Greece Hits New COVID-19 Record

Medical student Michaella Alexandrou holds the hand of a patient as her colleague takes a blood test at the Pathological Clinic of Sotiria Hospital in Athens. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Medical student Michaella Alexandrou holds the hand of a patient as her colleague takes a blood test at the Pathological Clinic of Sotiria Hospital in Athens. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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Greece Hits New COVID-19 Record

Medical student Michaella Alexandrou holds the hand of a patient as her colleague takes a blood test at the Pathological Clinic of Sotiria Hospital in Athens. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Medical student Michaella Alexandrou holds the hand of a patient as her colleague takes a blood test at the Pathological Clinic of Sotiria Hospital in Athens. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greece hit a new record with 460 daily confirmed infections on Friday.

Total infections have nearly reached 20,000 cases. With five more deaths, the overall toll has reached 398.

The infections Friday included 114 cases among workers at a canning factory in northern Greece, which has been closed.

Officials said there’s no need for new lockdown measures, provided the public obeys existing ones, The Associated Press reported.

Starting Saturday, visitors from Poland and the Czech Republic will be among those needing a negative coronavirus test before traveling to Greece.



Khamenei: Iran Doesn’t Have Proxies in the Region

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
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Khamenei: Iran Doesn’t Have Proxies in the Region

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei meets a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran

Iran’s supreme leader denied Sunday that militant groups around the region functioned as Tehran’s proxies, warning that if his country chose to “take action,” it would not need them anyway.
Ali Khamenei told a group of elegists and eulogists in Tehran, “They keep saying that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake. If one day we want to take action, we do not need a proxy force,” according to his website.
Khamenei then attacked the United States and its ally Israel over developments in Syria, and hinted at internal criticism of Iran's regional role.
“Their plans in Syria led to unrest and chaos, and now the United States, the Zionist regime, and their allies, feeling victorious, have resorted to extravagant claims and nonsensical talk, like the followers of devil,” he said.
The Iranian leader then quoted an American official as saying that Washington will “provide assistance and support to anyone causing unrest in Iran.”
Such statements, he said, are an example of the enemies’ boastful rhetoric. “The Iranian nation with their strong steps will trample underfoot any US mercenary who accepts this role,” he added.
Khamenei then addressed the Israelis saying, “You Zionists haven’t won; you’ve been defeated. Yes, you were able to advance a few kilometers in Syria where there wasn't even one soldier with a gun to stop you. That’s not victory. Indeed, the courageous, devout, young people of Syria will definitely expel you from there.”
He added, “You wretched people! Where have you won? Have you won in Gaza? Have you destroyed Hamas? Have you freed your own prisoners? Is this victory to kill over 40,000 people without being able to achieve even one of your goals? Despite killing Hassan Nasrallah, have you managed to eliminate Hezbollah in Lebanon?”
Khamenei also affirmed that Iran has not lost its proxies in the region.
“Iran doesn’t have proxy forces. Yemen fights due to their faith. Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so,” he said.
IRGC commander Hossein Salami, five days after Assad's fall, had denied that Iran had lost its regional arms. “Some suggest the Iranian regime has lost its arms, but this is not true. The regime still has its arms,” he said.