The Fiji Times

Morocco to extend night curfew to limit COVID-19 surge

RABAT (Reuters) -Morocco will lengthen its night curfew, starting two hours earlier at 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) from Tuesday, as it tightens restrictions to counter a surge in coronavirus infections, the government said on Monday. The business and tourist hubs of Casablanca, Agadir and Marakech will be closed except to holders of the vaccine pass...

Australia’s New South Wales reports 199 locally acquired COVID-19 cases

SYDNEY (Reuters) – New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, reported 199 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, down from 207 a day earlier, as officials scramble to bring under control an outbreak of the Delta variant in state capital Sydney. Of the new cases, at least 50 spent time in the community while...

Japan government starts to “name and shame” quarantine rule-breakers

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has carried out a threat to publicly shame people not complying with coronavirus border control measures, releasing the names of three people who broke quarantine rules after returning from overseas. The health ministry said late on Monday the three Japanese nationals named had clearly acted to avoid contact with authorities after...

EU puts sanctions on 8 more Nicaraguans, as presidential race takes shape

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union said on Monday it has imposed sanctions on eight Nicaraguans for human rights violations or undermining democracy or the rule of law, including Rosario Murillo, the vice president and wife of President Daniel Ortega. The step adds to growing international isolation of Ortega’s government, which has been criticized for crackdowns...

Iraqi engineer turns art into business amid bleak job market

BASRA (Reuters) – Iraqi engineer Wassan Ismail started creating and selling artwork after struggling to find a job in an economy battered by conflict and sanctions. The petroleum engineer, who lives in Basra, crafts pieces featuring traditional Iraqi folklore by sewing, painting and adding other media to create designs on ceramics. She began making the...

A year after taboo on Thai king broken, 103 face jail for royal insult

BANGKOK (Reuters) – In the year since making an unprecedented, taboo-breaking speech openly calling for discussion on the role of Thailand’s powerful king, human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa has spent months in jail, charged with the crime of defaming the monarchy. He’s one of 103 people from Thailand’s youth-led anti-government protests now charged with insulting...

Brazil electoral court to probe Bolsonaro for attacks on voting system

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s top electoral court, the TSE, decided on Monday that it will open an investigation into far-right President Jair Bolsonaro for his statements claiming that there will be fraud in next year’s elections. Bolsonaro, who is expected to seek a second term in 2022, has repeatedly claimed that Brazil’s electronic voting system...

Myanmar should return to democratically elected government, says UK

LONDON (Reuters) – Myanmar should return to a democratically elected government, Britain said on Monday, after military ruler Min Aung Hlaing took on the role of prime minister in a caretaker administration six months after the army seized power. “The decision by the military to extend the so-called state of emergency in Myanmar is unjustifiable...

Rescuers pull 394 migrants from dangerously overcrowded boat off Tunisia

ABOARD SEA-WATCH 3, Mediterranean -Two humanitarian rescue ships pulled 394 migrants from a dangerously overcrowded wooden boat in the Mediterranean overnight on Sunday in an operation lasting about six hours, a Reuters witness said. Sea-Watch 3, a vessel run by German NGO Sea Watch, and Ocean Viking, run by European charity SOS Mediterranee, rescued the...

We need to get the travel industry moving again, UK PM Johnson says

LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he wanted to get the travel industry moving again with a simple user-friendly system to allow for trips abroad without importing new variants of the coronavirus. “We need to get people, get the travel industry moving again,” Johnson told reporters. “We want an approach...

Attack on Lebanese funeral prompts warnings of strife

BEIRUT (Reuters) -The Lebanese army detained two men over an attack on Shi’ite mourners at a funeral where three people were killed, a security source said, after the Shi’ite group Hezbollah demanded the perpetrators be arrested to avoid civil strife. The shooting in Khaldeh, a town just south of Beirut where tensions between Shi’ite and...

Serbia benefits from COVID-19 ‘quarantine tourism’ as Indians visit

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia is benefiting from COVID-19 ‘quarantine tourism’ as thousands of Indians make a two-week stopover on the way to other countries. India has registered more coronavirus cases than any other country except the United States. Its citizens are barred from entering many countries during the pandemic unless they spend two weeks in...

Greeks urged to use less power as worst heatwave in decades tests grid

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek authorities urged citizens to conserve electricity as the worst heatwave in more than 30 years pushed the power system to its limits on Monday and wildfires continued to burn in many areas. With the weather service forecasting temperatures as high as 44 Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) this week, energy authorities have warned...

England changes COVID-19 app so fewer people need to isolate

LONDON (Reuters) -England’s COVID-19 mobile phone app will be tweaked so that fewer contacts of asymptomatic people who test positive for the disease will need to self-isolate, Britain’s health ministry said on Monday. Business leaders have raised concerns about the numbers of staff who are having to self-isolate after being “pinged” by the app when...

Ruling on East Jerusalem flashpoint evictions postponed

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinians facing eviction from Jerusalem’s flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood will have to wait for a ruling that will determine their fate after a discussion in Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday ended without a final decision. Four Palestinian families petitioned the high court to hear their appeal and eventually allow them to remain...

Dominican Republic to kill thousands of pigs over swine fever outbreak

SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) – The Dominican Republic will slaughter tens of thousands of pigs after detecting outbreaks of African swine fever in 11 of the country’s 32 provinces, authorities said on Monday. Fernando Duran, administrator of the state-run Banco Agricola, told a news conference the government will pay pig farmers the market price of each...

Memorial sculpture at Beirut port blast site draws mixed reviews

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A sculpture of a giant angular figure made from the wreckage of last summer’s Beirut port blast was unveiled at the site on Monday, drawing support from some but also stoking anger among other Lebanese who believe justice should come before memorials. The artwork dubbed “The Gesture” is the creation of Lebanese...

Wildfires blaze on in drought-hit Turkey as criticism grows

MARMARIS, Turkey, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Firefighters using planes and helicopters, and locals with buckets of water, battled wildfires raging for a sixth day near southern resorts in drought-hit Turkey and the government faced fresh criticism of its handling of the disaster. Seven fires were still burning on Monday, fanned by temperatures above 40 degrees...

New Zealand PM Ardern takes COVID-19 test after reporting sick

WELLINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has taken a COVID-19 test after picking up a “seasonal sniffle” from her three-year-old daughter, the government spokesman said on Tuesday. Ardern will step back from her duties for the day due to the sickness and the deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson will take...

Russia says U.S. asked 24 of its diplomats to leave by Sept. 3

MOSCOW, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Russia’s ambassador to the United States said Washington had asked 24 Russian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 3 after their visas expire, heightening tensions between the two countries. In an interview with the National Interest magazine published on Sunday, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov did not say whether the U.S....

Latin America’s resurgent left and Caribbean spurn U.S. policy on Cuba

HAVANA, Aug 2 (Reuters) – The United States doubled down on its tough stance and sanctions on Cuba after historic protests in the Communist-run island last month and said it would seek to support protesters. But many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region which is still scarred by Washington’s backing of coups...

U.S. offers refuge to more Afghans who aided Americans in new program

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Thousands more Afghans who may be targets of Taliban violence due to their U.S. affiliations will have the opportunity to resettle as refugees in the United States under a new program announced by the State Department on Monday. Reuters first reported earlier on Monday the plans to set up the...

Delta spreads ‘like wildfire’ as doctors study whether it makes patients sicker

LOS ANGELES, Aug 2 (Reuters) – With a new wave of COVID-19 infections fueled by the Delta variant striking countries worldwide, disease experts are scrambling to learn whether the latest version of coronavirus is making people – mainly the unvaccinated – sicker than before. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that Delta, first identified in India...

Colombia ex-army chief will be charged over extrajudicial killings

Colombia’s attorney general’s office will charge former army commander General Mario Montoya for responsibility of 104 extrajudicial executions, as part of the “false positives” scandal, it said on Sunday. The false positives took place between 2002 and 2008, during the term of ex-President Alvaro Uribe, when soldiers murdered civilians and registered them as guerrilla fighters...

U.S. senators make final tweaks to infrastructure bill, expect passage this week

The U.S. Senate on Sunday worked to finalize legislation to forge ahead with a sweeping $1 trillion spending plan for roads, rail lines, high-speed internet and other infrastructure, with some senators predicting final passage later this week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the text was “being finalized imminently,” and the Senate could soon start...

Republican report says coronavirus leaked from China lab; scientists still probing origins

A preponderance of evidence proves the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a Chinese research facility, said a report by U.S. Republicans released on Monday, a conclusion that U.S. intelligence agencies have not reached. The report also cited “ample evidence” that Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists – aided by U.S. experts and...

Twitter’s Dorsey leads $29 bln buyout of lending pioneer Afterpay

Square Inc (SQ.N), the payments firm of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) co-founder Jack Dorsey, will purchase buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer Afterpay Ltd (APT.AX) for $29 billion, creating a global transactions giant in the biggest buyout of an Australian firm. The takeover underscores the popularity of a business model that has upended consumer credit by...

Bolsonaro backers push for change to Brazil’s voting system

Government supporters rallied in several Brazilian cities on Sunday to call for changes in the country’s electronic voting system, which far-right President Jair Bolsonaro says is not trustworthy. Bolsonaro has increasingly insisted on the adoption of printed ballots that can be audited, a mixed system in which electronic urns would also print out receipts that...

Basketball-U.S. women sweep, France and Japan advance to quarter-finals

The United States on Monday clinched a top seed in the quarter-finals of Olympic women’s basketball, beating a game French team who squeaked through to the next round. Packed with WNBA talent, Team USA completed a sweep of Group B in the preliminary stage 3-0 with the 93-82 victory at the Saitama Super Arena, north...

World

4th August

Oil rises as markets expect continuous fall of inventories