COVID around the world: Israel to ban foreigners as other nations tighten restrictions on Britons

Published

2 years ago

November 28, 2021

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Global concern about the coronavirus pandemic is growing, with a number of countries detecting confirmed cases of the Omicron variant for the first time.

Travel restrictions are also being imposed once again as governments suspend flights from southern Africa, the region where this strain was first detected.

Here is a look at the latest COVID-19 developments around the world.

Israel

On Saturday, Israel unveiled plans to ban all foreigners from entering the country.

If the proposals are approved, it will become the first nation to completely shut its borders in response to the Omicron variant.

There are fears that B.1.1.529 could be more contagious than other variants – and more resistant to vaccines.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the ban would last for 14 days.

So far, Israel has one confirmed case of the Omicron variant, and seven suspected cases.

Phone-tracking technology is going to be used to locate carriers of the new variant, in an attempt to stop it being transmitted to others.

The US

From Monday, the US is going to restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the region.

American citizens and permanent US residents – along with spouses and close friends – will be exempt.

No cases linked to Omicron have been detected in the country so far.

But Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease specialist, told NBC that he wouldn’t be surprised if the variant is already in the States, adding: “When you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility … it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over.”

In separate developments, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued a COVID-19 “disaster emergency” declaration on Friday, with infections and hospitalisations increasing in the state.

Italy

On Saturday, health officials confirmed that a case of the Omicron variant had been detected in Italy.

The business traveller had flown from Mozambique, landing in Rome on 11 November and returning to his home in Naples.

Five of his family members, including two children, have also tested positive. All are now isolating and have light symptoms.

Germany

The Omicron variant has also been detected in two travellers who arrived on a flight from South Africa on 24 November.

Although genome sequencing is yet to be completed, it is “proven without doubt that this is the variant”.

Both cases were detected in the southern state of Bavaria, and another suspected case has been found in the west of the country.

The Netherlands

Dutch health officials have detected 61 COVID-19 cases among people who flew from South Africa on Friday.

Although the Netherlands Institute for Health is “almost certain” some of these patients have the Omicron variant, further testing is required to be absolutely sure.

The KLM airline expressed surprise at the high number of cases because all passengers had either tested negative or shown proof of vaccination before boarding flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Authorities in the country are now attempting to contact 5,000 passengers who have travelled from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia or Zimbabwe since Monday.

Switzerland

Quarantine requirements have been widened to a greater number of travellers in an attempt to stem the spread of the Omicron variant.

Those arriving from the UK, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi will now be subject to tighter restrictions.

The Federal Office of Public Health said passengers from these countries will need to present a negative COVID-19 test and quarantine for 10 days too.

Direct flights have already been banned from South Africa and the surrounding region.

Despite cases being detected in Italy and Germany, both neighbours of Switzerland, travel restrictions have not been imposed on any countries it shares borders with.

Spain

From next month, British tourists will only be able to enter Spain if they can show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination.

Until now, unvaccinated travellers were allowed into the country if they could present a negative PCR test that was take 72 hours before their arrival.

“The appearance of new variants causing (coronavirus) obliges an increase in restrictions,” the government said.

Spain’s Industry, Trade and Tourism department said approximately 300,000 British people who are resident in Spain will not be affected by the new measures.

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Russia using chemical choking agents against Ukrainian troops, US claims

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20 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Russia using chemical choking agents against Ukrainian troops, US claims

Russia has denied allegations of breaching the international chemical weapons ban by deploying chocking agents against Ukrainian troops.

The Kremlin on Thursday responded to claims by the United States that it had used choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops – the same agent used by German forces against Allied troops during the First World War.

The United States also accused Russia of using riot control agents “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine, which according to Ukrainian military cited by Reuters earlier this month, is being increasingly used in the country.

Follow live: ‘Large fire’ as Russia hits port city with ballistic missile

Grenades containing CS and CN gases have also reportedly been used on the frontline, forcing troops stuck in trenches to either flee under enemy fire or risk suffocating.

At least 500 Ukrainian troops have been treated for exposure to a toxic substance, the military said, with one dying as a result of suffocating on tear gas.

The US State Department believes Russia has been violating international rules on chemical weapons under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow remained bound by its obligations under the treaty.

“The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield,” the US State Department said in a statement.

Chloropicrin is listed as a banned choking agent by the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which was created to implement and monitor compliance with the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

According to the US, Moscow’s use of the gas “comes from the same playbook as its operations to poison” the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent.

Russia denied involvement in both cases.

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Ex-politician seen beating his wife to death in CCTV footage – sparking outrage in Kazakhstan

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2 days ago

May 1, 2024

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Ex-politician seen beating his wife to death in CCTV footage - sparking outrage in Kazakhstan

The murder trial of a former senior politician in Kazakhstan who has been accused of beating his wife to death has attracted the attention of the nation, sparking calls for new legislation tackling domestic violence.

Shocking footage showing businessman Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Kazakhstan’s former economy minister, beating his wife at a family restaurant has been streamed online from the court.

The case has touched a nerve among the public as tens of thousands of people have signed petitions calling for new laws to hold those guilty of abuse to account.

Why is the case so high profile?

The trial of Bishimbayev, 44, is the first in the country to ever be streamed online – making it readily accessible to the 19 million people in Kazakhstan.

The former politician was already well known, having been jailed for bribery in 2018. He spent less than two years of his 10-year sentence in prison before he was pardoned.

Bishimbayev was charged with torturing and killing his wife after her death last November. For weeks, he maintained his innocence but admitted last month in court that he had beaten her and “unintentionally” caused her death.

Saltanat Nukenova, 31, was found dead in November in a restaurant owned by one of her husband’s relatives.

Disturbing CCTV footage shows the defendant, a father of four, dragging his wife by her hair, and then punching and kicking her.

Hours after it was recorded, she died of brain trauma.

Bishimbayev’s lawyers initially disputed medical evidence indicating Ms Nukenova died from repeated blows to the head.

They also portrayed her as prone to jealousy and violence, although no video from the restaurant’s security cameras that was played in court has shown her attacking Bishimbayev.

According to a 2018 study backed by UN Women, about 400 women die as a result of domestic violence in Kazakhstan every year, although many go unreported.

What reaction has the trial caused?

Tens of thousands of people in the country have signed a petition calling for harsher measures against perpetrators of domestic violence in the wake of Ms Nukenova’s tragic death.

The signatures resulted in senators approving a bill which toughens spousal abuse laws last month – dubbed “Saltanat’s Law”.

Aitbek Amangeldy, Ms Nukenova’s brother and a key prosecution witness, told the Associated Press he had no doubt his sister’s tragic fate has shifted attitudes about domestic violence.

“It changes people’s minds when they see directly what it looks like when a person is tortured.”

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NYPD raid Columbia University campus to break up pro-Palestinian protest

Published

2 days ago

May 1, 2024

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NYPD raid Columbia University campus to break up pro-Palestinian protest

Police in riot gear have raided Columbia University and arrested pro-Palestinian protesters occupying one of its buildings.

Around 30 to 40 people have been removed from the Manhattan university’s Hamilton Hall, according to police.

The raid came hours after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the demonstration at the Ivy League school “must end now”.

He also claimed the demonstration had been infiltrated by “professional outside agitators”.

University bosses said they called in the New York Police Department (NYPD) after protesters “chose to escalate the situation through their actions”.

“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” a university spokesman said in a statement.

“The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing.

“We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”

The protest began when students barricaded the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia’s campus on Tuesday and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window.

Video footage showed protesters locking arms in front of the hall and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building.

Those behind the protest said they had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in a strike on Gaza in February.

Demonstrators said they had planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s (CUAD) three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.

“Columbia will be proud of these students in five years,” said Sweda Polat, one of the student negotiators for CUAD.

She said students did not pose a danger and called on police to back down.

Officers raided the campus on Tuesday night after university bosses wrote to New York City officials and the NYPD formally asking for assistance.

A large group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the campus late on Tuesday evening. Officers were also seen entering the window of a university building via a police-branded ladder vehicle, nicknamed “the bear”.

Earlier, Mayor Adams urged demonstrators to leave the site. “Walk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other means,” he said.

Columbia University also threatened academic expulsions for students involved in the demonstration.

Protests at Columbia earlier this month kicked off demonstrations which have spread to university campuses from California to Massachusetts.

Dozens of people were arrested on Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey.

Police moved to clear an encampment at Yale University in Connecticut on Tuesday morning, but there were no immediate reports of arrests.

Meanwhile, the president of the University of South California issued a statement on Tuesday after a swastika was drawn on the campus.

“I condemn any antisemitic symbols or any form of hate speech against anyone,” Carol Folt said.

“Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community. We’re going to work to get to the bottom of this immediately, and it has just been removed.”

Earlier, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden believed students occupying buildings was “absolutely the wrong approach” and “not an example of peaceful protest”.