Argentina announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to pay $430 million to the Paris Club, a group of government creditors.  

The agreement will allow the country to avoid a default after it missed a $2.4 billion debt payment. 

Argentina will pay part of the $430 million before the end of July and the rest sometime next year. 

Speaking at a press conference, Economy Minister Martin Guzman said Argentina has reached an "understanding" with the Paris Club. 

He called the agreement a "time horizon" which will provide the country with "more security." 

"After constructive negotiations and a very professional attitude on the part of the Paris Club Secretariat, this understanding has been reached, which is that Argentina will have time until March 31, 2022 to aim for a more permanent restructuring," said Guzman. 

He also pointed out that a potential default could have had a negative impact on the South American nation. 

Guzman said “it would have been a blow to the economy, with destabilizing effects, uncertainty and unpredictability,” adding it would have led to "particular damage," in reference to the global coronavirus pandemic and an economic recession which has hit Argentina hard.​​​​​​​ 

The US, UK, Germany and Japan are among the 16 creditor nations who are owed repayment in the Paris Club accord. 

Guzman acknowledged that the March 2022 deadline with the Paris Club should not impact any of the timeframe concerning negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

With the Paris Club sparing Argentina from default, Guzman reiterated that the country will focus its efforts on negotiations with the IMF concerning a $45 billion debt. 

The Argentine government is set to continue face-to-face talks with IMF members at the G-20 finance meeting in July in Italy. 

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez has received backing from France, Spain and Portugal in recent months as it continues the IMF negotiations. 

Argentina has no access to international debt markets, having achieved a temporary waiver following a three-year recession, and has several other loans that are set to mature later in the year. 

In September 2018, Argentina received the biggest IMF loan in history -- $57 billion -- due to a deep economic crisis./aa

Some 22 cases of the Delta Plus variant have been found in India, informed the government on Tuesday. 

The Delta Plus variant has been formed due to a mutation of the Delta strain or B.1.617.2 variant, which was first found in India and was believed to be the reason for the deadly second wave in the country.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a media conference said: “22 cases of Delta Plus variant have been found in Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh in the country. It has been kept in Variant of interest category.”

“Based on the recent findings of INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia), the Health Ministry has alerted and advised Maharashtra, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh regarding the Delta Plus variant of COVID19 found in these States,” said a statement by the Health Ministry.

INSACOG is a consortium of 28 labs of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for whole genome sequencing in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The consortium is tasked with not just the whole genome sequencing but also with giving timely inputs on appropriate public health response measures to be adopted by states and union territories.

Delta Plus variants are currently found in nine countries including the UK, the US, Japan, Russia, India, Portugal, Switzerland, Nepal, and China, the Indian Health Ministry said.

Health experts in India have warned that the Delta Plus may trigger a third wave of COVID-19 in the country.

Meanwhile, India’s new COVID-19 cases dropped below 50,000 in 91 days on Tuesday. The country recorded 42,640 new infections, while the death toll climbed to 389,302 with 1,167 fresh fatalities./aa

The UN human rights chief urged Iran on Tuesday to ensure that human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, writers, labor rights activists, artists, and environmentalists can engage in their activities safely and freely, without fear of reprisal.

At the 47th regular session of the Human Rights Council held on June 21-July 13, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet presented a periodic report on Iran covering June 1, 2020-March 17, 2021.

The overall human rights situation in Iran "remains of serious concern," says the report.

"In 2020, at least 267 people, including nine women, were executed -- but only 91 of these executions were announced. So far in 2021, at least 95 people have been executed in Iran, six of them women," said Bachelet, speaking in the council.

"Over 80 child offenders are on death row, with at least four at risk of imminent execution. There has been an increase in executions for drug-related crimes, particularly individuals from ethnic and religious minorities."

Bachelet also noted that the use of inappropriate force by security forces against protesters and bystanders in November 2019 amounted to the worst incident of state violence at protests in decades.

"However, protesters, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, and civil society actors continue to be subjected to intimidation, arbitrary detention, and criminal prosecution, including the death penalty," said Bachelet.

"Overall, the report finds a disturbing human rights landscape for Iranian women and men of every religious faith, ethnic origin, social class, and other status. We regret that the framework for the right to political participation is not in line with international standards," said the rights chief.

Iran's Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Esmaeil Hamaneh said: “The US and its enablers, and those states that have been enforcing its unilateral, coercive measures must be held to account for the massive, systematic, and gross violations of human rights."/agencies

Eight members of the Ugandan Olympic team who traveled to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics have been quarantined until early July because of coronavirus.

The nine-member delegation including boxers, coaches, and officials arrived in Japan where a coach tested positive for the virus.

The athletes were all fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca jab and had negative PCR tests before leaving Uganda.

Despite being vaccinated and testing negative before travel, the coach tested positive during a screening at Tokyo's Narita Airport.

The coach was isolated along with eight members designated as close contacts.

Uganda's Minister of State for Sports Denis Hamson Obua told Anadolu Agency that one member of the team tested positive while eight tested negative and are in good condition.

"The rest of the squad left by chartered bus for Osaka, in western Japan, where they are to train ahead of the Games and are in good shape," he said.

The team was the second, after the Australian women’s softball team, to arrive at the Olympics, which will open July 23.

Uganda is seeing an alarming rise in variants and has tightened lockdown measures. A total of 73,401 cases have been recorded with 714 reported deaths.

Critics have raised questions about the risks of holding the Olympics amid a pandemic. But the International Olympic Committee, Tokyo organizers and the Japanese government insist the Games can be held safely.

Organizers released virus guidelines for athletes as part of efforts to hold the Games safely.

Athletes have to test negative before traveling to Japan, as well as on arrival, and will be tested daily while in the country.

They face being kicked out of the Games if they break rules that include mask-wearing and avoiding travel except between venues and the Olympic Village.

There has been no lockdown in Japan. Emergencies, which have lasted for most of the year, focus on having restaurants and stores close early, limiting crowd size at venues and asking residents to socially distance, work from home and wear masks./aa

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday that it approved a $940 million loan package for Bangladesh to purchase 44.7M coronavirus vaccine doses that will be administered to more than 20 million people.

The doses will be given to Bangladeshis by 2024, contributing to the government’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for COVID-19 Vaccines with safe and effective vaccines, according to a statement by the ADB.

“The loan package comprises a regular loan and a concessional loan of $470 million each, is part of ADB’s $9 billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) launched in December 2020 to offer rapid and equitable vaccine-related support to ADB’s developing member countries,” it said.

The vaccines will be secured through the COVAX program, UNICEF, or bilateral arrangements with vaccine manufacturers or distributors.

“This project is a continuation of ADB’s ongoing support to Bangladesh’s COVID-19 pandemic response in order to protect its population from the virus, rebuild the livelihoods of vulnerable groups, and work to return its economy to its impressive growth path,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.

Vaccines eligible for financing must meet APVAX eligibility criteria, it added.

COVID-19 situation worsening

Bangladesh continues to experience a rise in infections with a two-month daily high Tuesday of 4,846 cases along with 76 deaths. Fatalities reached 13,702 while the number of infections rose to 861,150.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said the US announced it would provide 16 million doses to 18 countries, including Bangladesh.

The south Asian country of 165 million has inoculated just 3% of its population while 1.5 million seem to be deprived of a second dose of the AstraZeneca jab as vaccine stocks have run out because of a supply suspension from India.

Surging infections forced the government to suspend road and rail communication with the capital, Dhaka, and the rest of the country beginning Tuesday.

Earlier, Bangladesh extended a nationwide lockdown which was in place from April 5 to July 15./aa

A man accused of killing a family, including two children, in Brazil’s Federal District town of Ceilandia, has been on the run Tuesday for 14 days.

More than 300 police officers from two states -- Goias and the Federal District -- have been employed in the search as well as officers from the National Guard since Lazaro Borges de Sousa, 32, killed the Ceilandia family.

He previously escaped from the Aguas Lindas de Goias penitentiary and another prison and is charged with 31 crimes.

Although de Sousa does not fit the definition of a serial killer, he has been called “The DF’s Serial Killer” by local media, which has been highlighting police’s unsuccessful efforts in tracking down the fugitive.

De Sousa even managed to evade capture although the use of helicopters and drones have been used in the pursuit.

He has been hiding deep in the forests in Goias and the Federal District’s rural regions and has already taken hostages, according to Goias Public Security Secretary Rodney Miranda.

De Sousa is said to be armed and is considered dangerous. Residents in cities where the search is concentrated are scared and many have moved.

Goias police said during the last two weeks he has stolen a car, money, weapons, clothing, cell phone charger, exchanged fire with police, which resulted in an injured officer and invaded and burned houses and farms.

De Sousa is charged with five murders, three attempted murders, four robberies, three kidnappings and attempted imprisonment, according to police.

Police and court records show that de Sousa has been accused of 12 crimes from 2007 until his most recent escape./aa

The terrorist group YPG/PKK on Monday closed a border gate between northern Iraq and Syria to civilian crossings, according to local sources.

Before the terror group stopped the crossings, the northern Iraq Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) had allowed civilians who applied online to go through the Semalka Border Gate from Al-Hasaka, a Syrian province under YPG/PKK occupation.

The KRG had enacted the system to counter one in which only names on lists sent by the terrorist YPG/PKK could make the crossing.

But on Monday, the terrorist group reasserted control over the border, closing it to civilian crossings altogether.

On Sunday, on the eve of the YPG/PKK move, TV channel Kurdistan 24, based in the KRG’s capital Erbil, ended its activities in regions under YPG/PKK occupation.

Tension between YPG/PKK and northern Iraq’s KRG

Tensions between the YPG/PKK and KRG have been rising since last December when the terrorist group PKK moved in Al-Hasaka against the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the largest party in the semiautonomous KRG region.

Serbest Lezgin, the KRG deputy minister of Peshmerga affairs, had said the terrorist YPG/PKK attacked KRG Peshmerga forces with heavy weapons along the Syrian border on the night of Dec. 15, adding that international coalition forces led by the US have been providing weapons and aid to the YPG/PKK for years under the name of fighting the terrorist organization Daesh/ISIS.

On Dec.15, 2020, in a statement on social media about the tension between the PKK and Peshmerga forces, prominent YPG/PKK ringleader Ferhat Abdi Sirin, codenamed Mazlum Abdi, criticized the KDP.

Later YPG/PKK terrorists attacked and set fire to some offices in Al-Hasaka of the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS), which is under the auspices of the KDP.

The YPG/PKK, which has not allowed the return of Syrian Peshmerga to northern Iraq since 2012, on Dec.17, 2020, also detained three fathers in Al-Hasaka whose children were members of Syrian Peshmerga forces.

While the tension between the parties continued, three people, including the YPG/PKK's so-called representative in Erbil Mustafa Osman Halil, were detained at Erbil airport in northern Iraq on June 10.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot./aa