BERLIN: Germany on Sunday implemented tighter border controls on its frontiers with the Czech Republic and Austria’s Tyrol province in an effort to stem the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants.
The new restrictions that took effect at midnight limit entry from those areas to German citizens and residents, truck drivers, transport and health service staff and a few others, who have to register online and show a negative coronavirus test.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the new checks may cause some delays at the border and German police “will not just wave traffic through.”
Infection rates in Germany have been declining steadily in recent weeks but officials are concerned about the possible impact of variants first discovered in Britain and South Africa. Both variants have been reported in Germany but so far appear to account for just a small proportion of cases.
Significant numbers of cases of the latter have been discovered in Tyrol, whose residents have needed to show a recent negative coronavirus test to travel to the rest of Austria since Friday. The spread of the British variant has prompted a complete lockdown of some Czech districts on the border with Germany and Poland.
To prevent a pile-up of trucks inside Austria, regional officials in Tyrol planned to check trucks headed for Germany at the Brenner pass crossing with Italy to ensure that drivers have the necessary paperwork to enter Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 state governors agreed on Wednesday to extend most of the country’s lockdown restrictions until March 7, though schools and hairdressers can open sooner.
They set a new target of 35 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants per week before letting small stores, museums and other businesses reopen. That figure stood at 57.4 on Sunday, down from a peak of nearly 200 just before Christmas.
The eastern state of Saxony’s governor cautioned Germans against expecting too much too soon.
“Unfortunately, there can’t be Easter vacations in Germany this year,” Michael Kretschmer was quoted as telling Bild am Sonntag. “Too much mobility as a result of travel and tourism already in April would be poison. We would destroy everything we have achieved since mid-December.”
Hotels and restaurants in Saxony, which was hard hit in the fall and winter, will have to remain shut over Easter, and the reopening of theaters and operas will have to wait until after Easter, he said.
Germany tightens border checks to keep out virus variants
https://arab.news/47y44
Germany tightens border checks to keep out virus variants
- The new restrictions limit entry from Czech Republic to specific groups of people
- Infection rates in Germany have been declining steadily in recent weeks
US defense chief texted start time of planned killing of Yemeni militant
- Democrats want Trump’s national security team fired over leaks
- But Trump downplays leak, calling it a “witch hunt” and defending Hegseth
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth texted about plans to kill a Houthi militant leader in Yemen two hours before a military operation meant to be shrouded in secrecy, according to screenshots of a chat released by The Atlantic on Wednesday.
The revelation that highly sensitive attack plans were shared on a commercial messaging app, possibly on personal cellphones, has triggered outrage in Washington and calls from Democrats that members of Trump’s national security team be fired over the leaks.
Republican President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to contain the fallout from the revelation that the March 15 chat included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg on the encrypted messaging app Signal.
Hegseth has repeatedly denied texting war plans, and Trump and his top advisers are saying no classified information was shared, bewildering Democrats and former US officials, who regard timing and targeting details as some of the most closely held material ahead of a US military campaign.
“I think that it’s by the awesome grace of God that we are not mourning dead pilots right now,” Democrat Jim Himes of Connecticut said at a hearing of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who leads the Pentagon’s oversight committee in the Senate, joined calls for an independent probe and said the texts appeared so sensitive “I would have wanted it classified.”
If Houthi leaders knew a strike was coming, they might have been able to flee, possibly to crowded areas where targeting is more difficult and the number of potential civilian casualties might be deemed too high to proceed.
The chat did not appear to include any names or precise locations of Houthi militants being targeted or to disclose information that could have been used to target US troops carrying out the operation.
Pentagon officials aware of the planning believed that information Hegseth texted was classified at the time, one US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, raising questions over whether, when and how Hegseth’s text messages may have been declassified.
It has also renewed scrutiny of Hegseth, who only narrowly won Senate confirmation after a bruising review that raised serious questions about his experience, temperament and views about women in combat.
The White House played down the idea that Hegseth or others would lose their jobs, saying Trump retained confidence in them.
Trump also played down the Yemen leak, calling it a “witch hunt” and defending Hegseth.
“Hegseth is doing a great job,” Trump said.
Goldberg, who had initially declined to publish the chat details, did so on Wednesday. The Atlantic magazine did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the release of the additional messages.
‘Team update’
Hegseth’s text started with the title “TEAM UPDATE” and included these details, according to The Atlantic:
“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch“
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”
“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”
“We are currently clean on OPSEC”
“Godspeed to our Warriors.”
Hours later, national security adviser Mike Waltz confirmed to the group the killing of the Houthis’ top missile expert.
“We had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed,” Waltz wrote, disclosing that the US was carrying out surveillance operations.
Reuters could not immediately establish what kind of building was brought down in the US military strike, how many occupants were inside, and how the detail squares with Pentagon statements there were no known civilian casualties.
Hegseth has declined to answer questions about whether he declassified the information on the Signal chat, perhaps retroactively. In Hawaii on Wednesday, he played down the controversy, telling reporters the texts contained “no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods.”
In Jamaica, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was part of the chat group, acknowledged to reporters that someone “made a big mistake” by adding a journalist to the chat. But he also dismissed concerns about any impact on the operations.
Senior US national security officials have classified systems that are meant to be used to communicate secret materials.
But CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified on Tuesday at a Senate hearing that Waltz set up the Signal chat for unclassified coordination and that teams would be “provided with information further on the high side for high-side communication.”
Waltz has said he took full responsibility for the breach as he had created the Signal group. But on Wednesday, Waltz also played down the disclosure, saying on X: “No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.”
At a hearing on Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Hegseth would be the one to determine what defense information was classified.
“Ultimately, the secretary of defense (holds) the authority to classify or de-classify.” Gabbard said, addressing the House Intelligence Committee.
The US military has so far declined to publicly offer even basic details about the offensive in Yemen, including how many strikes have been carried out, what senior leaders have been targeted or killed and even whether the operation has a name.
Musk says he will finish most of $1 trillion federal cost cuts within weeks
- DOGE estimates it has saved US taxpayers $115 billion as of March 24
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, whom US President Donald Trump has tapped to shrink the government, said on Thursday he would finish most of the work to cut $1 trillion in federal spending when his tenure ends in as soon as 64 days.
Musk told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” that he was confident his Department of Government Efficiency could find $1 trillion in savings, slimming current total federal spending levels of about $7 trillion down to $6 trillion.
Musk, the world’s richest person, was designated by the White House as a “special government employee,” which caps his work at 130 days. That means his period leading the DOGE operation could finish as soon as the end of May.
“I think we will accomplish most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame,” Musk said when asked by Baier about his tenure and how quickly he expected to achieve his cost-cutting target.
“The government is not efficient, and there is a lot of waste and fraud, so we feel confident that a 15 percent reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services,” Musk said.
DOGE estimates it has saved US taxpayers $115 billion as of March 24 through actions including workforce reductions, asset sales and contract cancelations.
However, the savings total published on the DOGE website is unverifiable and its calculations have been riddled with errors and corrections. Budget experts say Musk cannot reach his target without touching entitlement programs like Social Security, which Trump has vowed not to cut.
The interview marked the first time that Musk and his top lieutenants at DOGE met with media to explain their work. Musk was joined by seven other DOGE executives, including Steve Davis, the president of Musk’s tunneling enterprise the Boring Company, and Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb.
“Unless this exercise is successful, the ship of America will sink. That’s why we’re doing it,” said Musk, who is also CEO of electric car maker Tesla.
Musk’s role in slashing the federal workforce and government agency budgets has drawn political backlash in recent weeks, with Tesla cars and dealerships hit by a spate of vandalism and demonstrations across the country.
US pushing more expansive minerals deal with Ukraine
- Under proposal Kyiv would contribute to joint fund all income from use of natural resources
- Deal to strengthen US-Ukraine ties, official says, without confirm the terms of the latest proposal
The Trump administration has proposed a new, more expansive minerals deal with Ukraine, according to three people familiar with the ongoing negotiations and a summary of a draft proposal obtained by Reuters.
The US has revised its original proposal, said the sources, and it gives Ukraine no future security guarantees but requires it to contribute to a joint investment fund all income from the use of natural resources managed by state and private enterprises across Ukrainian territory.
The terms put forward by Washington go well beyond the deal discussed in the days leading up to the contentious Oval Office meeting last month between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been leading negotiations for the United States, said one of the sources.
Bessent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The proposal makes no mention of the US taking ownership of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, according to the summary — something Trump had talked about.
Trump has said a minerals deal will help secure a peace agreement by giving the United States a financial stake in Ukraine’s future. He also sees it as America’s way of earning back some of the tens of billions of dollars it has given to Ukraine in financial and military aid since Russia invaded three years ago.
National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt declined to confirm the terms of the latest proposal, but said the deal would strengthen the relationship between the US and Ukraine.
“The mineral deal offers Ukraine the opportunity to form an enduring economic relationship with the United States that is the basis for long term security and peace,” said Hewitt.
Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An earlier version of the deal proposed a joint investment fund where Ukraine would contribute 50 percent of proceeds from the future profits of the extraction of the state-owned natural resources. It also set out terms that the US and Ukraine would jointly develop Ukraine’s mineral resources.
Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday that the US had proposed a “major” new deal and that Ukrainian officials were still reviewing its terms.
Zelensky said on Thursday the US is “constantly” changing the terms of the proposed minerals deal, but added that he did not want Washington to think Kyiv was against the deal.
In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, Bessent said the US had “passed along a completed document for the economic partnership” and that Washington hopes to “go to full discussions and perhaps even get signatures next week.”
The new proposal stipulates that the US is given first rights to purchase resources extracted under the agreement and that it recoup all the money it has given Ukraine since 2022, in addition to a 4 percent annual interest rate, before Ukraine begins to gain access to the fund’s profits, according to the summary. The updated proposal was first reported by the Financial Times.
If agreed, the joint investment fund would have a board of five people, three appointed by the US and two by Ukraine, and the funds generated would be converted into foreign currency and transferred abroad, according to the summary. The fund would be managed by the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
A separate source with knowledge of the negotiations said there had been discussions about having the DFC administer the fund.
US Attorney General Bondi tells Fox News many judges need to be removed
WASHINGTON: US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday many of the judges who have recently ruled against the administration of President Donald Trump need to be removed.
“These judges obviously cannot be impartial. They cannot be objective,” Bondi said during an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” show.
“They are district judges trying to control our entire country, our entire country, and they are trying to obstruct Donald Trump’s agenda.”
Maduro calls Rubio ‘imbecile’ over Venezuela threats
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday slammed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as an “imbecile” following the American’s warning to Caracas against attacking its oil-rich neighbor Guyana.
“There goes the imbecile Marco Rubio threatening Venezuela from Guyana. No one threatens Venezuela because this is the homeland of the liberators,” Maduro said.
