NICOSIA (Reuters) -- Cypriot police have arrested a Ukrainian woman suspected of threatening a group of Russians with a knife as they celebrated their National Flag Day, police and media said on Tuesday. The woman, aged 55, appeared holding a knife as a group of about 20 flag-waving Russians gathered in the coastal town of Larnaca on Monday night. They were due to start a car convoy through the town. She was being held on custody on suspicion of common assault, public drunkenness, possession of a weapon and of disrupting the peace, police spokesman Harris Hadjiyiasemis told the semi-official Cyprus news agency. Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians live in Cyprus. On Saturday a small group of Russians gathered in the city of Limassol, waving flags and creating the “Z” symbol which has become synonymous with Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

 

*** 

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert who became the face of America’s fight against Covid-19, announced he will leave government service after more than 50 years in December, stepping down as advisor to President Joe Biden. In the chaotic early days of the pandemic, Fauci became the nation’s most trusted expert on Covid -- but his clashes with former president Donald Trump over the virus response drew anger from the right, and he now lives with security protection following death threats against his family. The 81-year-old, who has served under seven presidents beginning with Ronald Reagan, said in a statement he would be leaving both his position as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and that of chief medical advisor to Biden. His honest takes on America’s early failures to get to grips with the virus soon brought Fauci into conflict with Trump. The White House at one point barred him from doing TV interviews and launched a media blitz against him.

 

*** 

LONDON (AFP) -- The number of people crossing the Channel to the UK from northern France in small boats has hit a new high, the government in London said Tuesday. Some 1,295 people were detected on Monday, beating the previous single-day record of 1,185 on November 11, 2021, the Ministry of Defense said. So far this year there have been some 22,670 crossings -- nearly double the number at the same point in 2021. Last year, the UK authorities intercepted and brought ashore a total of 28,526 people as they tried to cross the busy shipping lane. The issue has caused a major political headache for the UK government, which promised tighter border controls after leaving the European Union. It has also heightened tensions between London and Paris, with the UK government accusing France of not doing enough to stop the crossings.

 

*** 

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -- About 2,000 anti-government demonstrators gathered outside New Zealand’s parliament on Tuesday to vent their frustration on a range of issues nearly six months after protesters were forcibly removed from the grounds of the legislature. The protesters, organized by the Freedom and Rights Coalition, arrived from around New Zealand and assembled on the lawns outside parliament in the capital, Wellington, as politicians worked inside. People, some with placards calling for freedom, were protesting over a range of issues including tighter environmental regulations for farmers, a government bid to take over regionally owned water assets and now largely removed COVID-19 restrictions. Barriers were erected in front of parliament and there was a heavy police presence around the grounds. Police in March ended an anti-vaccine protest that had disrupted the capital for three weeks, dismantling an encampment in the same location, towing away vehicles and arresting dozens. 

 

*** 

BRASILIA (Reuters) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he would respect the result of an October election regardless of the result, as long as the voting is “clean and transparent.” In an interview with TV Globo’s Jornal Nacional, a nightly newscast with the largest audience in Brazil, the far-right politician insisted without evidence there had been fraud in past Brazilian elections. Bolsonaro did not mention the electronic voting system that he has attacked relentlessly for months, alleging they are open to manipulation. But the former army captain said the military should have a role in deciding the transparency of the vote. Opinion polls show Bolsonaro trailing in the presidential race to leftist rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who governed from 2003-2010 when Brazil’s economy was booming. 

 

*** 

MEXICO CITY (AFP) -- A journalist was shot dead in southern Mexico, authorities said, shortly after posting online about the disappearance eight years ago of 43 students from a nearby area. Fredid Roman, who published his work on various social media pages and contributed to a local newspaper, was found dead in his car in the city of Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state, the local prosecutor’s office said Monday evening. The case of the 43 students from Guerrero, who went missing in 2014 after commandeering a bus to head to a protest, is considered one of the worst human rights disasters in Mexican history. The case was forced back into the spotlight last week when a truth commission branded the atrocity a “state crime” that involved agents of various institutions. A few hours before his death, Roman published a long Facebook post titled “State Crime Without Charging the Boss,” in which he mentioned an alleged meeting between four officials at the time of the students’ disappearance, including former attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam.