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Omicron variant raises new fears for pandemic-hit world economy
First reported to the World Health Organization in South Africa less than a week ago, the new strain has rapidly spread everywhere from Africa to the Pacific, and from Europe to Canada, causing dozens of countries to announce travel restrictions.
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Ghislaine Maxwell 'served up' girls for sex to Epstein: prosecutors
Two years after Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail before he went on trial for similar charges, Ghislaine Maxwell sat in the Manhattan courtroom facing six counts of enticing and transporting minors for sex.
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UN chief 'deeply concerned' by southern Africa's isolation over Omicron
Countries across the world have reacted to the Omicron strain by slamming their borders shut despite the variant having already reached Europe, Asia and North America.
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China's Xi promises Africa 1 billion COVID vaccine doses
In a speech made via videolink to a China-Africa summit near Senegal's capital Dakar, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would donate 600 million doses directly. A further 400 million doses would come from other sources.
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'Never again': WHO calls for treaty to shield against next pandemic
The World Health Organization said another disastrous pandemic was bound to happen unless countries showed the resolve to strengthen global defences.
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Merkel, Scholz to discuss tougher COVID curbs with regional leaders
Europe's biggest economy has over the last weeks began requiring people to prove they are vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 or recently tested negative before they can travel on public transport or enter workplaces.
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Pfizer already working on COVID vaccine targeting Omicron - CEO
Pfizer's CEO said his company began testing the current vaccine against the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and reignited fears of a global wave of COVID-19 infections.
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Fauci says US on 'high alert' for Omicron, urges people to get vaccinated
Senior government scientist Anthony Fauci also encouraged people to get coronavirus vaccines or boosters quickly, rather than waiting for pharmaceutical companies to tailor doses specifically to the Omicron variant.
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Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey to step down as CEO: report
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is expected to step down as the social media network's CEO, CNBC reported.
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With the help of sequencing, Dutch find 14 Omicron cases among SA passengers
Dutch authorities have ordered the 61 people who tested positive for COVD to remain in quarantine, and most of them are in a hotel near Schiphol Airport.
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Louis Vuitton to present final Virgil Abloh show in Miami following his death
The 41-year-old Abloh was Louis Vuitton's trailblazing head of menswear, the first black artistic director at a major French luxury label.
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WHO warns COVID variant Omicron risk 'very high'
The UN health agency said the COVID strain first discovered in southern Africa was a 'highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations... some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.'
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Barbados to replace British Queen, becomes a republic
In October, Barbados elected Mason to become its first president, one year after Prime Minister Mia Mottley declared the country would "fully" leave its colonial past.
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G7 ministers meet as new COVID strain spreads around the globe
Omicron, first discovered in southern Africa, represents a fresh challenge to global efforts to battle the pandemic. Several countries have already re-imposed restrictions many had hoped were a thing of the past.
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Swiss voters back Covid pass law
Michelle Cailler, a spokeswoman for the Friends of the Constitution group which opposed the law, said that granting such powers to the government was "extremely dangerous for democracy".
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Dutch find 13 new COVID variant cases among South Africa passengers
Dutch authorities began testing for the Omicron variant after 61 out of 600 passengers on board two flights from South Africa to Amsterdam on Friday tested positive for COVID-19.
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UK to enforce new COVID rules from Tuesday
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said mandatory mask-wearing will return to shops and public transport in England, and told families to plan for Christmas "as normal", despite new rules to combat the Omicron variant.
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Swiss voters firmly back COVID pass law: projected results
Shortly after the polls closed , market researchers GFS Bern, who conducted the main polling throughout the campaign, projected that 63% of voters had backed the "yes" vote.
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Borders slam shut as world rushes to contain new COVID variant
The variant now known as Omicron has cast doubt on global efforts to fight the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past.
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Online conspiracies fuel Dutch COVID unrest
A 50-year-old anti-vaccination activist administered a Facebook group with 10,000 followers, which had shared a call for a demonstration in Rotterdam that later turned violent.
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Australia detects first COVID Omicron infections
Both passengers came from southern Africa and arrived in Australia on a Qatar Airways flight via Doha, NSW Health said in a statement.
