Category Archives: World News

US to restrict travel from southern Africa over Omicron Covid variant fears

Posted on by

Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Friday there was “no indication” the new “Omicron” coronavirus variant discovered in southern Africa had reached the US.

Nonetheless, the the Biden administration said it would restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in southern Africa, starting on Monday.

Continue reading...

Omicron variant spreads to Europe as UK announces countermeasures

Posted on by

Experts stress importance of delaying import of new Covid variant to UK to avoid Christmas mixing

As an alarming new Covid variant spread to Europe on Friday, scientists warned that it would inevitably reach Britain, while ministers faced calls to urgently speed up the vaccination programme.

Thousands of travellers were left stranded or with their plans in disarray after flight bans were introduced targeting countries across southern Africa, where the variant was discovered. Hotel quarantine and enhanced testing would be brought in across the UK, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said.

Continue reading...

Omicron: everything you need to know about new Covid variant

Posted on by

Key questions answered about coronavirus variant first detected in southern Africa

The variant was initially referred to as B.1.1.529, but on Friday was designated as a variant of concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization because of its “concerning” mutations and because “preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant”. The WHO system assigns such variants a Greek letter, to provide a non-stigmatising label that does not associate new variants with the location where they were first detected. The new variant has been called Omicron.

Continue reading...

BioNTech says it could tweak Covid vaccine in 100 days if needed

Posted on by

Company says it will know in two weeks whether current Pfizer jab is effective against Omicron variant

BioNTech says it could produce and ship an updated version of its vaccine within 100 days if the new Covid variant detected in southern Africa is found to evade existing immunity.

The German biotechnology company is already investigating whether the vaccine it developed with US drugmaker Pfizer works well against the variant, named Omicron, which has caused concern due to its high number of mutations and initial suggestions that it could be transmitting more quickly.

Continue reading...

The era of Judith ‘Crusher’ Collins ends in a blaze of fury

Posted on by

Known for her political ruthlessness and a fondness for going on the offensive, Collins was unable to unite the caucus behind her

In the end, Judith Collins’s tenure at the top of the National Party ended on the same notes that have sounded throughout her political career: fighting words, a refusal to back down, and one last attempt at crushing a foe.

The MP, nicknamed “Crusher” for a policy that physically crushed the cars of traffic-code-violating ‘boy racers’, was never one to walk away from a battle easily. As the dust settles from her latest, leadership-ending altercation, New Zealand’s opposition will be left scrambling for leadership for the fifth time in about as many years – and commentators say the party’s turmoil risks creating a vacuum at the right of the country’s political spectrum.

Continue reading...

Covid live: WHO calls Omicron variant of concern; New York declares ‘disaster emergency’

Posted on by

ECDC follows WHO in threat assessment of new variant; countries bar foreign nationals from several southern African nations; UK sees most new infections for a month

Hungary needs to increase the number of people taking booster shots against COVID-19 to curb infections, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told state radio this morning.

Reuters report that Orbán said the government would extend a special campaign making vaccinations available without any prior registration to next week following a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Continue reading...

State-affiliated TV purports to show Ethiopian PM on the battlefront against Tigray rebels – video

Posted on by

Footage purporting to show Abiy Ahmed on the battlefront of the country’s year-long war against Tigray forces has been broadcast, four days after he announced he would direct the army from there. Wearing military uniform, Abiy said: 'The enemy doesn't know our capabilities and our preparations … Instead of sitting in Addis, we made a change and decided to come to the front'

Continue reading...

French ex-minister Nicolas Hulot accused of rape and sexual assault

Posted on by

Former environment minister denies allegations after four women come forward in TV documentary

A popular French environmentalist and former government minister faces new allegations of rape and sexual abuse after several woman came forward in a TV documentary to testify that he had assaulted them.

The claims come four years after Nicolas Hulot, 66, was first accused of rape by the granddaughter of the late Socialist president François Mitterrand.

Continue reading...

Ukraine has uncovered Russian-linked coup plot, says president

Posted on by

Volodymyr Zelenskiy says there is evidence of ‘coup d’état’ being planned for early December

Ukraine’s president has said intelligence services uncovered a plot involving a group of Russians and Ukrainians to overthrow his government next week.

Speaking at an hours-long press conference, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian intelligence had obtained audio recordings of the plotters discussing their plans, which he said involved tying to enlist the support of Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.

Continue reading...

Ilhan Omar: Boebert is a ‘buffoon’ and ‘bigot’ for ‘made up’ anti-Muslim story

Posted on by

‘Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout,’ says Omar after Boebert claims to have joked about terrorism when sharing elevator

The Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar called the Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert a buffoon, a bigot and a liar, for claiming to have joked about terrorism when sharing an elevator in Congress.

“Fact,” Omar wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “This buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole story is made up. Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout.

Continue reading...

Podemos defends push to change Spain’s controversial ‘gag law’

Posted on by

Leader calls legislation ‘greatest blow to civil and political liberties’ since return to democracy

The leader of Spain’s Podemos party has defended the coalition government’s push to change its predecessor’s “gag law”, calling it “the greatest blow to civil and political liberties” since the country’s return to democracy.

Ione Belarra, who serves as the minister for social rights in the Socialist-led minority government, said the public security legislation had eroded basic democratic rights since it was introduced by the conservative People’s party (PP) six years ago.

Continue reading...

Ethiopian PM on battlefront, says state-affiliated TV

Posted on by

Abiy Ahmed claims in the footage that the war was ‘being conducted with a high level of success’

A state-affiliated Ethiopian TV channel has broadcast footage purporting to show the country’s Nobel peace prize-winning prime minister on the battlefront of the country’s year-long war against Tigray forces, four days after he announced he would direct the army from there.

Wearing military uniform, Abiy Ahmed claimed in the footage that the war was “being conducted with a high level of success” and referred to locations on the border between the country’s Amhara and Afar regions, which neighbour Tigray.

Continue reading...

Failure to share Covid vaccines ‘coming back to haunt us’, says Gordon Brown

Posted on by

Ex-PM says world was ‘forewarned’ of dangers of failing to vaccinate poorer countries amid rise of new variant

The failure of the world to get vaccines to the developing world is “coming back to haunt us”, Gordon Brown has warned, as experts said the emergence of variants such as B.1.1.529 could have been avoided if jabs had been more fairly distributed.

Writing in the Guardian, the Labour former prime minister said the world had been “forewarned” that a lack of vaccines in poorer countries could have serious consequences for the pandemic.

Continue reading...

‘Amoral 21st-century mercenaries’: problems mount for NSO Group

Posted on by

Israeli spyware firm goes from bad to worse as scathing Apple lawsuit follows US blacklisting

Shalev Hulio, the co-founder of Israel’s NSO Group, was in Washington DC on a mission to try to resuscitate the surveillance company’s battered reputation on Capitol Hill shortly before the news broke that he had probably arrived too late to make a difference.

With little advance warning to its allies in Israel, the Biden administration announced on 3 November that it was putting the spyware maker – one of the most sophisticated cyber-weapons companies in the world – on a US blacklist, citing use of the company’s software by regimes around the world for “transnational repression”.

Continue reading...

Germany ‘at crossroads’ as Covid cases surge across Europe

Posted on by

Urgent measures needed to avoid ‘chaos’, warns expert, as Spain, Portugal and Netherlands tighten rules

Germany’s top health officials have raised the prospect of a national lockdown, warning that a rapidly rising number of coronavirus cases and a dramatic increase in the number of patients in intensive care meant contact reduction was the only way of tackling the crisis and avoiding “the road to chaos”.

“We need a massive contact reduction immediately,” said Prof Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal disease control agency.

Continue reading...

Rare mouflon sheep on Italian island of Giglio at centre of culling row

Posted on by

Activists threaten legal action over mouflon hunting on Tuscan island as part of EU-funded biodiversity project

Animal rights activists have threatened legal action against the national park that runs a group of islands off Italy’s Tuscan coast as controversy intensifies over the culling of rare mouflon sheep on the tiny island of Giglio.

Hunters arrived on Giglio this week and have so far killed four mouflons, a wild sheep native to the Caspian region that is thought to be an ancestor of domestic breeds.

Continue reading...

Myanmar junta accused of forcing people to brink of starvation

Posted on by

Advisory group say military has destroyed supplies, killed livestock and cut off roads used to transport food since February coup

Myanmar’s military junta has been accused of forcing people to the brink of starvation with repeated offensives since it seized power in a coup earlier this year.

The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar said the junta had destroyed food supplies and killed livestock while cutting off roads used to bring in food and medicine.

Continue reading...

Peng Shuai: the tennis star at centre of China’s biggest #MeToo allegation

Posted on by

Fame and adoration could not protect her when she made sexual assault claims against a Chinese official

After Peng Shuai and Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková won the doubles final at the 2014 Beijing Open, they went to karaoke to celebrate. The fifth-seeded duo had just beaten India’s Sania Mirza and Zimbabwe’s Cara Black, who had never lost a match in the Asia-Pacific region.

“She was at the beginning of her comeback and I was happy to be there to play with her,” Hlaváčková recalls, on the phone from Rome. Their victory called for a night out so they went to a big Beijing nightclub. “She was singing a lot of Chinese songs.”

Continue reading...

Zhang Gaoli: official accused by Peng Shuai remains out of public eye

Posted on by

While world wonders about fate of tennis star, former Chinese vice-premier has remained silent

For the past three weeks, the world has been asking #WhereIsPengShuai, after the Chinese tennis star alleged on social media she was sexually assaulted by a former senior government official.

Peng’s allegations, published on Weibo in a post, were quickly censored. She was not seen for almost three weeks, prompting an international campaign calling for information on her whereabouts and wellbeing.

Continue reading...

Tanzania to lift ban on teenage mothers returning to school

Posted on by

Girls to have two years in which to return to school after giving birth, but will still be excluded whilst pregnant

The Tanzanian government has announced it will lift a controversial ban on teenage mothers continuing their education.

Girls will have two years in which to return to school after giving birth, the ministry of education said. However, the move is not legally binding and girls will continue to be banned from class while pregnant.

Continue reading...