News in Brief

Date: 19 October 2021 - 21:23

News ID: ۹۵۶۲۹

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top official locked horns Tuesday with Poland’s prime minister, arguing that a recent ruling from the country’s constitutional court challenging the supremacy of EU laws is a threat to the bloc’s foundations and won’t be left unanswered. Addressing EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she is deeply concerned by the ruling, which she said is “a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order” and undermines the protection of judicial independence. Relations between Poland and the EU reached a new low earlier this month after the tribunal ruled that Polish laws take precedence over those of the 27-nation bloc — which Poland joined in 2004 — escalating lingering tensions over democratic standards between the country’s right-wing nationalist government and Brussels institutions.

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OTTAWA (AFP) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a visit to the indigenous community of Kamloops where the remains of 215 children were found in May at a former residential school, apologizing for not coming sooner. The visit followed strong criticisms directed at Trudeau for ignoring an earlier invitation to the community on the first national day of truth and reconciliation on September 30, instead going on a family vacation. Since the first discoveries in Kamloops five months ago, more than 1,200 unmarked indigenous graves have been found at other former school sites, and searches have been launched across Canada for more. From the late 19th century to the 1990s, some 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were forcibly enrolled at the schools across Canada. Students spent months or years isolated from their families, and were physically and sexually abused by headmasters and teachers who stripped them of their culture and language.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -- The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a Russian decision to halt the work of its diplomatic mission to NATO in retaliation for the expulsion of eight Russians accused of spying was a recognition of the fact that Moscow had no ties with the alliance. Russia said on Monday it would halt the activities of its diplomatic mission to NATO and that staff at NATO’s military mission in Moscow would be stripped of their accreditation from Nov. 1, and that the alliance’s information office in the Russian capital would be shuttered. read more “The situation which existed de facto has now been legalized formally,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “There were no ties (between Russia and NATO.)...We won’t suffer from this.”

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MOSCOW (AP) — Russia registered another daily record of coronavirus deaths Tuesday as rapidly surging contagion raised pressure on the country’s health care system. The government task force reported 1,015 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, the highest number since the start of the pandemic. That brought the total death toll to 225,325 — by far the highest in Europe. It also registered 33,740 new infections over the past day. The daily coronavirus mortality numbers have been surging for weeks and topped 1,000 for the first time over the weekend amid sluggish vaccination rates and the government’s reluctance to toughen restrictions. Russian authorities have tried to speed up the pace of vaccinations with lotteries, bonuses and other incentives, but widespread vaccine skepticism and conflicting signals from officials have hampered the efforts. The task force said Monday that about 45 million Russians, or 32% of the country’s nearly 146 million people, are fully vaccinated.

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QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency to confront drug trafficking and other crimes in Ecuador, saying the military and police will take to the streets to provide security. In a national broadcast, the president said that “there is only one enemy: drug trafficking.” He pointed out that Ecuador has gone from being a trafficking zone to one that also consumes drugs. Lasso said drug trafficking has brought an increase in homicides, burglaries of homes, thefts of vehicles and goods, and robberies of people. The state of emergency gives authorities the power to restrict the freedom of movement, assembly and association, among the most important limitations. This year there have been violent revolts in the country’s prisons due to drug violence, especially in Guayaquil, which have ended in bloody massacres by inmates of rival mafia gangs linked to Mexican drug cartels. About 230 people have been killed in those compounds.

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WARSAW (Reuters) -- Almost 6,000 Polish soldiers are now guarding the country’s border with Belarus in stepped up security measures in the face of a surge in migration, the defense minister said on Tuesday. The deployment of fresh troops marks a significant expansion of the military presence on the border as only on Saturday Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak had put the number of soldiers at more than 3,000. Poland has declared a state of emergency in the region and plans to build wall on the border. Parliament has also passed legislation that human rights advocates say aims to legalise pushbacks of migrants across its borders in breach of the country’s commitments under international law. read more An increasing number of migrants have also been arriving in Germany and Polish media reported that the head of the German Police trade union has asked the interior minister to temporarily restore border controls with Poland to stop the flow of migrants.