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A30 world news
Diamars 4 mei 2021

Germany cancels Oktoberfest 2nd year over coronavirus fears

under strict guidelines, and Mayor
Germany is currently in the middle Dieter Reiter said the hope was that it
of a lockdown that includes a ban on again would be possible to have open-
large gatherings, with an infection air beer gardens and patios open with
rate of 146.9 new weekly infections certain restrictions.
per 100,000 residents.
However difficult the decision to
Bavaria is slightly below the national cancel Oktoberfest, it would have
average with 145.4 new weekly infec- been worse if the city waited too long
tions per 100,000, according to the and had to call it off after preparations
country's disease control center, the were already underway, he said.
Robert Koch Institute.
"For me, personally, it was no easy
Oktoberfest typically attracts about decision because it is a huge date in
6 million visitors from around the the calendar for the mayor," he said.
world and had been scheduled from "Much more importantly, it's a huge
Sept. 18 to Oct. 3. shame for the millions of fans world-
wide."
The combination of large tents full of
people and the consumption of large Under national "emergency brake"
quantities of alcohol, as well as the legislation passed last month, mea-
BERLIN (AP) — Bavarian of- Bavarian Governor Markus Soeder possibility for mutated varieties of the sures limiting personal contacts, clos-
ficials on Monday canceled Ok- said it was with "heavy hearts" that virus to be brought in from abroad, ing leisure and sports facilities and
toberfest festivities for a second they decided to call off the festival for would have made it particularly haz- shutting or restricting access to many
year in a row due to concerns over which the state is known globally, but ardous to go ahead with the festival, stores kick in for areas where there
the spread of the coronavirus, that with coronavirus numbers still Soeder said. are more than 100 weekly new cases
saying that there are too many stubbornly high and hospitals already per 100,000 residents for three con-
risks in hosting the celebrations, struggling, it had to be done. After Oktoberfest was canceled last secutive days.
which traditionally bring in visi- year, some 50 of the southern Ger-
tors from around the world, dur- "Oktoberfest will be held again, and man city's beer halls and other es- Restrictions also include a 10 p.m.-5
ing a global pandemic. will be big again," he pledged. tablishments hosted smaller parties a.m. curfew.

US and UK reject reports of imminent prisoner deal with Iran

LONDON (AP) — The U.S. cans home. proach with regard to North Korea each other" and that breaches of in-
and the U.K. dismissed reports following a policy review completed ternational law have become com-
coming out of Iran that they "More broadly on this, we have to last week. Blinken, who met in Lon- monplace.
are thrashing out a prisoner ex- take a stand against the arbitrary de- don with his Japanese and South
change deal with Tehran that tention of citizens for political pur- Korean counterparts earlier Mon- "It is important that we hold our val-
could see the imminent release poses," he said. day, said the new approach will be ues of democracy, state of law, human
of a British-Iranian woman, Na- "practical and calibrated" and urged rights and a global order based on
zanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and four Raab also dismissed the prospects of the leadership in Pyongyang to "take rules against them, united and cred-
Americans, among others. an imminent breakthrough amid re- the opportunity to engage diplomati- ibly," he said.
ports in Iran that Britain would pay cally."
Iran was a key topic of discussions a 400 million-pound ($550 million) Britain's Foreign Office said the G-7
Monday between U.S. Secretary of debt to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe's On Tuesday, the top diplomats from ministers will invest $15 billion in
State Antony Blinken and his host release. He insisted that the British the full G-7 — Canada, France, Ger- development finance over the next
in London, British Foreign Secre- government was working "very in- many, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the two years to help women in develop-
tary Dominic Raab. Their meeting tensively" on the release of detained U.S. — will meet along with their ing countries access jobs, build resil-
took place a day before the first face- British citizens in Iran. foreign minister colleagues from ient businesses and recover from the
to-face meeting of foreign ministers selected other countries, including coronavirus pandemic.
from the Group of Seven leading in- "I would say it's incumbent on Iran Australia, India and South Africa.
dustrial nations in two years, largely unconditionally to release those who They are also expected to pledge to
due to the coronavirus pandemic. are held arbitrarily and in our view Ahead of the gathering, German For- get 40 million more girls into school
Iran, Ukraine, China, Russia, climate unlawfully," Raab said. eign Minister Heiko Maas warned and 20 million more girls reading by
change and COVD-19 are expected that "authoritarian states" around the the age of 10 in poorer nations by
to dominate the talks. In Britain, there's particular interest world are "trying to play us against 2026.
in the well-being of Zaghari-Rat-
Blinken's visit to London, his first cliffe, who was last week sentenced to
since being appointed by President an additional year in prison on charg-
Joe Biden, comes amid mounting es of spreading "propaganda against
speculation of a prisoner swap deal the system."
with Iran. Such exchanges are not
uncommon and were a feature of the The two diplomats discussed an ar-
2015 nuclear accord between Iran and ray of subjects, such as sanctions on
the world's leading powers. Biden has Russian citizens, climate change and
indicated he is looking to restart nu- Biden's decision to withdraw U.S.
clear talks with Tehran after his pre- troops from Afghanistan later this
decessor, Donald Trump, pulled the year, a process that began in earnest
U.S. out of the agreement in 2018. over the weekend. Russia and its ag-
gressive actions toward Ukraine were
"The reports coming out of Tehran also on the agenda, with Blinken set
are not accurate," Blinken said at a to travel to the Ukrainian capital of
press briefing after their meeting, Kyiv on Wednesday.
adding that he had "no higher prior-
ity" than bringing all detained Ameri- Biden is also set to take a new ap-