International
Rio to hold New Year’s party, after all
AFP
Rio de Janeiro will hold its famed New Year’s Eve party after all, Mayor Eduardo Paes announced Thursday, five days after canceling the celebration over concerns about Covid-19.
The iconic Brazilian beach city will go ahead with its annual fireworks display, though the huge concert that usually follows remains canceled, Paes told a news conference.
“The city is open. The city is going to celebrate,” he said.
“Rio de Janeiro has low (Covid-19) infection rates, low numbers of hospitalizations, and thanks to God and the vaccine, a very low number of deaths. That enables us to hold this event in complete safety.”
The mayor had tweeted Saturday that Rio had to cancel the festivities “with sadness,” amid concerns over the new Omicron variant.
But he said Thursday that Governor Claudio Castro told him he may have spoken too soon.
After further meetings with Rio state and city health officials, authorities decided to go ahead with a reconfigured event, Paes said.
In addition to the world-famous fireworks show on Copacabana beach, the city will hold fireworks displays in nine other spots, and encourage revelers to go to the nearest one to avoid excessive crowds.
Copacabana will be closed to car traffic and public transportation, and tour buses will not be allowed into the city after the evening of December 30.
Paes said officials would set up spots where people could be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Brazil has registered more than 615,000 deaths in the pandemic, second only to the United States.
But with 65 percent of the country’s 213 million people now fully vaccinated, the number of infections and deaths has plunged.
Rio’s announcement came amid cautious optimism from world health authorities over Omicron.
The variant is spreading fast, but early evidence suggests it causes less severe disease, according to the World Health Organization.
Paes did not address another famed Rio party threatened by Covid-19, the annual carnival celebration scheduled to kick off on February 25.
International
U.S. to Limit Visa Duration for Foreign Students and Journalists
The United States has announced new limits on the legal length of stay for foreign students and journalists, marking the latest tightening of immigration policies under President Donald Trump.
The changes, outlined in an administrative rule published on Thursday, are expected to take effect in September, unless Congress blocks the measure.
Under the new policy, holders of student visas will be allowed to remain in the United States for no more than four years.
Foreign journalists will be limited to 240-day stays—approximately eight months—with the possibility of applying for extensions of the same duration.
The policy imposes even stricter rules on Chinese journalists, whose visas will be capped at 90 days.
More than 100 international news organizations and press freedom groups, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), criticized the measure in an open letter, arguing that it would reduce both the quantity and quality of international coverage of events in the United States.
The Republican Party, led by President Trump, currently holds a majority in Congress and has pledged to curb both illegal immigration and certain forms of legal immigration.
Previously, the United States generally issued student visas for the full duration of an academic program, while foreign journalists could receive visas valid for up to five years.
Central America
Nicaragua Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Italy Over Red Brigades Dispute
The Nicaraguan government announced on Thursday that it is severing diplomatic relations with Italy following criticism from the Italian government over Nicaragua’s long-standing decision to shelter Alessio Casimirri, a former member of the Red Brigades convicted in Italy for the 1978 kidnapping and murder of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani criticized the administration of co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo on Wednesday for continuing to provide refuge to Casimirri, who was sentenced in Italy to six life terms for his role in Moro’s abduction and killing.
In a statement issued Thursday, Nicaragua’s Foreign Ministry said it was ending all diplomatic relations with Italy, describing Tajani’s remarks as “unjustified, aggressive, and irresponsible.”
Tajani made the comments during a gathering of conservative leaders from Europe and Latin America held in Madrid.
“We have absolutely nothing in common with the positions of extremist governments such as Nicaragua, a country that continues to harbor dangerous Red Brigades terrorists like Alessio Casimirri,” Tajani said, according to Italian media.
The diplomatic break marks a new escalation in tensions between the two countries over the decades-old case involving Casimirri, who has lived in Nicaragua for many years despite repeated calls from Italy for his extradition.
International
U.S. Strikes Hit Areas Near Strait of Hormuz as Tensions With Iran Escalate
Several U.S. strikes targeted areas near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, according to Iranian state media citing local authorities, as hostilities between the United States and Iran intensified.
Officials in Iran’s Hormozgan Province said the island of Qeshm was struck multiple times by what they described as U.S. missiles during the evening. The reports were carried by the Iranian news agencies Fars and Tasnim.
Iranian state television also reported that the Bandar Abbas region, located on the Iranian coast overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, was the target of what authorities described as an “enemy U.S. air attack.”
According to local officials quoted by state television, no casualties have been reported following the strikes.
The reported attacks come amid renewed military tensions between Washington and Tehran, although U.S. authorities had not immediately commented on the reported operations.
U.S. to Limit Visa Duration for Foreign Students and Journalists
Nicaragua Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Italy Over Red Brigades Dispute
U.S. Strikes Hit Areas Near Strait of Hormuz as Tensions With Iran Escalate
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