report
said researchers could
explain only one of 144 UFO
sightings by US government
personnel and sources
between 2004 and 2021,
sightings that often were
made during military
training activities.
Eighteen of those, some
observed from multiple
angles, appeared to display
unusual movements or flight
characteristics that
surprised those who saw
them, like holding stationary
in high winds at high
altitude, and moving with
extreme speed with no
discernable means of
propulsion, the report said.
Some of the 144 might be
explained by natural or
human made objects like
birds or drones cluttering a
pilot's radar, or natural
atmospheric phenomena,
the report said.
Others could be secret US
defense tests, or unknown
advanced technologies
created by Russia or China,
it said.
Yet others appeared to
require more advanced
technologies to determine
what they are, it said.
The sightings of what the
report calls unidentified
aerial phenomena (UAP)
"probably lack a single
explanation," said the report
from the Office of the
Director of National
Intelligence.
"We currently lack
sufficient information in our
dataset to attribute incidents
to specific explanations."
The report made no
mention of the possibility ofor
rule out-that some of the
objects sighted could
represent extra-terrestrial
life. The military and
intelligence community
have conducted research on
them as a potential threat.
Sydney flags broader
lockdown as Delta
variant cases swell
SYDNEY : Central Sydney's
streets were deserted on
Saturday as Australia's
largest city began a weeklong
lockdown to contain the
highly contagious Delta
coronavirus variant, with
authorities warning broader
restrictions could follow.
More than 80 Covid-19
cases have been reported so
far in an infection surge
linked to an international
flight crew transported to a
quarantine hotel from the
airport.
The flare-up was a shock
for a city that had returned
to relative normality after
months with very few local
cases.
The sudden curbs took
effect at midnight, affecting
an estimated one million
people across Sydney's
business district and affluent
eastern suburbs.
But the spread of the
outbreak beyond the four
neighbourhoods already
under lockdown was
spurring "growing and more
intense concern", New
South Wales state health
minister Brad Hazzard said.
"The Delta variant is
proving to be a very
formidable foe," he told
reporters.
"No matter what
defensive steps were taking
at the moment, the virus
seems to understand how to
counter-attack."
Health officials have been
alarmed by the rapid spread
of the Delta variant first seen
in India, noting instances of
people passing on the virus
during fleeting encounters
in shops and then quickly
infecting close family
contacts.
WASHINGTON : Former President Donald
Trump will return to the rally stage this weekend,
holding his first campaign-style event since
leaving the White House as he makes good on his
pledge to exact revenge on those who voted for
his historic second impeachment, reports UNB.
Trump's event at Ohio's Lorain County
Fairgrounds, not far from Cleveland, will be held
Saturday to support Max Miller, a former White
House aide who is challenging Republican Rep.
Anthony Gonzalez for his congressional seat.
Gonzalez was one of 10 GOP House members
who voted to impeach Trump for his role in
inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the
Capitol building.
Trump wants them to pay.
The rally, held five months after Trump left
office under a cloud of violence, marks the
beginning of a new, more public phase of his
post-presidency. After spending much of his time
behind closed doors building a political operation
and fuming about the last election, Trump is
planning a flurry of public appearances in the
coming weeks. He'll hold another rally in Florida
over the July Fourth weekend unattached to a
midterm candidate and will travel to the
southern border next week to protest President
SunDAY, JunE 27, 2021
7
Trump targeting GOP
impeachment voter
at Ohio revenge rally
Joe Biden's immigration policies.
The rally also comes as Trump is facing
immediate legal jeopardy. Manhattan
prosecutors informed his company Thursday
that it could soon face criminal charges
stemming from a wide-ranging investigation into
the former president's business dealings. The
New York Times, citing sources familiar with the
matter, reported that charges could be filed
against the Trump Organization as early as next
week. Trump has denounced the investigations
as nothing more than a "witch hunt" aimed as
damaging him politically. Although Trump
remains a deeply polarizing figure, he is
extremely popular with the Republican base, and
candidates have flocked to his homes in Florida
and New Jersey seeking his endorsement as he
has tried to positioned himself as his party's
kingmaker. Trump has said he is committed to
helping Republicans regain control of Congress in next
year's midterm elections. But his efforts to support -
and recruit - candidates to challenge incumbent
Republicans who have crossed him put him at odds
with other Republican leaders who have been trying to
unify the party after a brutal year in which they lost
control of the White House and failed to gain control
of either chamber of Congress.
Former President Donald Trump will return to the rally stage this weekend,
holding his first campaign-style event since leaving the White House
as he makes good on his pledge to exact revenge on those who voted for his
historic second impeachment.
Photo : AP
Bill to renew key Missouri Medicaid
funding tax advances
JEFFERSON CITY : Missouri senators
advanced a bill to renew a key tax for
Medicaid funding late Friday after hours of
debate over coverage of family planning
services. The GOP-led Senate in a voice vote
gave the tax bill initial approval. The bill
needs another Senate vote to move to the
House, reports UNB.
Senators were able to advance the bill after
some Republicans joined with Democrats to
vote down a proposal by GOP Sen. Bob
Onder that sought to cut off any government
money for Planned Parenthood.
Missouri already bans any Medicaid
funding from being used to pay for
abortions. But the Missouri Supreme Court
last year overturned another provision in a
state budget law forbidding Medicaid
reimbursements to any Planned Parenthood
clinic, even those that don't provide
abortions. "No taxpayer should be forced to
participate in the evil of abortion," Onder
told colleagues during debate on the Senate
floor Friday. Onder framed his proposal as a
test of fellow Republicans' beliefs on
abortion, which GOP Sen. Mike Cierpiot
called "outrageous." Cierpiot was among
several Republicans who raised concerns
that blocking all Medicaid funding for
Planned Parenthood, without first getting a
waiver from the federal Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services, could violate federal
rules and put billions of dollars in federal
Medicaid funding at risk.
"It is the opposite of a pro-life move,"
Cierpiot said. "It is going to threaten funds
for the most vulnerable people in this state."
The latest version of the bill also includes a
ban on Medicaid spending on any
medications or devices "used for the purpose
of inducing an abortion."
Lawmakers for months have been trying to
extend the tax on hospitals, pharmacies,
nursing homes and ambulances, which
expires Sept. 30.
Afghan leader meets Biden
as US exit looms
WASHINGTON : US
President Joe Biden
promised Afghan leader
Ashraf Ghani strong support
during a White House
meeting Friday but made
clear he was not planning to
slow the US withdrawal after
nearly two decades of
fighting. Less than three
months before his deadline
for the removal of all troops,
Biden told Ghani that
Afghans had to determine
their own fate even as they
face a mounting offensive by
Taliban insurgents.
"The partnership between
the United States and
Afghanistan is not ending,"
Biden said in the Oval Office.
"Our troops may be
leaving, but support for
Afghanistan is not ending."
Even so, Biden told the
Afghan president, "Afghans
are going to have to decide
their future, what they
want." "The senseless
violence, it has to stop. It's
going to be very difficult."
Ghani was in Washington
along with Abdullah
Abdullah, who oversees
Kabul's peace negotiations
with the Taliban, amid rising
uncertainty over the group's
recent gains and the
possibility of their return to
power.
The extremists subjected
the population to a brutal
version of Islam when they
ruled from 1996-2001.
Sitting next to Biden,
Ghani acknowledged that
Biden was not going to
change course from his April
announcement ordering the
end to America's longest
war. "President Biden's
decision has been historic, it
has made everybody
recalculate and reconsider,"
Ghani said.
"We are here to respect it
and support it."
But he also said not to
count his government out,
amid reports that an internal
US intelligence assessment
says the Taliban could
possibly take over Kabul
within six months of the US
departure.
Ghani said Afghan
government forces retook
six districts, in the north and
south, on Friday.