News in Brief

Date: 17 July 2021 - 21:28

News ID: ۹۲۵۳۳

WASHINGTON/SYDNEY (Dispatches) – With COVID-19 cases rising in all 50 U.S. states, health officials say it’s clear that unvaccinated people are both driving the increase in cases and are most at risk. “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during Friday’s White House COVID-19 briefing, CNN reported. “We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk,” Walensky said. Meanwhile, the Australian state of New South Wales on Saturday imposed stricter measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus after reporting 111 new cases and one death. Health officials said a Sydney man in his 80s had died of the virus in the past 24 hours. Sydney and surrounding communities in New South Wales are entering their fourth week in lockdown as the state tries to stop the spread of the virus.

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NAYPYIDAW (Al Jazeera) – Dozens of children have been killed and hundreds arbitrarily detained in Myanmar since a coup more than five months ago, UN rights experts said, as the political turmoil in the country continues amid a health emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The UN child rights committee reported on Friday that it had received “credible information” that 75 children had been killed and approximately 1,000 arrested in Myanmar since February 1. “Children in Myanmar are under siege and facing catastrophic loss of life because of the military coup,” committee chair Mikiko Otani said in a statement. Myanmar’s residents have taken part in mass protests but have been met with a brutal military response since the coup which deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “Children are exposed to indiscriminate violence, random shootings and arbitrary arrests every day,” Otani said. “They have guns pointed at them and see the same happen to their parents and siblings.”

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TEXAS (Dispatches) – A federal judge in Texas has ruled as illegal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that shields migrants who came to the United States as children from deportation. In a 77-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that DACA is unlawful and blocked the administration of President Joe Biden from approving new applications. While the ruling does not immediately cancel current permits for more than 600,000 DACA recipients, it does present them with a distressing legal limbo and an uncertain future. DACA, established in 2012 by the administration of former President Barack Obama, was intended to provide temporary reprieve to the so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children. The ruling by Hanen, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, is the latest blow to DACA, which still remains one of the only legal pathways for young undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the United States.

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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – A six-year-old girl was killed and five adults were injured as a result of an overnight shooting attack in the U.S. capital of Washington, the CNN broadcaster reported on Saturday, citing police. The incident took place shortly after 11 p.m. local time on Friday (03:00 on Saturday GMT). CNN quoted Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict as saying that the girl was taken to a hospital where she later died. In addition, three men and two women sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the broadcaster said. No one has been detained in connection with the shooting yet.

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MOSCOW (AP) – Russian aircraft makers say they will present a prospective new fighter jet at a Moscow air show that opens next week. The new warplane hidden under tarpaulin was photographed being towed to a parking spot across an airfield in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, where the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon opens Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit the show’s opening. Russian media reports said that the new jet has been built by the Sukhoi aircraft maker in a program of development of a light tactical fighter. Unlike Russia’s latest Su-57 two-engine stealth fighter, the new aircraft is smaller and has one engine. The new warplane’s name is unknown, and there is no information about its capability and deployment prospects.