World

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s senate on Wednesday voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, the culmination of a yearlong fight that paralysed Latin America’s largest nation and exposed deep rifts among its people on everything from race relations to social spending.

While Rousseff’s ouster was widely expected, the decision was a key chapter in a colossal political struggle that is far from over. Rousseff was Brazil’s first female president, with a storied career that includes a stint as a Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured in the 1970s during the country’s dictatorship. She was accused of breaking fiscal laws in her management of the federal budget.

Opposition lawmakers, who made clear early on the only solution was getting her out of office, argued that the maneuvers masked yawning deficits from high spending and ultimately exacerbated the recession in a nation that had long enjoyed darling status among emerging economies.

Nonsense, Rousseff countered time and again, proclaiming her innocence up to the end. Previous presidents used similar accounting techniques, she noted, saying the push to remove her was a bloodless coup d’état by elites fuming over the populist polices of her Workers’ Party the last 13 years.

The opposition needed 54 of the 81 senators to vote in favor for her to be removed. They got many more, winning in a landslide of sorts, 61-20.

“Today is the day that 61 men, many of them charged and corrupt, threw 54 million Brazilian votes in the garbage,” Rousseff tweeted minutes after the decision.

Rousseff won re-election in 2014, garnering more than 54 million votes.

In the background of the entire fight was a wide-ranging investigation into billions of dollars in kickbacks at state oil company Petrobras. The two-year probe has led to the jailing of dozens of top businessmen and politicians from across the political spectrum, and threatens many of the same lawmakers who voted to remove Rousseff.

Rousseff argued that many opponents just wanted her out of the way so they could save their own skins by tampering with the investigation, which Rousseff had refused to do.

Many lawmakers and Brazilians nationwide, meanwhile, blamed Rousseff for the graft even though she has never been personally implicated. They argued that she had to know, as many of the alleged bribes happened while her party was in power.

Rousseff’s removal creates many questions that are not easily answered. Michel Temer, her vice president who became her nemesis, will serve out the remainder of her term through 2018. But Brazilians have already gotten a taste of Temer’s leadership, and they are clearly unimpressed.

In May, Temer took over as interim president after the senate impeached and suspended Rousseff. The 75-year-old career politician named a Cabinet of all-white men, a decision roundly criticised in a nation that is more than 50 per cent nonwhite. Three of his ministers were forced to resign within weeks of taking their jobs because of corruption allegations, which also follow Temer and threaten his hold on power.

When Temer announced the opening of the Olympics on August 5, he was so vociferously booed that he remained out of sight for the remainder of the games.

Rousseff’s allies have vowed to appeal to the country’s highest court. While previous petitions to the court have failed to stop the impeachment process, at the very least legal wrangling will keep the issue front and centre.

The decision also leaves many question marks over the economy, expected to decline for a second straight year. Temer has promised to pull the country of 200 million people from its recession by tackling reforms that have long been taboo, such as slimming public pensions.

But he has not been able to accomplish much the last 3 months as interim president, and it remains to be seen whether congress will be willing to work with him.

NEW DELHI — US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Wednesday on China and the Philippines to abide by an international tribunal’s decision on the disputed South China Sea and said there was no military solution to the problem.

Kerry’s remarks, made in a visit to India, came ahead of a G-20 summit in China on Sunday and Monday that could be overshadowed by arguments over everything from territorial disputes to protectionism by China, diplomats say.

An arbitration court in The Hague ruled in July that China did not have historic rights to the South China Sea. China dismissed the case lodged by the Philippines and rejected the ruling.

“The United States continues to call on China and the Philippines to abide by the tribunal’s recent decision which is final and legally binding on both parties,” Kerry told a gathering of students in New Delhi.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

China has vowed to take all measures needed to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea and says its actions there, which have included land reclamation and construction of air fields and docks on reefs, are peaceful.

China has blamed the United States and its allies in the region, such as Japan and Australia, for stoking tension.

The United States and Japan have no territorial claims in the South China Sea and say their priority is freedom of navigation.

Kerry said the United States supported diplomatic efforts to resolve territorial disputes to which there was “no military solution”.

“We are also interested in not fanning the flames of conflict but rather trying to encourage the parties to resolve their disputes and claims through the legal process and through diplomacy,” Kerry said.

The United States and India, in a joint statement issued on Tuesday after security talks, reiterated the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.

They said states should resolve disputes through peaceful means and “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes affecting peace and stability”.

US ally the Philippines welcomed the tribunal’s ruling in July but it is keen not to anger China. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he will hold talks with China on the issue.

Duterte is attending a summit next week in Laos of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which both US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang are also going to.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, asked in Beijing whether Li would meet Duterte there, said it was not clear what bilateral meetings might take place.

Liu did not refer directly to the United States but said interference by some countries outside the region was a challenge in China-ASEAN relations.

“Frankly, some countries outside the region don’t want to see China-ASEAN relations develop so quickly and become so close. Some people, some countries, are constantly interfering in the development of China-ASEAN relations,” Liu said.

JERSEY CITY, New Jersy — It's been the driving issue of Donald Trump's campaign. Build a wall along the southern border. Make Mexico pay for it. And expel everyone living in the US illegally with the help of a "deportation force".

 Ten weeks before the election, however, buffeted by conflicting advice from aides and advisers, Trump has seemed to be in full indecision mode.

At a Fox News town hall tall taping last week, in the face of pressing questions, he proceeded to poll the audience at length on the fate of an estimated 11 million people.

Trump is now planning a major speech on Wednesday, during which he's expected to finally clarify his stance. Supporters are hoping for a strong, decisive showing. But for critics, many already disposed to vote against him, his wavering on what has been his signature issue, seems like a warning that he's unable to handle a central element of any president's job — making decisions.

It also underscores how little his Republican campaign has invested in the nitty gritty of outlining what he would do as president, especially when compared with the more detailed plans of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

"It's just puzzling," said Lanhee Chen, who has served as a policy adviser to several Republican presidential candidates. "This is the issue on which he rose to prominence in the primary and the issue on which he continues to stake much of his campaign."

From the start, Trump has never been the kind of candidate to pore over thick policy books.

Indeed, he has mocked Clinton on the subject.

"She's got people that sit in cubicles writing policy all day. Nothing's ever going to happen. It's just a waste of paper," he told Time Magazine in June. "My voters don't care and the public doesn't care. They know you're going to do a good job once you're there."

To date, Trump's campaign has posted just seven policy proposals on his website. There are 38 on Clinton's site, ranging from efforts to cure Alzheimer's disease to Wall Street and criminal justice reform.

"I've laid out the best I could, the specific plans and ideas that I want to pursue as your president because I have this old-fashioned idea," Clinton said during a recent speech in Colorado. "When you run for president, you ought to tell people what you want to do as their president."

Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has said she's pushing her boss to get more specific. Yet his positions on a host of issues remain vague at best.

For example, while Trump has slammed the Common Core education standards and touts the benefits of local control of education, he has no formal, detailed plans for improving public schools. He talks about student loan debt and the increasing costs of higher education, but has yet to propose solutions. He has teased plans to make childcare more affordable, but has missed his own deadline for unveiling them.

Until recently, however, there has been no doubt about where Trump stood on illegal immigration. The wall was going up — Mexico would have to pay — and those estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally were going to have to leave.

But over the summer, Trump began suggesting in closed-door conversations with Hispanic leaders that he might be open to softening his stance. On August 20, he convened a closed-door round table of Hispanic lawmakers and business leaders, and left some with the same impression. The day after, campaign manager Conway said his position on deportations was "To be determined".

Trump's supporters say questions about his recent waffling are overblown. His running mate, Mike Pence, describes him as "a CEO at work" as he consults with various stakeholders.

"You see someone who is engaging the American people, listening to the American people," Pence told CNN on Sunday. "He is hearing from all sides."

But Stephen Moore, a conservative economist who has worked with Trump to shape his tax and economic plans, says the vagueness on policies is also by design.

"We want to talk about the big visionary stuff. We don't want to have a big debate about this loophole, that loophole," he said. "This is a campaign, it's not a write-up of a tax bill in the Ways and Means Committee."

 Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary under George W. Bush, says the confusion that now exists about Trump's plans for immigration underscores "the risk in electing someone whose candidacy is based on his personality and image, as opposed his experience and policy knowledge".

While Trump could succeed as president as a "big picture, set the tone, drive the direction and move the government" kind of leader, Flesher said that would require him to surround himself with a knowledgeable and capable staff.

"But the lesson in how he's run his campaign — and frankly in how he's run his businesses — doesn't give you confidence that he would surround himself with a lot of capable people," he said.

In addition, Chen said that a President Trump arriving at the White House without detailed plans could be limited in how much he might achieve.

"If you're not able to hit the ground running, chances are you're going to run into serious resistance if you sit there studying something for the first 100 days," he said.

SOUTHAMPTON, New York — Hillary Clinton is telling supporters that she doesn't know "which Donald Trump" will show up at the presidential debates.

At a private fundraiser in East Hampton Monday, Clinton told supporters that she is "running against someone who will say or do anything". The Democratic presidential candidate said her Republican opponent may try and convey "gravity" or he could seek to "score points".

Clinton called this year "the most unpredictable electoral season" she had ever seen. Her remarks could be heard by a small group of reporters in a nearby room.

Stressing that the race was not over yet, Clinton noted that she had recently been warned that many people tuning into the debates "will be paying attention for the first time" and that the campaign can't "assume they have followed anything".

In the midst of a multi-day fundraising swing through the wealthy Hamptons, Clinton stressed her commitment to boosting the minimum wage, improving access to education and improving mental health care. She also argued that Republican efforts were under way in many states to make it harder for minority voters to participate.

"It is not an accident that they have ended up closing all the DMVs where African Americans in Alabama live," Clinton said, referring to motor vehicle offices where people can obtain identification cards used in voting. "That is how brazen it is. And what we have got to do is stand up."

Clinton also noted that David Duke, the white supremacist who is running for US Senate from Louisiana, has endorsed Trump and "he is the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan." She added that "Trump's acceptance of him could put that man, that despicable man, in the Senate of the United States."

Arguing Trump has hurt the country, Clinton said she would need to "repair the damage that has been done".

NEW DELHI —  The United States and India urged Pakistan Tuesday to do more to counter extremist groups operating from its soil as the world's two largest democracies announced measures to strengthen security and energy ties.

Speaking on a visit to New Delhi, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared that ties once clouded by suspicion had progressed "amazingly" in the last two years and echoed President Barack Obama's description of their relationship as "the defining partnership of the 21st century".

India and the United States have a common goal in creating a counterbalance to the rise of China and hold regular top-level dialogue in Delhi and Washington under a formal strategic partnership.

But a flare-up in violence in Kashmir meant that India's arch-rival Pakistan featured prominently in talks between Kerry and his counterpart, Sushma Swaraj.

After Foreign Minister Swaraj reiterated long-running accusations that Pakistan was "providing safe havens to terror groups," Kerry also urged Islamabad to do more to combat extremists operating from its territory.

He said it was vital Islamabad moved to "deprive any group of sanctuary", highlighting the threat posed by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist group behind a string of anti-Indian attacks.

"We will not and we cannot make distinctions between good and bad terrorists... Terrorism is terrorism," Kerry said at a press conference alongside Swaraj.

Kerry said the US government had "had conversations with all members of the region frankly about efforts they need to take against terrorism which comes out of their country", adding that he had personally raised the issue with Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

India has accused Pakistan of stoking a new bout of unrest in Kashmir, the troubled Himalayan region which has been divided between the two countries since independence in 1947 and is claimed in full by both.

Around 70 civilians have been killed since the beginning of last month in the aftermath of the Indian army's killing of a charismatic young separatist leader and a curfew remains in place in many parts of Kashmir.

Swaraj said there was "a meeting of minds" during her talks with Kerry on tackling the threats posed by extremists as she reiterated long-standing accusations that Pakistan was sponsoring "cross-border terrorism". 

"We repeated our stand that Pakistan should stop providing safe havens to terror groups... We also agreed that countries must not categorise terrorists as good or bad," said the Indian foreign minister.

Both sides said that there had been an agreement to step up cooperation on intelligence.

"We agree on additional measures to strengthen our counterterrorism," said Swaraj. "We will intensify intelligence sharing."

 Nuclear progress 

In an illustration of the burgeoning cooperation, Kerry announced plans to revive trilateral talks between India, Afghanistan and the United States.

He also said there had been an agreement "to move forward" on long-standing plans for six nuclear reactors which he said would provide electricity to tens of millions of people, without giving more details.

The deal involving US giant Westinghouse has been held up in the past by concerns over an Indian law that would make US companies liable for accidents at plants they helped build.

The start of Kerry's two-day visit came only hours after the two sides signed an agreement in Washington that allows access to each other's military bases for repairs and resupplies.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar sealed the pact in efforts to strengthen defence ties to counter concerns over China's growing military assertiveness.

Carter said the agreement would make joint operations between their militaries logistically easier and more efficient.

Washington has increasingly turned its focus to Asia as it tries to counter China's growing clout in the South China Sea, and is eager for India to play a greater role in a network of defence alliances.

The two sides are also keen to expand business ties, with the US targeting an increase in two-way trade from $100 billion to $500 billion.

US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who is accompanying Kerry, praised recent reforms by the Indian government which has moved to ease caps on foreign direct investment in a range of business sectors.

"As a result of the reforms, the US and India trade more with each other, invest more in each other, and do more business together than ever before," she said.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged Morocco and the Polisario movement campaigning for the independence of Western Sahara to withdraw soldiers and fighters from a buffer strip who have sent tensions soaring.

Ban said he was "deeply concerned over the tense situation that has developed in the narrow buffer strip in southwestern Western Sahara" between the Moroccan berm that marks Rabat's area of control and the Mauritanian border.

He called on both sides "to suspend any action that alters that status quo and to withdraw all armed elements so as to prevent any further escalation", a statement from Ban's spokesman said.

The UN mission in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, will hold discussions with both sides to de-escalate tensions, he added.

Moroccan soldiers and Polisario fighters were "in close proximity to each other" in the buffer zone, said the UN statement.

A 1991 ceasefire brokered by the United Nations that ended 16 years of conflict between Morocco and the Polisario left the North African kingdom in control of all of the territory's main towns and the Polisario confined to a narrow strip of the desert interior.

The far south was left as a no-man's land with neither side having a permanent presence.

Ban stressed the need to respect the ceasefire arrangements that prohibit incursions in the buffer strip.

The Polisario Front had complained to Ban earlier this month of the Moroccan incursion, saying it violated the ceasefire agreement.

Morocco said that its operation in the Gargarate area, north of Mauritania's second city Nouadhibou, was aimed at stopping cross-border smuggling, particularly of second-hand and stolen vehicles.

Rabat maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of Morocco, despite UN resolutions calling for a referendum on self-determination.

Relations between Morocco and the United Nations have been strained after Ban used the term "occupation" to describe the status of the disputed territory, during a recent visit to the region.

In March, Rabat expelled dozens of UN personnel in angry retaliation and only about 25 have been allowed since to return to MINURSO.

NEW DELHI — A “culture of impunity” among Indian officials puts journalists at risk of violence for exposing corruption, while a string of murders of reporters have gone unpunished, a global press rights group said Monday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said successive local and national governments have failed to promote freedom of the press in the world’s biggest democracy.

The CPJ, which defends the right of journalists to work freely, said intimidation and attacks on reporters were especially rife in rural areas of the vast country where local authorities lacked oversight.

“[Case studies] show how small-town journalists face greater risk in their reporting... and how India’s culture of impunity is leaving the country’s press vulnerable to threats and attacks,” the CPJ said in a report. 

“An overwhelmed justice system and lack of media solidarity add to the problems facing India’s press,” it said.

The New York-based CPJ released the 42-page report highlighting the deaths of three reporters who were investigating graft and other serious allegations.

From his hospital bed shortly before his death last year, freelance reporter Jagendra Singh accused police of setting him on fire to force him to stop investigating allegations of rape against a local lawmaker. 

Local police in Uttar Pradesh state have since disputed his account and tried to downplay his credentials, while no one has been arrested over the attack, the report said.

Umesh Rajput, known for exposing exploitation of tribal groups in Chhattisgarh state, was shot dead outside his home in January 2011. His family is still waiting for justice after delays and the disappearance of key evidence, the report said. 

A television reporter died last year in Madhya Pradesh state from a heart attack while reporting a massive jobs for cash scandal, but family and friends fear he may have been poisoned. 

Akshay Singh’s death was one of several that opponents of the state government have linked to the scandal. The report said one year after his death, it was still unclear whether he was murdered.

Twenty-seven reporters have been killed in total for doing their jobs since 1992 when the CPJ began keeping records, the report said.

“More than half of those killed reported regularly on corruption,” the report said.

The CPJ urged governments to provide resources and other support to authorities to conduct proper probes into such deaths. It also called for attacks on the press to become a national crime against free expression, which is enshrined in the constitution.

India was rated last year as the deadliest country in Asia for journalists by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

AMATRICE, Italy — Rescuers believe they have found more bodies buried deep in the rubble of the ruined town of Amatrice, five days after a devastating earthquake struck central Italy, killing at least 290 people.

Residents of the hill town estimated that up to 10 people were still missing and emergency services said they had located three corpses in Amatrice’s Hotel Roma, which, like much of the historic centre, was wrecked by Wednesday’s quake.

Deputy Mayor Gianluca Carloni said his uncle’s body had still not been recovered from the hotel, which was particularly busy at this time of year because of a food festival.

“It is absolutely vital to finish as soon as possible this initial [search] phase to make sure that there are no more bodies under the rubble,” he said.

Museums across Italy donated proceeds from their ticket sales on Sunday to help the rebuilding effort, while top flight soccer teams held a minute’s silence before their weekend matches out of respect for the victims.

Pope Francis led prayers for the dead in his weekly address in St Peter’s Square in Rome, saying he wanted to go to the earthquake zone to bring comfort to the survivors.

“Dear brothers and sisters, as soon as it is possible, I hope to come and visit you,” he said.

Priests in the quake zone held their regular Sunday services in large tents. Amatrice’s municipal website said the town had 100 churches, but every one was damaged by the disaster and many would have to be demolished.

Fallen masonry

With aftershocks continuing to rattle the region, including a magnitude 4.4 quake centred on the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno, residents were still struggling to absorb the disaster.

“It took me 20 years to get my house, and then, in just 10 seconds, it was gone, like so many others,” said Ascenzio Attenni, who lived in the hamlet of Sant’Angelo outside Amatrice, where eight people died.

“We have to thank God that we are alive,” he said, before breaking down in tears.

Rescue operations in most of the area were halted two days ago, but teams were still combing Amatrice, which is 105km east of Rome. The fire service said it was trying to remove some of the fallen masonry at the Hotel Roma and create a safe path to retrieve the three bodies as soon as possible.

The Civil Protection Department lowered the official death toll on Sunday to 290 from a previously given 291. A number of foreigners were among the dead, including 11 Romanians, the foreign ministry in Bucharest said.

Many Romanians work in Italy and Bucharest said 14 of its nationals were still unaccounted for.

Italy has promised to rebuild the shattered communities and has said it will learn from the mistakes following a similar earthquake in the nearby city of L’Aquila in 2009, where much of the centre is still out of bounds.

The rebuilding effort was stalled following allegations that organised crime groups had muscled in to obtain lucrative contracts. Italy’s anti-mafia chief Franco Roberti said the experience of L’Aquila would serve well this time around, but warned that the government could not lower its guard.

“The risks are there and it is pointless to pretend otherwise,” he told la Repubblica newspaper. “Post-quake reconstruction is always very appetising for criminal gangs and their business partners.”

ROME — Shoddy, price-cutting renovations, in breach of local building regulations, could be partly to blame for the high death toll from this week’s devastating earthquake in central Italy, according to a prosecutor investigating the disaster.

As questions mount over the deaths of nearly 300 people, Prosecutor Giuseppe Saieva indicated that property owners who commissioned suspected sub-standard work could be held responsible for contributing to the quake’s deadly impact.

Saieva, who works in the Rieti region between Rome and the quake’s epicentre, said the tragedy could not simply be filed away as an unavoidable natural disaster.

“If the buildings had been constructed as they are in Japan they wouldn’t have collapsed,” he told La Repubblica.

Within hours of the quake hitting on Wednesday Saieva was in Amatrice, the small mountain town hit hardest by the quake.

He is inspecting the damage there before opening a preliminary investigation for possible culpable homicide and causing a disaster.

The crushed partition walls of a collapsed three-storey villa were among the sights that caught his eye. “I can only think it was built on the cheap with more sand than cement,” he said.

A number of engineering and architectural experts have highlighted the widespread use of relatively cheap cement beams for house extensions and renovations as a possible factor explaining why so many buildings collapsed.

Heavy and inflexible, the cement beams become deadly if released by shaking because they will crush older walls beneath them.

“If it emerges that individuals cut corners, they will be pursued and those that have made mistakes will pay a price,” the prosecutor said.

Centuries old problem 

The issue of whether some of the deaths could have been avoided is particularly acute in the Amatrice area because it is so close (50 kilometres) to L’Aquila, which was hit by a 2009 earthquake in which over 300 people perished.

An outcry over the shoddy, corrupt building practices which led to so many buildings in the university city being inadequately prepared for a quake led to the national Civil Protection agency making almost 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) available for upgrading buildings in quake-vulnerable areas.

But the take-up of grants has been low. Critics blame bureaucracy but others maintain that independent-minded villagers will always find the cheapest way of getting their renovations done, whatever the risks.

Some 40 per cent of the Italian population, 24 million people, live in zones vulnerable to earthquakes and the risk that entails has been a subject for the country’s finest minds for centuries.

As early as the first century, an advisor to the emperor Vespasian, Pliny the Elder, was making recommendations on how buildings could be designed to withstand tremors.

And the thicker walls and stone piers that are features of many modern-day quake-proof buildings, were also included in plans drawn up by Renaissance architect Pirro Ligorio in the late 16th century, after southern Italy was devastated by an earthquake that caused 2,000 deaths.

Huge bill 

Experts however say protecting Italy’s unrivalled artistic and architectural heritage is far from straightforward.

“If we start from the idea of upgrading every old building to comparable safety levels of a modern building built to anti-seismic norms, we have to accept that we will never get there,” said Paolo Bazzurro, a professor in construction techniques at the University of Pavia.

The trend away from traditional wooden roofs and beams is not the only problem: widening window openings and the removal of reinforcing chains embedded in walls have also contributed.

“These things make buildings more vulnerable,” said Bazzurro.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised to rebuild the hilltop villages devastated by the quake. There will be no repeat of a failed attempt to replace the old communities with new towns elsewhere, which happened after L’Aquila.

“There are lots of technically feasible things that can be done and do not require huge interventions,” said culture ministry expert Paolo Iannelli.

“Given that towns in the seismic areas have acquired a knowledge of what works over the centuries and generally used the most appropriate materials, it is a question of correcting renovations that have been done over time and have impacted on the resistance of the buildings,” he told AFP.

Better and more regular checks on the impact of rain on foundations would be one area where the state could improve its controls, he added.

For houses built before anti-seismic measures became the norm in 1970, it is relatively easy to install shock absorbers, experts say.

But a comprehensive solution will not come cheap. Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio was asked last week how much it would cost to bring every building in Italy up to modern anti-quake standards. His answer: 360 billion euros. 

SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 41 cases of locally-transmitted Zika virus, mostly among foreign construction workers, and said it expected more cases to be identified.

All but seven of those infected have fully recovered, the health ministry and the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a joint statement on Sunday. Those seven remain in hospital.

On Saturday, authorities had confirmed a 47-year-old Malaysian woman living in southeastern Singapore as the city-state's first case of a local transmission of the virus — which in Brazil has been linked to a rare birth defect.

The authorities said they tested 124 people, primarily foreign construction workers employed on a site in the same part of Singapore. That site has been ordered to halt work, and workers' dormitories are being inspected. Seventy-eight people tested negative and five cases were pending. Thirty-four patients had fully recovered.

Four Singaporean men had developed symptoms of the virus in the past week and were hospitalised on Saturday. It was not clear where the foreign workers were from or when their cases were detected. Singapore hosts a large contingent of workers from the Asian sub-continent.

None of those infected had travelled recently to Zika-affected areas. "This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place," the statement said.

The ministry "cannot rule out further community transmission since some of those tested positive also live or work in other parts of Singapore", the statement said. "We expect to identify more positive cases."

Singapore, a major regional financial centre and busy transit hub, which maintains a constant vigil against the mosquito-borne dengue virus, reported its first case of the Zika virus in May, brought in by a middle-aged man who had been to Brazil.

Singapore deployed around 200 NEA officers to clean drains and spray insecticide in the mainly residential area early on Sunday to counter mosquito breeding grounds, and volunteers and contractors handed out leaflets and insect repellent.

Zika, carried by some mosquitoes, was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly — where babies are born with small heads.

All medical services in Singapore had been alerted "to be extra vigilant" and immediately report any Zika-associated symptoms to the health ministry.

Local residents welcomed the NEA clean-up on Sunday.

"I'm very scared of mosquitoes because they always seem to bite me, they never bite my husband," Janice, 31, who gave only her first name, told Reuters. "This concerns me because maybe in a couple of years I want to have another [child]."

Regional risk

Singapore said there were "ongoing local transmission" cases in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Other countries in the region to have detected the Zika virus since 2013 include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives and the Philippines, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Malaysia said on Sunday it stepped up surveillance at main transit points with Singapore — handing out leaflets on Zika prevention and having paramedics ready to handle visitors with potential symptoms of the virus.

In Thailand, where close to 100 cases of Zika have been recorded across 10 provinces this year, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) was screening athletes returning from the Olympic Games in Brazil, but was not otherwise changing its prevention measures.

"Every country in this region has Zika transmission cases," said Prasert Thongcharoen, an adviser to the DDC. "Thailand has, however, managed to contain the problem through early detection."

A foreign ministry spokesman said Indonesia was "following developments". Oskar Pribadi, a health ministry official, said there had been no recent Zika cases in the country.

Vietnam has to date reported three cases of locally-transmitted Zika infection.

The current strain of Zika sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean originated in Asia, where people may have built up greater immunity.

The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.