Italy cancels Venice Carnival in bid to halt spread of virus

Policemen wearing face masks warn drivers on the road between Codogno and Casalpusterlengo, which has been closed by the Italian government due to a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, February 23, 2020. (Reuters)
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Updated 23 February 2020
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Italy cancels Venice Carnival in bid to halt spread of virus

  • Authorities said three people in Venice have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, all of them in their late 80s

CODOGNO: Scrambling to contain rapidly rising number of new coronavirus infections in Italy, the largest amount outside Asia, authorities on Sunday stepped up measures to ban public gatherings, including stopping Venice’s famed carnival events, which have drawn tens of thousands of revelers to a region that is now in the heart of the outbreak.
“The ordinance is immediately operative and will go into effect at midnight,” announced Veneto regional Gov. Luca Zaia, whose area includes Venice, where thousands packed St. Mark’s Square to join in carnival fun. Carnival, would have run through Tuesday. Buses, trains and other forms of public transport — including boats in Venice — were being disinfected, Zaia told reporters. Museums were also ordered to shut down after Sunday in Venice, a top tourist draw anytime of the year.
Authorities said three people in Venice have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, all of them in their late 80s and who are hospitalized in critical condition. Zaia said among those infected was a nurse.
Nearly all of Italy’s 133 known cases are clustered in the north, at least 25 of them in the Veneto region.
Authorities expressed frustration they haven’t been able to track down the source of the virus spread in the north, which surfaced last week when an Italian man in Codogno in his late 30s became critically ill.
“The health officials haven’t been yet able to pinpoint Patient Zero,” Angelo Borrelli, head of the national Civil Protection agency, told reporters in Rome.
At first, it was widely presumed that the man was infected by an Italian friend he dined with and who recently returned from his job, based in Shanghai. When the friend tested negative for the virus, attention turned to several Chinese who live in town and who frequent the same cafe visited by the stricken man. But Lombardy Gov. Attilio Fontana told reporters all of those Chinese have tested negative, too.
So for now, Borrelli indicated, strategy is concentrating on closures and other restrictions to try to stem the spread in the country which already had taken such measures early on in the global virus alarm, including banning direct flights from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. Italy has also tested millions of airport passengers arriving from other places for any sign of fever.
In Lombardy, with 90 cases, so far the hardest-hit region, schools and universities were ordered to stay closed in the coming days, and sporting events were canceled. Lombardy’s ban on public events also extended to Masses in churches in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
But while public Masses were forbidden in some towns in the hardest-hit areas, in the south, thousands turned out in the port city of Bari for a Mass by visiting Pope Francis, who shook hands with the faithful during his public appearance.Among those shaking the pope’s hand in Bari was Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who came to Bari for the event.
Museums, schools, universities and other public venues will be shut as well in Venice and the rest of Veneto. The shutdown is expected to last at least through March 1.
In Turin, the main city of the northern Piedmont region, a least three cases were diagnosed. That region also announced closure of all schools and universities.
The biggest jump in cases of confirmed COVID-19 was reported by authorities in Lombardy, a populous region which includes the country’s financial capital, Milan. Nearly all the cases were in the countryside, mainly in Codogno and nine neighboring towns, where only grocery stores and pharmacies were apparently allowed to stay open while other businesses were ordered shuttered and people — in theory at least — weren’t supposed to enter or leave the towns.
Melissa Catanacci, who lives on one of Codogno’s main roads, said that while entry points were open, others were closed.
Speaking by telephone from her home, she said she ventured outside for a stroll in the morning along with her husband and two children, ages 10 and 13.
“Every quarter-hour or so a car goes by” on the main road, she said. With businesses closed, the usual Sunday “passeggiata” — a leisurely stroll through local streets — didn’t last very long, she said. ”Nothing is open,” not even the town supermarket despite permission to do so, she said. “After a half hour, one turns around and goes back home.”
With school to stay shut through the week, her children were visiting other friends’ houses and vice versa, she said, to break the boredom. For Catanacci, there was no reason to be overly concerned. COVID-19 is “a new virus, it’s still unknown to our body” and its antibodies, Catanacci said, adding: “it’s similar to influenza.”
Italians’ other cherished Sunday routines – from soccer to church-going – were being touched by the spread of the contagion, almost entirely based in the north. Sports events in the affected northern areas, including local kids’ sports team practices to three Serie A soccer matches, were canceled following a long meeting Saturday night by the Italian government to decide infection-containing measures.
Italy’s explosion of infections was sparking concern elsewhere on the European continent.
Austria’s top security official, Franz Lang said that the country could activate border controls to Italy within one hour. Normally both countries are part of the visa and passport-free Schengen zone, but in specific situations, single countries can reactivate border controls. Lang said the situation on the border and possible reactions to the virus outbreak would be discussed in meetings Monday, local Austrian media reported.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte on Saturday night said for now Italy wasn’t suspending Schengen zone rules.
In Switzerland, which, like Austria, borders Italy, there was a call for calm. Daniel Koch, the head of the department for contagious diseases at the heath office, told SRF public broadcaster that the country had not been contacted regarding possibly infected persons traveling to Switzerland and that there was no need to change the current strategy.
“The news from Italy are worrisome ... but it is too early to think that a wave is rolling our way,” Koch said.
German travelers returning from northern Italy were being asked to check the official German health adviseries online regarding possible exposure to the virus. The German health ministry said it had initiated a phone conference for all European Union public health authorities about the outbreak in northern Italy on Monday.
Italy’s first cases — that of a married Chinese couple who were on vacation in Rome — surfaced in early February.
To date, two deaths — of elderly persons in the north — have been reported among the 133 cases.
Elsewhere in Europe, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said that authorities were getting ready for a possible outbreak in France of the new virus. In an interview published Sunday in French newspaper Le Parisien, he said he was monitoring very closely the “very serious” situation, including in neighboring Italy.
France reported earlier this month the first death outside Asia of a person infected with the virus, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist.


Never take peace for granted, King Charles tells Italy parliament

Updated 9 sec ago
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Never take peace for granted, King Charles tells Italy parliament

ROME: King Charles III warned Wednesday that peace can never be taken for granted and hailed Italy for standing by Ukraine, as he made a historic address to parliament in Rome.
“Peace is never to be taken, never to be taken for granted,” the 76-year-old monarch said during his third day of a state visit to Italy with his wife, Queen Camilla.
“Britain and Italy stand today united in defense of the democratic values we share.
“Our countries have both stood by Ukraine in her hour of need and welcomed many thousands of Ukrainians requiring shelter.”
He noted the defense ties between Italy and the UK, through NATO and a project to develop a new fighter jet with Japan.
Speaking in English with some Italian, Charles became the first ever British monarch to address a joint session of Italy’s parliament.
The king also addressed an issue close to his heart, the environment.
“Just as we stand together in defense of our values, so too we stand together in defense of our planet,” he said.
“From the droughts in Sicily to the floods in Somerset, both our countries are already seeing the ever more damaging effects of climate change.”

Indonesia deploys 1,090 soldiers for UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon

Updated 09 April 2025
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Indonesia deploys 1,090 soldiers for UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon

  • Country has contributed troops to UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon since 2006
  • Indonesian soldiers were wounded when Israel attacked UNIFIL peacekeepers last year

JAKARTA: The Indonesian military dispatched 1,090 peacekeepers on Wednesday to serve in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, for which Indonesia is the main troop-contributing country.

Indonesia has contributed troops to UNIFIL since 2006, after the operation’s mandate was expanded by the UN Security Council following the Second Lebanon War to help the Lebanese Army keep control over the south of the country, which borders Israel.

The new batch of Indonesian soldiers will replace the current group serving in the country’s Garuda Contingent, which consists of 1,230 personnel and whose terms expire at the end of this month.

“Today, I am very proud to send off 1,090 selected Indonesian soldiers to join the Garuda Contingent, which is on duty in the UNIFIL Mission in Lebanon,” Indonesian Armed Forces Chief Gen. Agus Subiyanto said at a pre-departure briefing in Jakarta.

“The trust that the UN has given to Indonesia to continue sending forces for its peacekeeping operations is proof that the world recognizes the professionalism, discipline and dedication of the Indonesian Armed Forces.”

As of December 2024, UNIFIL’s force consists of 10,251 peacekeepers from 48 troop-contributing countries, with Indonesia topping the list, followed by Italy and India.

“The Indonesian Army’s involvement in UN peacekeeping operations is not merely a military mission, but also a humanitarian and cultural mission, and a national diplomacy at the global level,” Subiyanto said.

“I wish to remind every soldier that this mission is a sacred and noble mandate, so carry out this task as best as you can.”

UNIFIL has been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for almost 50 years.

The peacekeeping forces have been attacked multiple times by Israeli troops since Israel’s invasion of Lebanon last year.

Two Indonesian soldiers were among those wounded in October when Israeli tanks entered Naqoura village — where UNIFIL headquarters is located — and began firing on peacekeepers.

“The escalating conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has been intensifying more lately. This tension has a huge impact on the south Lebanon region, where you have been assigned. For this I ask that you always prioritize safety while conducting your duties,” Subiyanto told the new batch of Indonesian peacekeepers.

“If the threat escalates and you are required to leave the area of ​​operations, implement the contingency plan prepared by the UN.”

Indonesia is among the main troop-contributing countries in UN’s global peacekeeping operations, with 2,736 soldiers serving across eight missions.


India broadens cooperation with Dubai as emirate’s crown prince visits

Updated 09 April 2025
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India broadens cooperation with Dubai as emirate’s crown prince visits

  • Dubai-India Business Forum takes place on sidelines of Sheikh Hamdan’s trip
  • India-UAE Friendship Hospital to be established in Dubai for Indian workers

NEW DELHI: Indian authorities and businesses have expanded cooperation with Dubai during the emirate’s crown prince’s two-day state trip to India.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday for his first official visit, during which he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his Cabinet.

From the capital, he traveled to Mumbai for the Dubai-India Business Forum co-organized by the Dubai Chambers, the Confederation of Indian Industry, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“Delighted that his first official visit to India coincides with the 100th anniversary year of the visit of his grandfather His Highness Sheikh Saeed to India,” Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told the forum’s participants.

“We witnessed the signing of MoUs focusing on future-ready supply chains and modernizing India’s maritime infrastructure … I underlined our deep cultural, economic, and trade ties that have further strengthened in the last decade with high-level engagements between our leadership that (go) beyond the realm of diplomacy.”

India’s economic ties with the UAE, including Dubai, have grown rapidly since the 2022 Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement came into power, eliminating trade barriers, lowering tariffs, and easing business operations.

In 2024, the UAE ranked as India’s third-largest global trade partner, following China and the US, with imports valued at $60.1 billion and exports at $37.8 billion.

In Dubai in particular, India has emerged as a top investor. Last year alone, India’s foreign direct investment into Dubai surged to over $3 billion.

The most populous of the UAE’s seven emirates, Dubai is also home to the majority of India’s 4.3 million diaspora.

“Indian investors form a key part of Dubai’s business landscape, with 72,651 active Indian companies registered as members of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce by the end of March 2025,” Mohammed Ali Rashed Lootah, CEO of Dubai Chambers, said during the Mumbai forum.

“Dubai holds a strategic position for Indian companies as a preferred investment destination due to its unique competitive advantages.”

Venues for cooperation with the emirate were further explored during the business forum in Mumbai, which saw dozens of Dubai business leaders arriving during Sheikh Hamdan’s visit and in which a new agreement between the Dubai Chambers and CII was signed.

“The forum focused on enhancing strategic economic opportunities between the two markets and was attended by more than 200 businesses from both sides. During the forum, many avenues were explored to enhance trade and investment opportunities (and) identify new opportunities to launch new joint ventures and strategic partnerships,” Manish Mohan, CII regional director-international, told Arab News.

“The MoU between CII and Dubai Chambers is significant in trying to see how we can improve and expand business between the Emirate of Dubai and India.”

On the sidelines of Sheikh Hamdan’s visit, India and Dubai also agreed to establish in Dubai the first overseas campuses of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

“This follows the inauguration of the first-ever campus of the IIT in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi last year,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, adding that it also “positions Dubai and the UAE as a key regional and global destination for eminent Indian educational institutions.”

The new 100-bed India-UAE Friendship Hospital will also be established in Dubai to provide affordable healthcare to Indian workers.

“It is also a recognition of the contribution of millions of Indians for the development and growth of Dubai,” the ministry said.

“These initiatives will benefit the 4.3 million-strong Indian diaspora living in the UAE and around 9 million Indian diaspora in the Gulf region.”


China retaliates with 84% tariffs on US products from Thursday

Updated 09 April 2025
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China retaliates with 84% tariffs on US products from Thursday

  • China – Washington’s top economic rival but also a major trading partner – is the hardest hit
  • Tariffs imposed on its products since Trump returned now reaching a staggering 104 percent

BEIJING: China will impose 84 percent tariffs on US imports, up from 34 percent, the finance ministry said Wednesday, hours after similar levies by the United States came into force.

US President Donald Trump’s latest salvo of tariffs came into effect on dozens of trading partners Wednesday, including punishing 104 percent duties on imports of Chinese products.

Beijing has consistently opposed tariff rises and said Wednesday it would take “firm and forceful” steps to protect its interests.

Its finance ministry later said in a statement that “additional tariff rates” on imports originating in the United States would “rise from 34 percent to 84 percent,” effective from 12:01 p.m. on Thursday.

“The tariff escalation against China by the United States simply piles mistakes on top of mistakes (and) severely infringes on China’s legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry said.

Washington’s moves “severely damage the multilateral rules-based trade system,” it added.

In a separate statement, Beijing’s commerce ministry said it would blacklist six American artificial intelligence firms, including Shield AI Inc. and Sierra Nevada Corp.

The companies had either sold arms to Taiwan or collaborated on “military technology” with the island, the commerce ministry said.


India readies for US extradition of Pakistan-born suspect in Mumbai attacks

Updated 09 April 2025
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India readies for US extradition of Pakistan-born suspect in Mumbai attacks

  • Tahawwur Hussain Rana, Canadian citizen born in Pakistan, due to be extradited “shortly” to face trial, Indian media says
  • India accuses Rana of being member of Pakistan-based LeT group designated by the UN as a ‘terrorist’ organization

NEW DELHI: Indian authorities are readying for the extradition from the United States of a man that New Delhi accuses of helping plan the 2008 Mumbai siege that killed 166 people.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, a Canadian citizen born in Pakistan, is due to be extradited “shortly” to face trial, Indian media said, reporting that New Delhi had sent a multi-agency team of security officials to collect him.
India accuses him of being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organization, and of aiding planning the attacks. Pakistan has always denied official complicity.
US President Donald Trump announced in February that Washington would extradite Rana, whom he called “one of the very evil people in the world.”
The US Supreme Court this month rejected his bid to remain in the United States, where he is serving a sentence for a planning role in another LeT-linked attack.
New Delhi blames the LeT group — as well as intelligence officials from New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan — for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, when 10 gunmen carried out a multi-day slaughter in the country’s financial capital.
India accuses Rana of helping his long-term friend, David Coleman Headley, who was sentenced by a US court in 2013 to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding LeT militants, including by scouting target locations in Mumbai.
Rana, a former military medic who served in Pakistan’s army, emigrated to Canada in 1997, before moving to the United States and setting up businesses in Chicago, including a law firm and a slaughterhouse.
He was arrested by US police in 2009.
A US court in 2013 acquitted Rana of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai attacks. But the same court convicted him of backing LeT to provide material support to a plot to commit murder in Denmark.
Rana was sentenced to 14 years for his involvement in a conspiracy to attack the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which had published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that angered Muslims around the globe.
But India maintains Rana is one of the key plotters of the Mumbai attacks along with the convicted Headley — and the authorities have welcomed his expected extradition.
In February, Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state which includes the megacity Mumbai, said that “finally, the long wait is over and justice will be done.”
Devika Rotawan, a survivor of the Mumbai attacks, said she believed the extradition of Rana would be a “big win for India.”
“I will never be able to forget the attack,” she told broadcaster NDTV on Wednesday.
Counterterrorism experts however suggest Rana’s involvement was peripheral compared to Headley, a US citizen, who India also wants extradited.
“They gave us a small fish but kept David Headley, so the essential outcome is going to be symbolic,” said Ajay Sahni, head of the Institute for Conflict Management, a New Delhi-based think tank.
Rana knew Headley, 64, from their days together at boarding school in Pakistan.
Headley, who testified as a government witness at Rana’s trial, said he had used his friend’s Chicago-based immigration services firm as a cover to scout targets in India, by opening a branch in Mumbai.
Rana has said he visited Mumbai ahead of the attacks — and stayed at the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel that would become the epicenter of the bloody siege — but denied involvement in the conspiracy.
Sahni said that more than 16 years after the attacks, Rana’s extradition is of “historical importance” rather than a source of any “live intelligence.”
But he added that handing him over has “a chilling effect” on others abroad who India seeks to put on trial.