The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday named the B.1.1.529 variant of the novel coronavirus ‘Omicron.’ The new strain was previously referred to as the ‘Nu’ variant by scientists and journalists. Omicron has reached Europe, Asia and the Middle East, having spread rapidly across southern African nations over the past fortnight. …
Read More »
Previous viral outbreaks in history ended up being called after the country where they were first detected – for example, the “Spanish flu” that decimated the world in the aftermath of the First World War, a century ago. From the very beginning of the current pandemic, however, the World Health …
Read More »
One video from the Southpoint Mall on Friday shows panicked shoppers running, after what someone said was an active shooting. At least one person was wounded by gunfire, councilmember Mark-Anthony Middleton told local media. Another video shared on Twitter shows masked shoppers sheltering in place inside a clothing store. This is …
Read More »
A bus driver and two passengers were killed on Friday when unknown assailants attacked the bus they were traveling on in the ethnic Albanian-majority village of Glodjane in the municipality of Decani, localnews site Koha reported. Besnik Ibraj, Chief of Emergency in the nearby city of Pec, confirmed three deaths, while …
Read More »
The travel ban covers South Africa and seven other countries in the region: Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. News of the ban was announced by President Joe Biden on Friday, who said in a statement that he made the decision to restrict travel following a morning briefing …
Read More »
Armenia’s PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev were hosted by Putin in the southern Russian resort city of Sochi on Friday. Ahead of the trilateral talks, Putin held separate talks with Aliev, and later spoke tete-a-tete with Pashinyan after the three-way meeting. The talks proved to be very …
Read More »
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden phoned in to NBC’s Al Roker during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday to deliver a holiday message to Americans. “My message is after two years, you’re back, America’s back,” Biden said. “There’s nothing we’re unable to overcome.” “America is back” is …
Read More »
“The world needs to come to an understanding that it’s not about vaccine brands – it’s about the level of antibodies” a person has, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which bankrolled the development of Sputnik V vaccine and now oversees its distribution, told RT …
Read More »
The global health agency met on Friday to name the B.1.1.529 strain and decided to classify it as a “variant of concern,” rather than the less serious designation “variant of interest.” The Delta variant, which caused surging Covid-19 infections around the globe after it was first detected in late December …
Read More »
On what is traditionally the online retailer’s busiest day of the year, the group has blocked the entrance to depots in the US, UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, unfurling banners reading, “Amazon crime”, “Infinite growth, finite planet” and “Black Friday exploits people and planet”. It says it has targeted the …
Read More »