LONDON: The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is spreading among over-50s, but data do not suggest further restrictions are needed because of the high uptake of booster jabs by older people, British Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said today. “We’re seeing leakage into the over-50s in terms of infection,” he told BBC […]
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WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday with mild symptoms and would attend meetings virtually as he quarantined at home for the next five days. News of Austin’s positive test comes after the Pentagon last week tightened restrictions at its headquarters over concern about […]
SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed today to use his last months in office to press for a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea, despite public silence from Pyongyang over his attempts for a declaration of peace between the two sides. “The government will pursue normalisation of inter-Korean relations and […]
BEIJING: New Covid-19 cases in the locked-down Chinese city of Xi’an fell to their lowest in a week, health officials said today, as residents face their eleventh day under strict home confinement. China has followed a “zero Covid” approach involving tight border restrictions and swift, targeted lockdowns since the virus […]
JERUSALEM: A surge of Omicron infections could see Israel reaching herd immunity, the country’s top health official said today as daily cases continued to climb. The highly transmissible Omicron variant has brought a surge in coronavirus cases across the globe. Worldwide infections have hit a record high, with an […]
The funeral mass for South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu is set to take place on Saturday morning in Cape Town. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped end the racist regime in South Africa, died last Sunday aged 90. His death prompted an outpouring of grief among […]
Residents of Boulder County in Colorado have returned to scenes of devastation after snowfall helped extinguish the last of a raging wildfire. The fire swept through 6,000 acres in just a few hours, destroying hundreds of homes. One local resident said some families in the area that “lost everything” and […]
PARIS: France takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union today, affording President Emmanuel Macron the chance to pose as the EU’s de facto leader in the run-up to national elections in April. The 44-year-old has never made any secret of his ambitions to be the motor for further […]
TAIPEI: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen marked the new year with a message for China: military conflict is not the answer. “We must remind the Beijing authorities to not misjudge the situation and to prevent the internal expansion of ‘military adventurism’,” Tsai said today in her New Year’s speech broadcast live […]
BEIJING: The Chinese city of Xian entered its 10th day of lockdown on Saturday as the Covid-19 outbreak has yet to show any solid sign of easing in the country’s epicentre of the latest flare-up. The city of 13 million people reported 174 new local cases with confirmed clinical symptoms […]