WORLD

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed George William Okoth-Obbo of Uganda as his Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect. He will succeed Karen Smith of South Africa, to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful.   So honored to receive this trust to serve as …

New York, U.S. | Xinhua | Oil prices surged on Monday, reclaiming the losses they had suffered in the prior week. The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery added 3.23 U.S. dollars, or 4.9 percent, to settle at 69.49 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for …

Brussels, Belgium | Xinhua |  Thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets of Brussels on Sunday to protest against the government’s latest strict measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Twenty people were reported to have been arrested, according to the police, and four demonstrators and two police officers …

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | The emergence of Omicron has somehow vindicated what China has been doing to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic, a Bloomberg report said recently. In an article published on Wednesday, Bloomberg said as countries across the world scrambled this week to impose border and travel curbs …

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday signed a short-term funding bill that will keep the federal government running through Feb. 18, 2022, avoiding a looming partial shutdown. “Funding the government isn’t a great achievement. It’s a bare minimum of what we need to get done,” Biden …

Jerusalem, Israel | Xinhua | Israel on Thursday called on the United States to halt the nuclear talks with Iran immediately, accusing Iran of having begun to enrich uranium with advanced centrifuges. The call was made during a phone talk between Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and U.S. Secretary of …

Genea, Switzerland | Xinhua | Despite the current uncertainty over the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, people should still get vaccinated because it will save lives, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Wednesday. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said at a WHO press briefing …

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | A U.S. federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to temporarily block President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. The mandate requires certain health workers across the country to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The injunction was issued by Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for …

New York, U.S. | Xinhua | United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres argued on Tuesday that “the only way out of a global pandemic and out of this unjust and immoral situation is through a global vaccination campaign.” The secretary-general was speaking at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York …

Geneva, Switzerland | Xinhua | The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, even as dozens of countries have already introduced such restrictions. Although labeling Omicron as a “variant of concern”, the WHO said blanket travel …