SPAIN: The vast majority of new COVID-19 cases in Spain in the past five weeks were detected among non-vaccinated people, Health Minister Carolina Darias said on Monday, as new infections rose by 27,286.
Just 5.5 percent of new cases within the period were detected among people who had been fully vaccinated, Darias said, adding 11.4 percent were partially vaccinated and 83.1 percent were unvaccinated.
“We must keep up the rhythm of vaccination we have reached,” the minister told a news conference. “This will give us an important level of protection to allow us to enjoy the summer.”
The number of new COVID-19 cases per day in Spain has been steadily rising since late June, with the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants rising to 622.4 on Tuesday. The country of 46.9 million people has so far reported a total of just under 4.2 million cases and 81,148 deaths.
Spain is the third fastest country at vaccinating its population, according to database Our World In Data, lagging behind only Canada and the UK with 51.3 percent of Spaniards fully vaccinated and 62.1 percent at least partially vaccinated.
80 percent of new COVID-19 cases in Spain among non-vaccinated people, health minister says
https://arab.news/4x7j2
80 percent of new COVID-19 cases in Spain among non-vaccinated people, health minister says
- Just 5.5% of new cases within the period were detected among people unvaccinated people
- 11.4% were partially vaccinated and 83.1% were unvaccinated
Three Serbs charged over paint attack on France Jewish sites
- France’s Holocaust memorial, three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalized with paint in the night of Friday to Saturday
A source close to the case said investigators suspect Russia is behind the attacks for which the men were charged on Thursday evening.
They had exchanged messages on Telegram with other individuals not yet apprehended, it added.
France’s Holocaust memorial, three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalized with paint in the night of Friday to Saturday, in what the Israeli embassy denounced as a “coordinated anti-Semitic attack.”
The source following the case described the three suspects, two born in 1995 and one born in 2003, as having completed a task motivated by financial compensation, but without being aware of any geopolitical implications.
They were two brothers and a third person who had lived in France for several years, the source said.
They were arrested on Monday in southeast France as they tried to leave the country.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he was “deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community.”
Israeli’s President Isaac Herzog said Saturday he was “dismayed” by the Paris vandalism, noting that his great-grandfather had been a rabbi at one of the synagogues.
In the run-up to the Summer Olympics in Paris last year, several high-profile stunts intended to influence French public opinion led French officials to point the finger at Moscow.
They included red hands tagged on Paris’s main Holocaust memorial in May 2024.
In October 2023, soon after the Palestinian militant attack on Israel that sparked the latest Gaza war, stars of David were tagged on buildings in the Paris region, with two Moldovans suspected of working for the Russian FSB security service later arrested.
Russia has previously denied any involvement in any of the plots attributed to it by French officials.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces second charge under national security law
- Activist Wong faced a new charge of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security
HONG KONG: Hong Kong authorities once again arrested prominent activist Joshua Wong on Friday and charged him with conspiracy to collude with a foreign country under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
Wong, 28, was originally set to be released in January 2027 from a 56-month jail sentence he is serving under the same law for conspiracy to commit subversion after he participated in an unofficial primary election.
Taken to the West Kowloon magistrates’ courts, Wong faced a new charge of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.
The former student pro-democracy activist, who wore a blue shirt and appeared noticeably thinner than before, replied, “Understand,” when the clerk read out the charge and details of the offense.
Wong did not apply for bail, and the case was adjourned to August 8. Before returning to custody, he waved, shrugged, and shook his head in the direction of the public gallery.
In a statement, Hong Kong’s national security police said they had arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of the offense, as well as for “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense.”
A charge sheet seen by Reuters accuses Wong of having conspired with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations, or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades.
Such actions against Hong Kong or China, along with other hostile activities targeting them, took place in 2020, between July 1 and November 23, it added.
The National Security Law, which punishes offenses such as acts of subversion, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism, with terms of up to life in jail, was imposed by Beijing on the former British colony in 2020.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law is necessary to restore stability following anti-government protests in 2019.
But some Western governments have criticized it as being used to suppress free speech and dissent.
Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year
- While sales increased ahead of Eid, Indonesian sellers say their businesses have lost customers in recent years
- In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals while potential buyers negotiated prices with them
JAKARTA: Less spending, higher prices and fewer animal sacrifices subdued the usual festive mood as the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha was celebrated in many parts of the world.
In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, Muslim worshippers were shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets and the Istiqlal Grand Mosque was filled for morning prayers Friday.
Eid Al-Adha, known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,” coincides with the final rites of the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia. It’s a joyous occasion, for which food is a hallmark with devout Muslims buying and slaughtering animals and sharing two-thirds of the meat with the poor.
Outside Jakarta, the Jonggol Cattle Market bustled with hundreds of cattle traders hoping to sell to buyers looking for sacrificial animals. While sales increased ahead of Eid, sellers said their businesses have lost customers in recent years due to economic hardship following the COVID-19 pandemic.
A foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2022 to 2023 also significantly dampened the typically booming holiday trade in goats, cows and sheep, though Indonesia’s government has worked to overcome that outbreak.
Rahmat Debleng, one of the sellers in the market, said before the pandemic and the FMD outbreak, he could sell more than 100 cows two weeks ahead of Eid Al-Adha. But on the eve of the celebration this year, only 43 of his livestock were sold, and six cows are still left in his stall.
“Though the foot-and-mouth outbreak threats remain loom large, but the declining in sales mostly because of economic hardship,” Debleng said.
Jakarta city administration data recorded the number of sacrificial animals available this year at 35,133, a decline of 57 percent compared to the previous year.
The government has made next Monday an additional holiday after Friday’s festival to allow people more time with their families. Eid momentum is expected to support economic growth in Indonesia, where household consumption helps drive GDP. It contributed over 50 percent to the economy last year, though analysts expect more subdued consumer spending in 2025.
Eid expected to come Saturday in South Asia
Eid Al-Adha commemorates the Qur’anic tale of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ismail as an act of obedience to God. Before he could carry out the sacrifice, God provided a ram as an offering. In the Christian and Jewish telling, Abraham is ordered to kill another son, Isaac.
South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh will celebrate Eid Al-Adha on Saturday. Ahead of the festival, many Muslims in the region were turning to livestock markets to buy and sell millions of animals for sacrifice.
In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals at these markets, while potential buyers negotiated prices with them.
Mohammad Ali Qureshi, one of the sellers, said this year his goats were fetching as high as $640, some $60 more than the last year.
“Earlier, the sale of goats was slow, but now the market is good. Prices are on the higher side,” Ali said.
Preparations for the festival were also peaking in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where many Muslims dye sheep and goats in henna before they are sacrificed.
“We are following the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim,” said Riyaz Wani, a resident in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, as his family applied henna on a sheep they plan to sacrifice.
UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win
LONDON: Labour scored a surprise win in a Scottish Parliament by-election on Friday, giving UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government a rare moment of celebration.
Labour won with 8,559 votes, overturning the comfortable majority of 4,582 earned by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2021.
The SNP were favorites going into the election, but saw their vote collapse by almost 17 percent, netting them 7,957 votes and delivering a heavy blow to the party that runs Scotland.
“People in Scotland have once again voted for change,” Starmer wrote on X.
“Next year there is a chance to turbo charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border,” he added.
Starmer and his government have seen their popularity plunge since coming to power last July.
Labour secured 31.6 percent of the vote, slightly down on the 2021 election.
But they capitalized on a fractured opposition, with the anti-immigration Reform UK party making inroads into Scottish politics for the first time with 26.1 percent of the vote.
The Conservative party continued its dismal recent electoral record, gaining just six percent of the vote.
The ballot was held following the death of SNP lawmaker and government minister Christina McKelvie in March.
Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams
- The Rwanda backed insurgents seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year
BUKAVU: Tens of thousands of secondary school students sat for state exams in rebel-held eastern Congo this week, a complicated logistical feat requiring rare cooperation between the government and M23 rebels.
The Rwanda-backed insurgents seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year and are now trying to show they can govern. African leaders along with Washington and Doha are meanwhile trying to broker a peace deal that would put an end to a conflict with roots in the Rwandan genocide more than three decades ago.
The state exams, administered across the sprawling central African country for students hoping to go to university, began on Monday and will continue through mid-June.
Administering them throughout the east of Democratic Republic of Congo required having education officials personally escort documents and other materials from the capital Kinshasa into M23-held cities and towns.
“We were among those who went to Kinshasa to collect the items,” said Jean-Marie Mwayesi, an education official in South Kivu province, where M23 claims considerable territory.
“Thanks to the combined efforts of our teams and partners, all 111 centers we cover have been served.”
President Felix Tshisekedi’s government announced last month it was waiving exam fees — which normally exceed $40 — for students in North and South Kivu provinces, citing insecurity.
While M23 has previously said it seeks the ouster of Tshisekedi’s government, the group’s leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters that it still recognized Kinshasa as the administrator of national exams.
“Our presence in the eastern part of our country does not make this a separate country,” Bisimwa said.
“The education of our children is apolitical. It must be protected against any political divergence because we all work for the interest and well-being of our children.”
Human rights groups have repeatedly accused M23 of executing civilians including children — allegations the group has denied.
Exauce Katete was among the students who sat for exams at a school in the South Kivu regional capital Bukavu, which fell under M23 control in February and where insecurity including vigilante violence has increased since then.
“Yes, security is there. I can still see a few people outside, responsible for keeping us safe. There are no disturbances, no noise, everything is going well,” Katete said, referring to plainclothes officers positioned by M23 outside the school.
Mwayesi, the local education official, said that of 44,000 students who registered in his zone, nearly 42,000 showed up, speculating that the remainder may have been displaced by fighting.
