India is easing lockdown in several states after COVID case levels dropped to their lowest in two months.
Shops, restaurants and other businesses are allowed to reopen with limited hours in New Delhi and Mumbai, with some restrictions also lifted in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
The Delhi metro, which serves the city and surrounding areas, has reopened at 50% capacity, but Mumbai’s state rail network remains closed.
Image: The Delhi metro system has reopened. Pic: AP
Coronavirus infections peaked at around 400,000 a day in May after a devastating wave hit the country at the start of April.
But on Monday, the number of new COVID cases was the lowest it has been for two months – with 100,636 reported in the past 24 hours.
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Despite recorded infections steadily declining, experts fear the virus is spreading unchecked through India’s rural areas – where the majority of its people live.
India is still second to the US in terms of total cases globally – with almost 29 million – but a lack of testing facilities and hospital capacity mean that figure is thought to be a vast underestimate.
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The country’s health ministry said 2,427 new deaths were registered in the latest 24-hour period, taking the total to 349,186.
So far 222 million COVID-19 jabs have been given out across India – with less than 5% of India’s 1.39 billion population fully vaccinated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under mounting pressure to speed up the rollout and was due to address the nation for the first time since April on Monday.
India has just ordered 300 million doses of an unlicensed vaccine made by an Indian company called Biological E.
The jab is still in phase three trials, but previous ones have shown encouraging results.
Image: Shops in Mumbai have been allowed to reopen with restricted opening hours. Pic: AP
Image: A man gets his hair cut at a barbers in Mumbai. Pic: AP
The Delta variant, a double mutation of the virus that originated in India, has left health systems overwhelmed.
Politicians have been under pressure to the save the economy, with New Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying on Monday: “Now the corona situation is under control. The economy must be brought back on track.”
But other states are being more cautious, with the southern states of Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu extending their lockdowns for at least another week.
It is the first time in the country’s history that House representatives have voted the Speaker out.
Behind closed doors early on Tuesday, Mr McCarthy told fellow Republicans: “If I counted how many times someone wanted to knock me out, I would have been gone a long time ago.”
Several Republicans, however, had said they were sticking with Mr McCarthy as they emerged from the meeting, during which they said he received standing ovations.
It is a move that angered Mr Gaetz and other far-right Republicans, as Mr McCarthy relied on Democratic votes to pass a temporary funding extension on Saturday that avoided a partial government shutdown.
A band of about 20 Republicans had forced Mr McCarthy’s hand by repeatedly blocking other legislation.
Mr Gaetz and his allies said they were frustrated by the slow pace of spending legislation on Mr McCarthy’s watch.
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Republican Representative Tim Burchett, who said he would vote to oust Mr McCarthy, said: “We took a whole month of August off. I think that that’s pretty telling.”
To look at the House of Representatives is to see the turbulence of America’s political ecosystem.
The ousting of Kevin McCarthy leaves the lower chamber of Congress in a state of paralysis.
There will be an interim Speaker but his or her role will effectively amount to finding a permanent replacement.
It is a dysfunction at the heart of power, an extension of the fault lines that fracture the modern-day Republican Party.
Never before has a House Speaker been ejected in this way, another day of history in US politics
The history-makers at the wheel have travelled a distance from the party fringes to positions of influence.
Matt Gaetz is the high-profile House representative who tabled the motion to oust McCarthy.
He’s prominent amongst a hard-line conservative core of House Republicans, Trump-aligned, and bent on reshaping party traditions and reorientating its trajectory to the right.
It is a tail that can wag the dog and this episode is clear evidence of it.
The rules dictate that just one representative – Mr Gaetz in this case – can trigger a vote to oust the Speaker.
That arrangement was a deal Mr McCarthy struck in January to appease his party’s right wing and enable his accession to the position of Speaker.
It didn’t look like clever politics by Mr McCarthy at the time and it looks even less so today.
Today, politics are harder in a party whose politics have changed.
Not all are convinced by Mr Gaetz’s intentions, with some Republicans believing he is angling for a change at a higher office.
“It seems very personal with Matt. It doesn’t look like he’s looking out for the country or the institution,” Mr McCarthy said.
Mr Gaetz has denied he is spurred on by a dislike of Mr McCarthy.
At least 21 people have died in a coach crash near Venice in northern Italy, according to authorities.
Another 18 people were injured in the crash on Tuesday evening, with Italian police confirming there were tourists of “various nationalities” on board.
There were at least two children among the passengers, police added, while Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, said they found Ukrainian passports at the scene.
“Several of the victims were foreigners, we found Ukrainian passports,” he said.
With rescue operations ongoing, the number of deaths could climb higher.
“The bus was rented for its guests by Camping Jolly in Marghera,” police said.
“On board, at the time of the accident, there were tourists of various nationalities. Also with them were at least two minors.”
Mr Brugnaro described the incident as a “terrible tragedy”.
“I immediately ordered the city to go into mourning, in memory of the many victims who were in the crashed bus,” he posted on social media.
“An apocalyptic scene, there are no words.”
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Several people have died in a coach crash near Venice in northern Italy
The coach fell close to railway lines after veering off a road in the district of Mestre, which is connected to Venice by a bridge, Italian television and news agencies reported.
According to Sky Italia, 18 bodies have so far been dragged from the wreckage after the coach fell 15 metres (49ft) onto electricity lines and caught fire.
The cause of the accident was still unclear, but one of Italy’s national police forces said officers are on the scene to investigate and to “give aid” to those hurt.
The railway is also “currently interrupted”.
Image: The bus veered off a road. Pic: @poliziadistato via X
Image: Police officers are on the scene. Pic: @poliziadistato via X
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said her thoughts are with the victims.
“I express my deepest condolences, my personal and that of the entire government, for the serious accident that occurred in Mestre,” she posted on social media.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends. I am in close contact with the Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and with the Minister (of the interior) Matteo Piantedosi to follow the news on this tragedy.”
Italy has suffered a number of deadly bus crashes in recent years.
In 2013, 40 people died when a bus plunged off a viaduct in southern Italy in one of the country’s worst road accidents.
Four years later, 16 people on a bus carrying Hungarian students died in an accident near the northern city of Verona.
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Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin posted on X: “I am aware of the shooting event at Siam Paragon and have ordered the police to investigate. I am most worried about public safety,”
Authorities said later that the situation was under control.