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TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2020
Americas
ROME (AP) —Cruise ship passengers had their
temperatures checked and took COVID 19
tests last Sunday so they could set sail on what
is being billed as the irst Mediterranean cruise
after Italy’s pandemic lockdown.
The cruise ship companyMSChasmade the
procedures, for crew as well as passengers,
part of its new health and safety protocols.
The MSCGrandiosa, which was christened last
year, set sail from the northern Italian port of
Genoa on Sunday evening for a seven-night
cruise in the western Mediterranean.
Any one testing positive, or with a fever, or
having other COVID 19 symptoms was denied
boarding, the company said. Guest must wear
face masks in elevators and other areas where
social distancing is not possible. The crew
spent time in quarantine before the start of
the cruise.
Earlier this month, the Italian government
gave its approval for cruise ships to once again
depart from Italy’s ports but limited cruise
ships to sailing with 70 per cent capacity.
MSC declined to say howmany passengers
were sailing on this cruise. Among the port
calls for the Grandiosa, MSC’s lagship, are
Naples, Palermo, Sicily and Valletta, Malta.
Malta is one of four Mediterranean countries
that Italy now requires travellers arriving from
to have COVID 19 tests. For now, MSC was
limiting its guests to the residents of Europe’s
26-nation Schengen visa free travel zone.
PORTLAND (AP) — A man in the United
States (US) appeared to have been punched
and kicked unconscious by demonstrators
just blocks away from a peaceful protest in
Portland as unrest continued in Oregon’s
biggest city.
Multiple videos posted online apparently
showed the man sitting in the street next to
a truck that he had been driving, which had
crashed and come to a stop on a sidewalk
last Sunday, news outlets reported. People
were crowded around him and he appeared
to have been punched at least once and later
kicked in the head — knocking him lat.
Themanwaslaterloadedintoanambulance
and taken to a hospital with serious injuries,
Portland police Sergeant Kevin Allen told
The
Oregonian/Oregon Live
. The truckwas towed.
It was unclear what exactly led up to the crash
and the confrontation.
Separately, a protest that began last
Sunday was led by Letha Winston, whose
son Patrick Kimmons, 27, was fatally shot by
Portland police in 2018. The group marched
through downtown and ended up outside
the Mark O Hatield US Courthouse where
people left lowers and candles beside a
photo of Kimmons.
Demonstrations, often violent, have
happened nightly in Portland for more than
two months following the killing of George
Floyd in Minneapolis. Participants have
repeatedly broken into the ofices of the
Portland Police Association, vandalised them
and set ire.
Last Saturday a riot was declared and
police used crowd control munitions,
including smoke, to disperse a gathering
outside a law enforcement building.
Authorities said people had thrown
“softball size” rocks, glass bottles and other
objects at oficers. Two police oficers were
treated at the hospital after being hit by
rocks. Eleven people were arrested.
AUSTIN (AP) - Three police oficers were
shot and a man remained barricaded inside
a home with three of his family members in a
suburb of Austin, Texas, authorities said.
Oficers were still on the scene in Cedar
Park yesterday, the police department
tweeted. Authorities responded to a call
about 3.10pm last Sunday at a home off
Natalie Cove from a mother who said her
son kicked in the door of the home, Interim
Chief of Police Mike Harmon said during a
news conference near the scene.
The mother, a juvenile and another
person, whose age was unknown, remain in
the home held by the suspect, believed to
be in his mid-20s, Harmon said. The suspect
has “some mental health issues,” he said.
Harmon said when oficers arrived
they were met with gunire and taken to
a local hospital. All three oficers were
stable and had injuries not considered to be
life-threatening.
At least one oficer was to remain in the
hospital overnight.
It is unclear whether the suspect was
injured. “We want to end this peacefully for
everyone involved,” Harmon said, making
a plea to the unidentiied suspect. “Please,
come out and surrender peacefully.”
Harmon said that the Cedar Park Police
Department has a history at the residence,
but did not provide details, including when
police last visited the home.
As night fell in the Cedar Park neigh-
bourhood last Sunday where a water
tower could be seen in the distance,
lights from multiple police and emer-
gency responder vehicles bounced off
nearby homes.
Vehicles moved along one street that ran
perpendicular to another, where orange
cones had been placed to restrict trafic.
The city of Cedar Park has asked residents
to avoid Bagdad Road between Osage Drive
and New Hope Drive, the city said on Twitter.
The Cedar Park police and ire departments
have closed the southbound lane of Bagdad
Road at Heritage, the post said.
Three Texas officers
shot by gunman
Police of icers during a standoff at Cedar Park, Texas. PHOTO: AP
Multiple agencies are on the scene, which
is still active.
“We have negotiators right now reaching
out to the suspect,” Harmon said.
“Our hearts are with the police oficers
who were injured while protecting the
Cedar Park community this afternoon. We
must never take for granted the service
and sacriice of our law enforcement of-
icers, and the State of Texas stands ready
to provide the support and resources
needed to bring justice to those involved,”
Republican Governor Greg Abbott said in
a statement.
First Mediterranean cruise
sets sail after virus tests
Passengers arriving in Rome from four Mediterranean countries line up at Rome’s Leonardo da
Vinci Airport. PHOTO: AP
Crash, conflict blocks away
from peaceful Portland protest
Police detain a protester on Burnside. PHOTO: AP