World

GENEVA,  (Reuters) – The heavily mutated Omicron coronavirus variant is likely to spread internationally and poses a very high risk of infection surges that could have “severe consequences” in some places, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

LONDON/AMSTERDAM,  (Reuters) – The Omicron coronavirus variant spread around the world yesterday, with new cases found in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia even as more countries imposed travel restriction to try to seal themselves off.

(Trinidad Guardian) In one week, COVID-19 has claimed three members of a Longdenville family.

(Reuters) – A Guatemalan stowaway hidden in the landing gear compartment of an American Airlines jet survived a flight on Saturday from his home country to Miami, where he was turned over to U.S.

ROTTERDAM, (Reuters) – Dutch health authorities said today that 13 cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant have been found in the Netherlands among passengers that were on two flights from South Africa that arrived on Friday.

 (Reuters) – A Guatemalan stowaway hidden in the landing gear compartment of an American Airlines jet survived a flight yesterday from his home country to Miami, where he was turned over to U.S.

BELGRADE, (Reuters) – Hundreds of environmental protesters blocked several major roads in Serbia yesterday to protest against two new laws that they say will give free rein to foreign mining companies in the country.

LONDON/BERLIN/AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – Britain, Germany and Italy detected cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant yesterday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new steps to contain the virus, while more nations imposed restrictions on travel from southern Africa.

PARIS, (Reuters) – France is willing to discuss autonomy for the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe if it is in the interests of the people who live there, government minister Sebastien Lecornu said.

WASHINGTON/GENEVA, (Reuters) – The discovery of a new coronavirus variant named Omicron triggered global alarm yesterday as countries rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa and stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic suffered their biggest falls in more than a year.

Uganda which took a US$207m loan from China in 2015 is now at risk of having to grant control of it’s sole international airport, Entebbe to Beijing.

(Reuters) – Oil prices plunged more than 10% yesterday, the largest one-day drop since April 2020, as a new COVID-19 variant spooked investors and added to concerns that a supply surplus could swell in the first quarter.

BENGALURU, (Reuters) – India restarted exports of COVID-19 shots to the global vaccine-sharing network COVAX yesterday for the first time since April, and producer Serum Institute of India (SII) forecast a substantial increase in supplies from early next year.

WASHINGTON/GENEVA, (Reuters) – The discovery of a new coronavirus variant named Omicron triggered global alarm today as countries rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa and stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic suffered their biggest falls in more than a year.

 (Reuters) – Oil prices plunged more than 10% today, the largest one-day drop since April 2020, as a new COVID-19 variant spooked investors and added to concerns that a supply surplus could swell in the first quarter.

 (Reuters) – Former Rio 2016 and Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Arthur Nuzman has been sentenced to 30 years and 11 months in jail for buying votes for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics.

NEMBE, Nigeria,  (Reuters) – Three weeks after the Santa Barbara wellhead failed, it is still blasting water, gas and oil across Nembe in Nigeria’s Delta, littering the shoreline and water with yellow-brown clumps of waste as cleanup crews and booms struggle to contain it.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Britain yesterday said it was concerned by a newly identified coronavirus variant spreading in South Africa that might make vaccines less effective and imperil efforts to fight the pandemic.

SAN SALVADOR,  (Reuters) – El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele took the stage last weekend at the end of “Bitcoin Week” to the cheers of fans delighted his Central American country has become the first to adopt crypto currency as legal tender, alongside the U.S.

BANJUL,  (Reuters) – A Gambian commission wrapped up a sweeping three-year public inquiry into former president Yahya Jammeh’s 22 years in power yesterday by recommending prosecutions for killings, torture and other abuses committed during his tenure.