Quote of the day

Twitter yesterday said it had shut down nearly 3,500 accounts that were posting pro-government propaganda in six countries, including China and Russia.

An armed group attacked a prison in Mexico Wednesday, injuring two police officers and freeing nine inmates, security officials said.

A man dressed like a ninja attacked and wounded two policewomen with a sword in Cherbourg in northwestern France on Thursday before being shot and captured, a police spokeswoman said.

Germany on Thursday imposed restrictions on the unvaccinated as it sought to break a dramatic surge in daily coronavirus infections exacerbated by the discovery of the Omicron strain.

The European Commission yesterday announced a plan to mobilise 300 billion euros ($340 billion) in public and private infrastructure investment around the world, a move seen as a response to China’s Belt and Road strategy.

World Health Organization member states yesterday agreed to start work on building a new international accord setting out how to handle the next global pandemic.

I have one simple request for all member states, and that is: end this pandemic. Just in the past week, this virus [Covid-19] has demonstrated that it will not simply disappear.”

Migration between richer countries has risen, while conflict and climate change have increased internal displacement in fragile states that many people cannot leave, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said yesterday.

The CEO of Covid-19 vaccine maker BioNTech has a message for those who are worried about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus: keep your cool.

Tel Aviv is the world’s most expensive city to live in as soaring inflation has pushed up living costs globally, according to a survey published yesterday.

The dress sword carried by Napoleon Bonaparte when he staged a coup in 1799 will go under the hammer at the weekend with five other weapons that belonged to the French emperor, US auctioneers announced.

Ethiopia said yesterday that pro-government forces had recaptured of Shewa Robit, around 220 kilometres (135 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa by road, after Tigrayan rebels claimed control of the town last week as part of their advance towards the capital.

An overloaded boat carrying dozens of passengers, mostly children aged eight to 15, capsized late on Tuesday in northwest Nigeria’s Kano state, a rescue agency spokesman said.

A World War II bomb exploded at a construction site next to a busy railway line in Munich on Wednesday, injuring four people, one of them seriously, German authorities said.

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said on Tuesday that two Brazilians had tested positive for the Omicron Covid-19 variant, the first reported cases in Latin America.

At least three students were killed and six other people, including a teacher, were wounded on Tuesday in a shooting at a high school in Oxford, Michigan, and a student was quickly taken into custody, law enforcement authorities said.

Sudanese security forces deployed tear gas against tens of thousands of protesters gathering in central Khartoum on Tuesday to oppose military rule following last month's coup.

On Friday, November 19, Raquel Viana, Head of Science at one of South Africa's biggest private testing labs, sequenced the genes on eight coronavirus samples - and got the shock of her life.

Josephine Baker, the famed French American singer and dancer, was inducted on Tuesday into the Pantheon mausoleum in Paris - one of France's highest honours - at a ceremony attended by French President Emmanuel Macron.