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EU considers alignment on China passengers as COVID cases surge

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EU considers alignment on China passengers as COVID cases surge

European Union nations will attempt to construct a coordinated method to incoming airline passengers from China because the world’s most populous nation is hit by a wave of COVID-19 infections and as a number of EU member nations introduced particular person efforts over the previous week.

China’s abrupt U-turn on COVID controls in early December and the accuracy of its official COVID information have come beneath scrutiny at house and abroad, prompting a lot of international locations to impose journey curbs on travellers from China out of worry of introducing new variants.

Some worldwide well being specialists have predicted that a couple of million deaths are potential because the virus is now spreading unchecked since Beijing dropped its strict “zero-COVID” insurance policies final month.

Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, stated officers from the member states will maintain an Built-in Political Disaster Response assembly on Wednesday to see if entry necessities all through the bloc are mandatory for guests from China.

“It is necessary that we get the required measures in place shortly,” Swedish Well being Minister Jakob Forssmed stated on Monday.

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Belgium stated late on Monday that it could be checking wastewater from planes arriving in from China to see if assessments revealed new clues about any probably harmful variants amongst incoming passengers. It added that it could urge guests from China who really feel unwell to take a COVID take a look at.

Belgian well being minister Frank Vandenbroucke stated extra wanted to be carried out, however solely in a coordinated method among the many EU’s 27 member states.

“It might be a superb sign towards China if all EU nations would say collectively: ‘Should you come to Europe it’s a must to be examined first,’” he informed VRT community.

France, Spain and Italy have already introduced independently that they are going to be implementing harder COVID measures for passengers from China.

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France’s authorities is requiring damaging assessments, is urging French residents to keep away from nonessential journey to China and is reintroducing masks necessities on flights from China to France.

Spain’s authorities stated it could require all air passengers coming from China to have damaging assessments or proof of vaccination.

Italy was the primary EU member to require COVID assessments for airline passengers coming from China, however a number of others say such measures may not be the easiest way to guard native populations since variants now coming from China have already been round in Europe, usually for months.

The US introduced new COVID testing necessities final week for all travellers from China, becoming a member of some Asian nations that had imposed restrictions due to a surge of infections.

China’s state media slams Europe’s ‘political logic’

The World Well being Group on Friday urged China’s well being officers to recurrently share particular and real-time info on the COVID state of affairs, together with hospitalisations, deaths and vaccinations.

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It invited Chinese language scientists to current detailed information on viral sequencing at a gathering of a technical advisory group scheduled for Tuesday.

China reported three new COVID deaths for Monday, up from one on Sunday. Its official dying toll for the reason that pandemic started now stands at 5,253.

China has rejected criticism of its COVID information and stated that whereas new mutations could also be extra infectious, they’re much less dangerous.

“Based on the political logic of some individuals in Europe and the USA, whether or not China opens or doesn’t open is equally the improper factor to do,” state-run CCTV stated in a commentary late on Monday.

In an article on Tuesday, Folks’s Every day, the official newspaper of the Communist Social gathering, cited a number of Chinese language specialists as saying the sickness attributable to the virus was comparatively delicate for most individuals.

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“Extreme and significant sicknesses account for 3% to 4% of contaminated sufferers at present admitted to designated hospitals in Beijing,” Tong Zhaohui, Vice President of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, informed the newspaper.

Regardless of the upbeat tone of China’s state media, others have been warning that the worst is but to come back.

“China is getting into probably the most harmful weeks of the pandemic,” warned analysts at Capital Economics.

“The authorities are making nearly no efforts now to sluggish the unfold of infections and, with the migration forward of Lunar New 12 months getting began, any elements of the nation not at present in a serious COVID wave will probably be quickly,” they stated.

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Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

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Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

The Hungarian prime minister arrived in Vienna on Thursday, where he was received by parliamentary president Walter Rosenkranz in a meeting condemned by several Austrian political parties.

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Despite criticism from other political parties, Austria’s newly elected parliament president, Walter Rosenkranz of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Vienna as his first official guest. 

The controversial visit took place in the Austrian parliament’s reception room, with the entire leadership of the FPÖ, including leader Herbert Kickl, reportedly in attendance. 

After the meeting concluded, Orbán had a separate, private meeting with Kickl. However, nothing was initially revealed about the content of their conversation.

Rosenkranz said the meeting had been arranged before he took office.

Other Austrian parties, including the Greens and Social Democrats, had resisted Orbán’s visit. Green party parliamentary leader Sigrid Maurer said the FPÖ views Orbán as a role model, which should be considered “an absolute warning signal.” 

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FPÖ finished first in the recent Austrian parliamentary elections, garnering 29.2% of the vote in the country’s first far-right election win since World War II.

Experts say the party managed to tap into Austrian anxiety on housing and healthcare, as well as often successfully blaming migration for a host of other issues. 

As is customary within Austria, the group with the highest number of votes appoints the President of Parliament – hence Rosenkranz being elected to the second-highest state office in the country last week. 

Orbán will reportedly not meet with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer during the visit.

Far-right alliance in Europe

Austria’s Freedom Party and Orbán’s Fidesz party both belong to the new European far-right group Patriots for Europe.  

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The party shares a deep aversion to the Green Deal, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s flagship initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and have challenged the project of European integration as well as the power granted to EU institutions.  

Patriots for Europe are also opposed to providing Ukraine with military equipment, question the efficiency of Western sanctions against Moscow and want to maintain close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government. 

It is the third-largest group in the European Parliament, boasting dozens of MEPs from countries like France, Italy and the Netherlands. 

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Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House

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Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House
By Hannah Lang (Reuters) – The cryptocurrency industry has spent years clashing with Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration over regulatory issues, but executives expect an easier ride from Washington, regardless of who wins the White House next week. Crypto asset managers including Bitwise …
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Iran and Russia close in on deal as Tehran threatens revenge against Israel

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Iran and Russia close in on deal as Tehran threatens revenge against Israel

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Iran and Russia are closing in on a deal that will bolster their defensive cooperation and strengthen military ties at a time when Western nations are increasingly concerned about regional wars in Europe and the Middle East. 

“The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. 

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The foreign minister, who said the treaty would be signed “in the near future,” claimed that the deal will “confirm” both Iran and Russia’s “interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels.”

President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 23, 2024. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov/Pool)

PENTAGON SAYS IRAN SUPPLYING RUSSIA WITH BALLISTIC MISSILES

The details of the treaty remain unclear and Lavrov did not expand on what form this defensive partnership would take.

A similar agreement signed between Russia and North Korea earlier this year was followed by Pyongyang’s decision to send some 10,000 soldiers to its warring neighbor, which may potentially be deployed to fight in Ukraine, according to concerns signaled by the Pentagon. 

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But given that Iran already supplies Russia with defensive aid to propel its brutal war in Ukraine, it’s not only the repercussions this partnership could have for the war in Europe that concern Western security officials.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who once shared a solid relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has not appeared to be overtly involved in the unfolding fight in the Middle East, unlike Russia’s top adversary, the U.S.

But a report by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month found that Moscow has been providing the Houthi terrorist group with satellite data to assist it in its repeated attacks on Western ships in the Red Sea. According to the report, the information was passed from Russia to “members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)… embedded with the Houthis in Yemen.” 

Houthi supporters rally in Yemen

Houthi supporters attend a rally against the U.S.-led strikes on Yemen and Israel’s war in Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Feb. 23, 2024. (AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)

PENTAGON THREATENS NO NEW LIMITS ON UKRAINE WEAPONS IF NORTH KOREA JOINS RUSSIA’S WAR

Russia has also increasingly called on Israel to show “restraint” when it comes to escalating tensions in the Middle East as it launched an incursion into Lebanon and struck Iran – which directly funds and arms the terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, warring with Jerusalem.

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Tehran has once again threatened Jerusalem with a retaliatory hit after Israel launched aerial strikes on Friday. The series of tit-for-tat attacks continue as Israel pushes to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on Tuesday responded to these threats and said, “If Iran makes the mistake of launching another missile barrage at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran.”

the-chief-of-the-general-staff,-ltg-herzi-halevi

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the IDF, commands the strike on Iran from Camp Rabin, with the commanding officer of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar. (IDF)

Halevi warned Israel will continue to escalate its attack “capabilities and locations” previously “set aside” if Iran responds with another strike on the Jewish state.

“We did this for a very simple reason, because we may be required to [strike] again. This event is not over, we are still in the midst of it,” he said while speaking from the Ramon Airbase in Israel. “I say this to you: we are highly prepared across all fronts.” 

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