New Zealand’s PM Tests Positive for COVID

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. EPA
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. EPA
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New Zealand’s PM Tests Positive for COVID

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. EPA
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. EPA

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tested positive for COVID-19 with moderate symptoms, her office said in a statement on Saturday.

She will not be in parliament for the government's emissions reduction plan on Monday and the budget on Thursday, but "travel arrangements for her trade mission to the United States are unaffected at this stage," the statement said.

Details of the trip are still to be confirmed, although she is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Harvard University on May 26.

Ardern had been symptomatic since Friday evening, returning a weak positive at night and a clear positive on Saturday morning on a rapid antigen test, it said.

She has been in isolation since Sunday, when her partner Clarke Gayford tested positive, it said.

Due to the positive test, Ardern will be required to isolate until the morning of May 21, undertaking what duties she can remotely.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson will address media in her place on Monday.

New Zealand enforced one of the world's most restrictive approaches to managing the initial COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, and its death toll of 892 remains among the lowest of developed nations.

However, it has experienced an Omicron surge since restrictions were loosened in March, with Ardern's positive case among more than 50,000 recorded over the last week.



13 Workers Kidnapped in Peru Found Dead at Peruvian Gold Mine

A gold mine in Peru (File) 
A gold mine in Peru (File) 
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13 Workers Kidnapped in Peru Found Dead at Peruvian Gold Mine

A gold mine in Peru (File) 
A gold mine in Peru (File) 

The bodies of 13 security guards were found dead inside a mine in Peru after being kidnapped days earlier in the northern area of Pataz, the mining company Poderosa said Sunday.

The victims found Sunday worked for a company that provided services to Poderosa, a major gold mining firm listed on the Lima stock exchange that has in recent months been targeted by armed groups linked to illegal mining.

“This morning, after intense search efforts, the police rescue team was able to recover the bodies of the 13 workers who were kidnapped (...) by illegal miners in collusion with criminal elements,” the company said in a statement.

Pataz, located around 900 kilometers from the capital Lima, is in a state of emergency due to escalating violence caused by a gold rush there.

Pataz mayor, Aldo Carlos Marinos said he plans to meet with the country's president, Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, on Monday to find solutions to the security situation in the area.

Between 2013 and 2023, the Peruvian Financial Intelligence Agency said transactions related to illegal gold mining were estimated at billions.

Peru's government declared a state of emergency last month following a surge in illegal mining and criminal violence.

“The spiral of uncontrolled violence in Pataz is occurring despite the declaration of a state of emergency and the presence of a large police contingent which, unfortunately, has not been able to halt the deterioration of security conditions in the area,” the mining company said.

Peru's interior ministry said it had deployed organized crime investigators to probe the deaths, warning its agents “are fully empowered to use their firearms if the circumstances warrant it.”