Reuters World News Summary

Health minister Enrique Paris told reporters he hoped the 9,000 record daily cases reached last week represented the peak of the latest outbreak. Argentine tensions erupt over coronavirus lockdowns as cases spike Argentina's national government and authorities in capital Buenos Aires are clashing over tightened COVID-19 restrictions and the closure of schools in and around the city.


Reuters | Updated: 16-04-2021 05:24 IST | Created: 16-04-2021 05:24 IST
Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Past peak? Chile raises hopes vaccines, lockdowns are turning tide against COVID-19

Chile's health authorities said on Thursday they believed a dip in the record case numbers the Andean nation has seen over the past week represents a "stabilization" of a second COVID-19 wave thanks to strict lockdowns and a rapid vaccination program that has fully innoculated a third of the population. Health minister Enrique Paris told reporters he hoped the 9,000 record daily cases reached last week represented the peak of the latest outbreak.

Argentine tensions erupt over coronavirus lockdowns as cases spike

Argentina's national government and authorities in capital Buenos Aires are clashing over tightened COVID-19 restrictions and the closure of schools in and around the city. The mayor of Buenos Aires on Thursday slammed the national government over new measures that include a two-week closure of schools and restrictions on movement after 8pm in the populous metropolitan area that is a hot spot for new cases.

Sexual violence being used as weapon of war in Ethiopia's Tigray, U.N. says

Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war in Ethiopia's Tigray region, where girls as young as 8 are being targeted and some women have reported being gang-raped over several days, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said on Thursday. He told the U.N. Security Council that the humanitarian crisis in Tigray had deteriorated over the past month and the United Nations had not seen any proof that Eritrean soldiers - accused of massacres and killings - have withdrawn.

Colombia rules out prompt opening of Venezuela border on COVID concerns

Colombian President Ivan Duque on Thursday ruled out a prompt reopening of his country's border with Venezuela, citing a high-level of COVID-19 infections. The 2,219km (1,380-mile) land and water border between the two neighbors - who do not maintain diplomatic relations - has been closed since last year. A new reopening date of June 1 was set by Bogota earlier this year.

North Korea's Kim visits family tomb to pay tribute to grandfather - KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un paid his respects at the mausoleum for his grandfather Kim Il Sung on Thursday to mark the birthday of the founder of the state, official media KCNA reported. Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, also watched a performance of song and dance at the Kumsusan Palace of Sun, where his father and grandfather lie in state, in celebration of the national holiday, KCNA reported on Friday.

Brazil's hospitals running out of sedatives as COVID-19 rages

Brazil's hospitals were running out of drugs needed to sedate COVID-19 patients on Thursday, with the government urgently seeking to import supplies amid reports of the seriously ill being tied down and intubated without effective sedatives. Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said Brazil was in talks with Spain and other countries to secure the emergency drugs. Hospitals, he added, were also struggling to get enough oxygen.

U.S. imposes sanctions on Russia over election interference, hacking; Moscow vows retaliation

The United States on Thursday imposed a broad array of sanctions on Russia, including curbs to its sovereign debt market, to punish it for interfering in last year's U.S. election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other alleged malign actions. The U.S. government blacklisted Russian companies, expelled Russian diplomats and barred U.S. banks from buying sovereign bonds from Russia's central bank, national wealth fund and Finance Ministry. The United States warned Russia that more penalties were possible but said it did not want to escalate.

France outlaws sex with children aged under 15

The French parliament on Thursday adopted legislation that characterises sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape and punishable by up to 20 years in jail, bringing its penal code closer in line with many other Western nations. While the age of consent was previously 15, prosecutors in France used to be required to prove sex was non-consensual to obtain a rape conviction.

Low to medium risk of Russian invasion of Ukraine in next few weeks -US general

There is a "low to medium" risk that Russia will invade Ukraine over the next few weeks, the top U.S. general in Europe said on Thursday, in the first such military assessment amid mounting concern about Russian troop movements toward Ukraine's borders. Air Force General Tod Wolters declined to explain the intelligence driving his assessment, which does not suggest that the U.S. military expects a Russian invasion at this point, but he is not ruling one out or playing down the risk.

Blinken visits Afghanistan in show of support after Biden announces withdrawal

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Kabul on Thursday to show support for the Afghan government and civil society a day after President Joe Biden said he was pulling out American forces after nearly 20 years of war. Biden said U.S. objectives in Afghanistan had become "increasingly unclear" over the past decade and set a deadline for withdrawing all U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan by Sept. 11, exactly two decades after al Qaeda's attacks on the United States that triggered the war.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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