The Dutch government is holding an emergency meeting Saturday with health advisers about the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus before an expected announcement of more lockdown measures to stem its spread.

The government proposed new measures Friday to curb the alarming spread of the new variant, as other European countries are moving to reimpose restrictions to contain the variant’s spread. 

The health experts have recommended the government order a “strict” lockdown, according to Dutch media reports, just days after a partial lockdown closing non-essential businesses was extended through January 14. Primary schools also were closed early for the winter holidays because of high infection rates among children.

The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges.

Scientists are warning the British government needs to go further to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed amid the surge. The warning comes after the government previously reimposed an indoor mask requirement and ordered people to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test when entering night clubs or large venues.

Britain’s Health Security Agency said Friday that 65 patients were hospitalized in England with omicron. 

In France, the government said it would start inoculating children between ages 5 and 11 beginning Wednesday. As he declared Friday the Omicron variant was spreading like “lightning,” Prime Minister Jean Castex proposed requiring proof of vaccination for those entering public establishments. 

The measure, which requires parliamentary approval, has triggered plans for protests Saturday in Paris, where the New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been canceled.

Anti-lockdown protests also are planned for Saturday in Turin, Italy.

Egypt has detected its first three cases of the new variant, according to the country’s health ministry. The ministry said Friday the three infected people were among 26 travelers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport. 

The ministry did not say where the three came from, but the Masrawy news outlet reported they were among travelers from South Africa, which announced the discovery of the variant on November 25.

In China, Beijing will maintain its relatively strict containment measures, while the rest of the country will remain flexible. “There is no one-fit-for-all policy” for local governments, a Chinese government said Saturday at a news conference.

China has identified two cases of the omicron variant and has mostly contained the spread of COVID-19 since it was first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

A recent study has found the risk of reinfection with omicron is more than five times higher compared to the delta variant, and it has shown no sign of causing milder ill effects.

“We find no evidence of omicron having different severity from delta,” said the study by Imperial College London. The study noted, however, that data on hospitalizations is still limited.

The study, conducted in England between November 29 and December 11, was based on 333,000 cases of infections involving different variants of the coronavirus.

More than 5.3 million people have died of COVID-19 globally since the coronavirus emerged two years ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Administering vaccines

The center reported more than 8.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide as of mid-day Saturday, a massive logistical campaign complicated by omicron’s surge.

Several countries are racing to accelerate vaccination campaigns as mounting evidence supports the need for booster doses to combat the omicron variant.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country would send 15 million doses of vaccines to Africa, where infections are surging and vaccination rates are low. Erdogan made the announcement at a summit of African heads in Istanbul.

“It is disgraceful for humanity that only 6% of Africa’s population has been vaccinated,” Erdogan said.

A vaccine developed in India, Covovax, was granted emergency approval Friday by the World Health Organization. WHO vaccines chief Mariangela Simao said the approval “aims to increase access particularly to lower-income countries.”

In Europe, European Union governments agreed to order more than 180 million doses of a BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine adapted for omicron, the head of the European Commission said Friday.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday the government plans to accelerate booster shots to around 31 million vulnerable people. He also said he spoke Friday with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about oral treatments.

South Africa, which first identified the omicron variant, said Friday it would donate about 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to other African countries next year via a medical supplies platform established by the African Union.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Marking International Migrants Day, the United Nations reports hostility and xenophobia are growing against migrants.  It warns the stigmatization and marginalization of migrants amid a raging pandemic is putting many lives at risk.  

U.N. agencies report one seventh of the global population, or one billion people, are on the move. This number includes a record 281 million international migrants, and 84 million people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, and climate change.

Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, Antonio Vitorino, says many migrants embark on dangerous, life-threatening journeys in search of better economic opportunities, others are forced from their homes because of natural and man-made disasters.  

He says many of these vulnerable people fall into the hands of unscrupulous people smugglers operating along migration routes worldwide.  He says COVID-19 has worsened the difficulties migrants encounter.

“Beyond the images of closed borders, separated families and economic instability, the now two-year-old global pandemic has spawned a new wave of anti-migrant sentiment and the increasing instrumentalization of migrants as tools in state policy.  Both are unacceptable,” Vitorino said.

Instead of being a liability, he underlines the invaluable contributions migrants make across the world.  He says migrant workers—nurses, health care workers–have kept millions of people safe from COVID.  He says migrant remittances have provided a lifeline for families made destitute by the pandemic.

“The positive social and economic impact in the countries where they reside, and the 540 billion US dollars remitted last year to communities in lower and middle-income countries are measures of the industry, entrepreneurship and community from which we all benefit,” Vitorino said.  

And, yet he notes too many governments continue to exclude migrants from their pandemic social and economic recovery plans because of their legal status.  

U.N. and international organizations are appealing to governments to grant migrants access to lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines. To do otherwise, they say would pose a threat to the health of all people.
…

The U.S. says its indirect talks with Iran on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal made modest progress in the latest round that ended Friday, but it also says much work remains to be done to prevent what is left of the agreement between Tehran and world powers from quickly falling apart.

In a phone briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official cited two examples of “modest” progress at the talks in Vienna involving the U.S., Iran and five world powers acting as mediators between the two sides.

The first was Iran’s Wednesday agreement to let the International Atomic Energy Agency reinstall cameras that allow U.N. inspectors to observe an Iranian nuclear facility manufacturing advanced centrifuges in the city of Karaj. Those cameras were damaged in June in what Iran called an act of sabotage by its regional rival Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

The second example cited by the U.S. official is a common U.S. and Iranian understanding of a text that will serve as a basis for negotiations on what parts of Iran’s nuclear program may be curbed in return for a lifting of U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

But the U.S. official cautioned against enthusiasm over the text.

“What we have is an agenda of issues to be examined, not a set of solutions to be accepted. There still is a lot of work to do,” the official said.

The U.S. official also said Iran’s recent advances in its nuclear program that the West fears could be weaponized make it more urgent for Tehran to return to the curbs on that program previously agreed to under the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We made some progress, but … at a pace that will not be sufficient to get to where we need to go before Iran’s nuclear advances render the JCPOA a corpse that cannot be revived,” the official said.

Iran, which says its nuclear activities are peaceful, has been exceeding the curbs on its nuclear activities since 2019 in retaliation for the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA a year earlier.

Then-U.S. President Donald Trump quit the JCPOA and unilaterally toughened sanctions on Iran, saying it was a better way to pressure Tehran into stopping malign behavior. Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden, has said a U.S. return to the JCPOA is the better course to prevent Iran from weaponizing its nuclear program, provided that Tehran also returns to honoring the deal.

Earlier Friday, Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister, tweeted that “good progress” had been made in Vienna in Iran’s seventh round of indirect talks with the U.S., following six previous rounds held from April to June.

Bagheri Kani added that Iran “will continue talks after a break of a few days.” There was no word from any of the parties at the talks as to exactly when the talks would resume.

Iran has said its priority in Vienna is securing the lifting of all U.S. sanctions, which have weakened an economy also plagued by government corruption and mismanagement. Tehran has declined to state publicly which nuclear activities it might curb in return.

Washington has said any sanctions relief for Iran should be limited to nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 deal and reinstated later by Trump, rather than sanctions imposed by Trump and Biden in response to Iran’s missile development, arming of regional proxies and poor human rights record.

Before departing Vienna, Bagheri Kani told Iranian state news agency IRNA that Iran had persuaded the three European mediators involved in the talks, U.S. allies Britain, France and Germany, to “accept Iran’s position as a basis for serious and effective negotiations.” 

But the senior State Department official, responding to a question from a VOA Persian reporter in Vienna, said the U.S. does not believe Iran’s position is entirely consistent with the JCPOA.

“It’s hard to even define sometimes what their proposal is, but they certainly have taken positions … that are either beyond or inconsistent with the JCPOA. It is a common view of all of the members of the P5+1 that the only ideas that should be entertained are those that are consistent with the deal that was negotiated in 2015 and 2016.”

The P5+1 refers to the U.S. and the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, France, China and Russia — plus Germany.

The U.S. official expressed hope that Iran would agree to an eighth round of Vienna talks soon.

Iran analyst Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies told VOA that Tehran has grown more confident in its negotiating position in tandem with the United States’ withholding of punitive action against escalating Iranian nuclear activity.

“As Iran explores its escalation options, it is pivotal Washington signals that its patience is not endless,” Taleblu said. “Washington should also beware of overvaluing any prospective Iranian ‘concession’ that does not alter the direction of Iran’s nuclear program but rather is designed to stave off pressure.”

Guita Aryan contributed to this report from Vienna. 
…

The women-only farmers market in Diyarbakir, Turkey, is a unique place. Here, women, many of them divorced or survivors of abuse, can create new lives. But Turkey’s economic troubles are making their lives even more difficult. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has filed this report, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

Producer and camera: Mahmut Bozarslan.
…

Police in Spain, France and Belgium have broken up a drug trafficking ring believed to be smuggling tons of cocaine and hashish by speedboat from Morocco to Europe, the European Union crime agency said Friday.

Spanish police arrested 17 people, including 11 Spaniards and six Moroccans, earlier in the week, Europol said in a statement. The alleged ringleader, a Moroccan suspected of being a major importer of drugs into Europe, was among those arrested.

Spain’s Guardia Civil said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was also involved in the police operation.

The gang members are also accused of laundering their proceeds from drug sales. Police believe they used cash-intensive businesses, including two Barcelona restaurants, and bought property to conceal illicit income.

Authorities seized assets worth more than 6 million euros ($6.8 million), including real estate, cash and luxury goods.

Police suspect the trafficking ring was behind thwarted operations this year to smuggle 4.3 metric tons of hashish and 1.3 metric tons of cocaine into southern Spain.
…

A video chat between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this week consolidates efforts by the two Eurasian powers to face down their mutual rival the United States in 2022, analysts say.

Putin and Xi spoke Wednesday afternoon, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported, marking the 37th time leaders of the two countries have connected since 2013. They pledged more cooperation on safeguarding joint interests, the news agency said, and specifically covered trade, a joint pandemic response and energy cooperation.

“I think this is, quite clearly, they are trying to show they are united on a common issue, and that is the U.S,” Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told VOA.

U.S. officials and other Western leaders have spoken out against the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border and condemned what they consider Chinese military threats against Taiwan. Washington was a Cold War foe of both sides. The U.S. armed forces are today’s strongest, followed by Russia and China.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue of “the buildup” of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border when he visited the UK, December 10-12, for a G-7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting. G-7 ministers said they were “united in our condemnation of Russia’s military build-up and aggressive rhetoric towards Ukraine,” the U.S. Department of State reported on its website.

Putin and Xi likely briefed each other Wednesday on their respective conversations with U.S. President Joe Biden, Koh said. U.S. behavior, he said, gives the duo stronger “strategic convergences.” Xi and Biden met virtually in November, followed by a Biden-Putin encounter last week.

“We have an openly hostile relationship with the United States,” said Vassily Kashin, senior fellow at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, referring to the government in Moscow.

“Each side is interested in weakening the U.S. global leadership, and that is the most important common interest,” he told VOA.

After the summit, Putin’s presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that “both from our side and from the Chinese side, a negative assessment was expressed about the creation of new alliances such as the Indo-Pacific Quad and the American-Anglo-Australian union AUKUS,” Russia’s state media Sputik News reported.

The Quad refers to dialogue involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States. AUKUS is a 3-month-old agreement that will let the United States and the UK help develop Australia’s military technology.

Discussion on Wednesday touched as well on what Xinhua calls “democracy,” a possible reference to the U.S.-led, 110-country Summit for Democracy that excluded China and Russia. In November, both countries’ ambassadors to Washington protested the summit as creating divisions in the world.

Evolution of post-Cold War alliance

School of Business head at Melbourne Institute of Technology, Stuart Orr, told VOA that Sino-Russian relations faded in the 1960s when the two Communist parties split over ideology, and border conflicts followed. The two are taking different courses now, with China more “expansionist.” 

Adding “a sore spot,” Orr said, Russian contractors still help Southeast Asian countries drill in the South China Sea, a waterway that Beijing calls its own.

But China and Russia markedly strengthened political and military relations this year and the two leaders plan to meet in February in Beijing at the Winter Olympics, Xinhua reported.

The border neighbors held a series of military exercises. In October, for example, they carried out naval drills. Russia and China also issued a joint diplomatic statement in the form of an op-ed in November critical of Biden’s Democracy Summit. 

China and Russia also began operating a space weather center this month in Beijing and Moscow. In June, they agreed to extend their 20-year-old Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation by respecting each other’s interests and sovereignty.

On the economic front, manufacturing-intensive China is likely to buy Russian oil, Orr said. Russia was the world’s fourth-largest oil-exporting region last year with proven reserves of 107.8 billion barrels.

He said the pair intends to “share resources,” with any energy deal a relief for China’s power shortages, reported in October.

“I think you probably see a bit of economic underpinning,” Orr said. “It makes a lot of sense for Russia to try to connect their economic prosperity to China and to China’s growth because they’ll become the largest economy. So, if Russia is connecting their economy to them, then that will lift Russia’s economy along with it.”

But ultimately the “aim is political,” he said. “From Russia’s perspective, this is something they like to encourage so they can show the two form a united command-economy front,” Orr said.

 
…

Poland’s parliament passed a media bill on Friday that critics say aims to silence a news channel critical of the government, in an unexpected move that will stoke concern over media freedom and reopen a diplomatic dispute with the United States. 

Critics say the legislation will affect the ability of news channel TVN24, owned by U.S. media company Discovery Inc., to operate because it tightens the rules around foreign ownership of media in Poland. 

The vote sours relations with the U.S., Poland’s most powerful ally, at a time of heightened tension in Eastern Europe over an increasingly assertive Russia. 

Lawmakers had not been scheduled to vote on the bill, but after a committee convened at short notice to discuss the issue, it ended up on the agenda and was voted through in a matter of minutes. 

The passing of the bill at breakneck speed just before the Christmas break is a success for the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party, as whether it could command enough votes to pass the contested legislation had been in question. 

The bill must be now signed by President Andrzej Duda to become law. The president, an ally of the government, has previously said that takeovers of foreign-owned media groups should take place on market terms and not with forced solutions, in a sign he could use his power to veto the bill. 

“The bill … will of course be analyzed by us, and the appropriate decision will be made. I have already talked about the point of view from which I will assess the bill,” Duda told reporters on Friday. 

Bix Aliu, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Warsaw, called on Duda to “protect free speech and business.” 

“The United States is extremely disappointed by today’s passage of the media bill,” Aliu wrote on Twitter. 

Opposition lawmakers said the manner in which the committee was convened was illegal and breached democratic standards. 

Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, deputy head of the committee and a member of the opposition Left grouping, said members had been told to attend by text message 24 minutes before the sitting, when rules state they should be informed three days before. 

Foreign ownership 

TVN24’s parent, TVN, is owned by Discovery via a firm registered in the Netherlands in order to get around a ban on non-European firms owning more than 49% of Polish media companies. The bill passed by parliament on Friday would prevent this workaround. 

The management board of TVN Grupa Discovery called the vote “an unprecedented attack on the free media” and said in a statement that the company was “determined to defend their investments in Poland.” 

Corporate parent Discovery issued a separate statement, saying the parliamentary vote “should alarm any enterprise investing in Poland,” and called on Duda to veto the legislation. 

The Law and Justice party has long argued that foreign media groups have too much influence in Poland, distorting public debate. The party says the bill aims to stop countries such as Russia or China from gaining influence over Polish media. 

Law and Justice lawmaker Joanna Lichocka said in a statement, “The rule limiting non-European capital in the media is in line with European law and is valid in many EU countries. This rule has been in force in Poland for years — the amendment seals it up and makes it impossible to circumvent it.” 

Critics say that moves against foreign media groups seek to limit media freedom and are part of an increasingly authoritarian agenda that has already put Warsaw at loggerheads with Brussels over LGBT rights and over changes to the judiciary that the EU says undermine the independence of courts. 
…

Denmark proposed new lockdown measures Friday to curb the alarming spread of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, as other European countries consider imposing travel and other restrictions to stem the variant’s spread.

The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a news conference the restrictions, which need parliamentary approval, would include crowd limits in stores, the closure of theaters, other entertainment venues and conference centers, and a mandatory mask requirement in most public places.

The Danish government reported 11,559 omicron cases Friday – a sharp increase from a day earlier – and said the new variant, which is more transmissible than earlier variants, now accounts for one-fifth of new cases reported daily.

Ireland and Germany were also considering further restrictions just days before Christmas and other holiday festivities begin in earnest. Earlier this week, France restricted travel to and from Britain, where omicron is surging.

A German Health Ministry spokesperson said the government could announce later Friday that travelers to Germany from Britain would be required to quarantine for two weeks. The restrictions are being considered as German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach predicted Friday the omicron variant would spark a “massive fifth wave” of the pandemic.

Portugal’s health minister warned Friday that omicron cases were doubling every two days and could account for 80% of all new cases by the end of December, much higher than the current rate of about 20%.

The country’s official count Friday was 69 confirmed cases. Portugal has one of the world’s highest rates of vaccination against COVID-19.

In Australia on Friday, authorities hurried to track down hundreds of people who attended a Taylor Swift album release party in Sydney last week. The party has blown into a super-spreader event, propelling new infections that include the omicron variant to a new pandemic high for the second straight day.

In India on Friday, the health ministry reported a total of 101 cases of the omicron variant and that some districts were showing a rise in overall infections.

More than 5.3 million people have died of COVID-19 globally since the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, almost two years ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Vaccines

The center reported more than 8.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide as of mid-day Friday, a massive logistical campaign complicated by omicron’s surge.

Several countries are racing to accelerate vaccination campaigns as mounting evidence supports the need for booster doses to combat the omicron variant.

A vaccine developed in India, Covovax, was granted emergency approval Friday by the World Health Organization. WHO vaccines chief Mariangela Simao said the approval “aims to increase access particularly to lower-income countries.”

In Europe, European Union governments agreed to order more than 180 million doses of a BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine adapted for omicron, the head of the European Commission said.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday the government plans to accelerate booster shots to around 31 million vulnerable people. He also said he spoke Friday with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about oral treatments.

South Africa, which first identified the omicron variant, said Friday it would donate about 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to other African countries next year via a medical supplies platform established by the African Union.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Russia published draft details Friday of a security package it has sent the United States and NATO allies, which calls for restrictions on western military activity in Europe, as well as a halt to expansion by the alliance into eastern Europe.

The security proposal, submitted to the U.S. and its allies earlier this week, also calls for a ban on the deployment of U.S. and Russian warships and aircraft to areas from where they can strike each other’s territory.

Many of the demands, such as a ban on NATO membership for Ukraine, already have been rejected by the U.S. and NATO, who have warned Russia not to invade Ukraine, as tens of thousands of Russian forces remain massed along the border.

Speaking Friday in Brussels, at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged receiving the security proposal, saying any dialogue with Russia also would need to address NATO’s concerns about Russia’s actions and take place in consultation with NATO’s European partners such as Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said NATO allies have also made clear that if Russia would take concrete steps to reduce tensions in the region, they “are prepared to work on strengthening confidence-building measures.”

Following the publishing of the draft proposal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov spoke to reporters in Moscow, and indicated Moscow is ready to negotiate.

Ryabkov told reporters, “We are ready to immediately, even tomorrow—literally tomorrow, on Saturday, December 18—to go for talks with the U.S. in a third country.” He said Russia has suggested Geneva to U.S. officials.

Ryabkov also said Russia’s relations with the U.S. and its NATO allies have approached a “dangerous point,” noting that alliance deployments and drills near Russia have raised “unacceptable” threats to its security.

For its part, the Biden administration this week signaled Moscow will pay a “terrible price” should it invade Ukraine due to what U.S. President Joe Biden has described as devastating sanctions.

“Our objective continues to be to keep this on a diplomatic path and for that to lead to de-escalation,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday.

And U.S. lawmakers have called for the White House to speed up the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, including ship-to-shore missiles, air defense missiles and additional Javelin anti-tank missiles in hopes of staving off a Russian invasion.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday suffered a crushing by-election defeat in a constituency never previously lost by his Conservative Party, a result which raises serious questions about his leadership.

His party won the seat in North Shropshire, central England, by a massive majority in 2019, but that was wiped out by the Liberal Democrats in Thursday’s vote in a result that will intensify the mutinous mood among Conservative MPs.

Johnson, 57, was already reeling after roughly 100 of his MPs rebelled in parliament Tuesday against the government’s introduction of vaccine passes for large events.

The UK leader’s authority has also been clobbered repeatedly in recent weeks by claims of corruption and reports that he and his staff broke coronavirus restrictions last Christmas.

Weeks of bad headlines turned what would normally be a routine victory in the safe rural seat — won by 23,000 votes just two years ago — into a shattering defeat of almost 6,000 votes, while surging virus cases have added to a sense of crisis.

The government reported nearly 89,000 new infections Thursday, the second consecutive record daily tally.

Winning candidate Helen Morgan said that voters had sent a message “loudly and clearly” to Johnson that “the party’s over.”

“Your government, run on lies and bluster will be held accountable. It can and will be defeated,” she vowed.

‘Slap in the face’

Defeat will likely see more MPs filing letters of no-confidence in their leader, which could trigger an internal party vote to remove him.

The same process saw his predecessor Theresa May ousted in mid-2019 after MPs including Johnson voted against her Brexit deal in parliament.

The Liberal Democrats appeared to have been helped by supporters of the main national opposition Labour party lending them their votes.

“I’ll be voting for the Liberal Democrats because I’m so offended by the performance of Johnson,” Martin Hill, 68, who normally votes Labour, told AFP earlier this week.

“It’ll be a tactical vote — I want to give Johnson a slap in the face.”

However, others in the small town of Whitchurch were prepared to overlook the former London mayor’s transgressions.

“I don’t think it’s enough for us to say: ‘Right, we want a new leader now’, because I think Boris has done an excellent job,” said 67-year-old Sue Parkinson, who has voted Conservative for the last two decades.

Gloomy outlook

The atmosphere before the vote was a far cry from May, when the Conservatives swept to an unprecedented by-election victory in the northeast England seat of Hartlepool on the back of a successful vaccine rollout.

But the virus is once more dominating British life and the arrival of the Omicron variant has again deepened the gloom before Christmas, with the prime minister’s authority seen as weakened.

Britain is also suffering spiraling inflation as a result of big borrowing during lockdowns, high energy prices and bottlenecked supply chains. Tax rises also loom from next April.

Johnson — who won voters’ overwhelming backing in 2019 on his promise to “Get Brexit Done” — has been dogged by controversies since early last month.

It began with his unsuccessful attempt to change parliament’s disciplinary rules to spare North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson a suspension after he was found to have breached lobbying rules.

Paterson, who had held the seat since 1997, then quit, forcing Thursday’s by-election.

That crisis, though, was soon eclipsed by reports that Johnson and his staff broke COVID rules last year by holding several parties around Christmas — just as the public were told to cancel their festive plans. 

 
…

Soaring infections in Britain driven in part by the omicron variant of the coronavirus rattled Europe on Thursday, prompting new restrictions and fueling a familiar dread on both sides of the Atlantic about entering a new phase of the pandemic just in time for the holidays. 

Much remains unknown about omicron, but officials increasingly warn that it appears more transmissible than the delta variant, which has already put pressure on hospitals worldwide. With so many questions unanswered, uncertainty reigned over how quickly and how severely to crack down on Christmas travel and year-end parties. 

After the United Kingdom recorded its highest number of confirmed new COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began, France announced Thursday that it would tighten entry rules for those coming from Britain. Hours later, the country set another record, with a further 88,376 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported Thursday, almost 10,000 more than the day before. 

In England, the chief medical officer urged people to limit who they see in the festive period. Pubs and restaurants said many people were heeding that advice by canceling Christmas parties, though there has been much debate about what’s OK to do. In the United States, the White House insisted there was no need for a lockdown, despite signs that omicron was gaining ground there. 

Globally, more than 75 countries have reported confirmed cases of the new variant. In Britain, where omicron cases are doubling every two to three days, omicron was expected to soon replace delta as the dominant strain in the country. The government has accelerated its booster program in response. Authorities in the 27-nation European Union say omicron will be the dominant variant in the bloc by mid-January. 

Omicron traits 

Early data suggest that omicron may be milder but better at evading vaccines, making booster shots more crucial. Experts have urged caution about drawing conclusions too early because hospitalizations lag infections and many variables can contribute to how sick people get. 

Even if omicron proves milder on the whole than delta, it may disarm some of the lifesaving tools available and put immunocompromised and elderly people at particular risk. And if it’s more transmissible, more infections overall raise the risk that more cases will be serious. 

While experts gather the data, some governments rushed to act, while others sought to calm fears that the new variant would land countries back on square one. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted Thursday that the situation in the U.K. is different from last year because of the widespread use of vaccines and the ability to test. 

If people want to attend an event, “the sensible thing to do is to get a test and to make sure that you’re being cautious,” he said. 

“But we’re not saying that we want to cancel stuff. We’re not locking stuff down, and the fastest route back to normality is to get boosted,” he said. 

Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, struck a more cautious note, advising people earlier in the week to limit their social contacts. 

On Thursday, he told a parliamentary committee hearing that the government might have to review measures if vaccines prove less effective than expected against omicron. 

He said that “would be a material change to how ministers viewed the risks going forward.” 

Among those taking the more cautious route was Queen Elizabeth II, who opted to cancel her traditional pre-Christmas family lunch. 

U.S. response 

In the United States, President Joe Biden’s administration said tighter restrictions are not planned. Biden said the omicron variant is not spreading as fast as in Europe because of steps his administration has taken. 

He warned, however, that unvaccinated Americans faced “a winter of severe illness and death.” 

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said that the U.S. was “in a very different and stronger place than we were a year ago.” 

Still, feelings of unease persisted among some Americans. 

Michael Stohl, 32, was relieved when he got the Pfizer vaccine last spring, but the spread of omicron has turned his optimism to dread. 

“Even though I’m fully vaccinated right now, that doesn’t seem to give me any sort of guarantee anymore,” he said. “It just puts this anxiety over you because they tell you the boosters will work, but that’s what they said about the original vaccines. Am I going to have to keep getting vaccinated every couple months?” 

He said he booked an appointment to receive his booster shot Thursday morning. 

Stohl, who works at the concierge desk at an apartment building in downtown Washington, said his family all lives in the city so he isn’t traveling for Christmas. 

He worries about friends and coworkers who will travel, however. 

“I just remember how bad everything was last year, and it’s looking like it might be that bad again,” he said. 

‘European solution’

People in the Netherlands, meanwhile, have been in a partial lockdown since November to curb a delta-driven surge. While infection numbers are now declining, the government this week ordered elementary schools to close for Christmas a week early amid fears of a new rise. Authorities also sped up a booster campaign as caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte cited Britain as an example of how swiftly the variant can spread. 

EU leaders gathering in Brussels for a summit Thursday sought to balance tackling the surge of infections while keeping borders open with common policies throughout the bloc. 

“Let’s try to maintain the European solution,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. “If every country goes it alone again, we’ll be even further from home.” 

But ahead of the meeting, European nations were already acting to rein in the spread. 

Greece and Italy tightened entry requirements for travelers earlier this week, and Portugal decided to keep stricter border controls in place beyond its planned January 9 end. 

France said Thursday that it will slap restrictions on travelers arriving from the U.K. — which is no longer part of the EU — putting limits on reasons for traveling and requiring 48 hours of isolation upon arrival. The new measures will take effect early Saturday. 

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the measures were being imposed “in the face of the extremely rapid spread of the omicron variant in the U.K.” 

The abrupt move comes after weeks of political tensions between France and Britain over fishing rights and how to deal with migration across the English Channel. The French government is desperately trying to avoid a new lockdown that would hurt the economy and cloud President Emmanuel Macron’s expected reelection campaign. 

Waiting outside a Paris train station, Constantin Dobrynin said that he sometimes felt governments overreacted and imposed unnecessary measures. As for omicron, it wasn’t yet clear how serious it would be. 

“So we should be balanced, and we shouldn’t be panicked,” he said. 

Britain said it was not planning reciprocal measures. 

Fearing a raft of canceled parties and a general drop in business at the height of the crucial and lucrative Christmas season, British restaurants and pubs demanded government help Thursday. They said concerns about the new variant have already wiped out 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) in sales over the past 10 days. 

Across London, restaurants that would normally see bustling crowds clinking glasses and tucking into festive meals were reporting droves of cancellations and empty rooms. 

“It’s a complete nightmare. … This week should be the busiest week of the year for hospitality,” said Sally Abé, a chef at the Conrad Hotel in central London. “It’s everywhere, everybody’s canceling, but there’s no support from the government.” 

 
…

The European Union’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, on Thursday recommended two new treatments against COVID-19 for use among EU member nations, as well as offer advice on the use of another, pending its authorization.

In separate statements on its website, the EMA recommended the use of Swedish-made drug Kineret and U.S.-made Xevudy for treatment of COVID-19.

The EMA had previously approved Kineret for use as an anti-inflammatory medicine. But in their recommendation Thursday, the agency recommended its use as a treatment for adult COVID-19 patients also suffering from pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen and at risk of developing severe respiratory failure.

They said Kineret could reduce the inflammation associated with COVID-19, decreasing lower airway damage, and preventing development of severe respiratory failure. The drug is manufactured by the Swedish Orphan Biovitrum pharmaceutical company.

The EMA also recommended GlaxoSmithKline’s recommended Xevudy for treating adults and children suffering from COVID-19 who do not require supplemental oxygen and are at increased risk of the disease becoming severe. The EMA cited data indicating Xevudy, a monoclonal antibody drug, was effective in preventing severe COVID-19 symptoms and preventing hospitalization.

The agency also offered advice for the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment pill Paxlovid. While the medicine is not yet authorized in the EU, the EMA said it can be used to treat adults who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are at increased risk of progressing to severe disease.

They say Paxlovid should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within five days of the start of symptoms.

The agency’s advice can now be used to support those EU nations choosing to recommend use of Paxlovid before formal EMU authorization.

The EMA said it will continue with its rolling review of the drug.

Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse.
…

New German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said Thursday he is seeking to secure additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine for a swift booster vaccine offensive, which is the center of the government’s strategy for fighting off the new omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Speaking at his first COVID-19 briefing, along with Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI), Lauterbach said 1.5 million booster vaccinations were given Wednesday alone, the nation’s highest single-day total so far.

Germany’s vaccination efforts have picked back up, with an average of some 988,000 people per day being inoculated over the past week.

But Lauterbach said the campaign has slowed because they do not have enough vaccine, and he is negotiating with other countries, including Romania, Poland, Portugal and Bulgaria to get additional doses.

The country said it also hoped to receive millions of booster shots adapted to the omicron variant from BioNtech/Pfizer in the first quarter of next year.

Wieler of RKI told reporters omicron is already spreading fast in places like Britain and Denmark. He said Germany has registered a few hundred cases of the variant and it has been found in all 16 states.

The RKI president also said the delta variant still dominates in Germany, adding that it “is only a question of time until omicron takes over.”

“We expect that this will make the situation even worse for everyone.”

Lauterbach said the strategy of government health officials is to try to “keep [impact of] the omicron variant as small as possible” through a fast booster vaccination campaign in an effort to prevent an overload of the health system “and possibly of society in its entirety.”

Currently, 70% of Germany’s population of 83 million have been fully vaccinated, below the government’s minimum target of 75%. So far, 27.6% also have received a booster shot, a figure that is rising quickly. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Leaders of European Union member states are meeting in Brussels Thursday seeking a unified approach to the new omicron coronavirus variant to avoid widespread lockdowns and closed borders. 

Ahead of the summit, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Wednesday said the new, highly transmissible omicron is likely to become the dominant variant in the region as early as next month.

In the midst of the festive holiday season, many leaders of nations which are heavily dependent on tourism expressed reluctance to close borders or add additional travel restrictions, such as mandatory testing.

But several nations ahead of the summit have already done so, at least through the holidays, with Italy implementing mandatory testing even for vaccinated travelers. 

The consensus going into Thursday’s meeting was that vaccination and booster programs needed to be accelerated. 

The other looming issue for EU leaders is ongoing tensions with Russia, which has amassed troops at the border with Ukraine, leading many in the international community to believe an invasion may be imminent.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen on Wednesday promised “unprecedented measures” should Russia escalate the situation. EU nations are divided between those in the east that think sanctions should be imposed immediately, and others like France and Germany who fear that could provoke an invasion. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week held video phone calls with European leaders and British Prime minister Boris Johnson, saying he was seeking negotiations guaranteeing the NATO alliance will not expand further east in Europe. ​

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. 

 
…

Airbus is set to deliver the final A380 superjumbo to Dubai’s Emirates on Thursday, marking the end of a 14-year run that gave Europe an instantly recognized symbol across the globe but failed to fulfil the commercial vision of its designers. 

Production of the world’s largest airliner — capable of seating 500 people on two decks together with perks like showers in first class — has ended after 272 were built compared with the 1,000 or more once predicted. 

Airbus, a planemaking conglomerate drawn together from separate entities in Britain, France, Germany and Spain to carry out their brainchild of mega-jets to beat congestion, pulled the plug in 2019 after airlines went for smaller, leaner models. 

Thursday’s handover is expected to be low key, partly because of COVID restrictions and also because Airbus is these days focusing its PR on environmental benefits of smaller jets. 

That’s in stark contrast to the spectacular light show that revealed the new behemoth in front of European leaders in 2005. 

Emirates is by far the largest buyer and still believes in the superjumbo’s ability to lure passengers. Even though no more A380s will be built, it will keep flying them for years. Many airlines disagree and have axed the A380 during the pandemic. 

Airline president Tim Clark refuses to bow to sceptics who say the days of spacious four-engined jets like the A380 are numbered as an airline seat becomes a commodity like any other. 

“I don’t share that view at all … And I still believe there is a place for the A380,” Clark recently told reporters. 

“Technocrats and accountants said it was not fit for purpose … That doesn’t resonate with our travelling public. They absolutely love that airplane,” he said. 

Shower talks

 The A380’s demise left deserted one of the world’s largest buildings, a 122,500-square-metre assembly plant in Toulouse. 

Airbus plans to use part of it to build some of the bread-and-butter narrowbody models that dominate sales like a deal with Qantas announced earlier on Thursday. 

But it is in Hamburg that some of the most striking features of the A380 evolved. 

Clark recalled how he huddled with Airbus developers in northern Germany to persuade Airbus chiefs in France to pay for the engineering needed to make in-flight showers a reality. 

“There was a lot of arm-folding and my friends in France were a little circumspect,” Clark said. 

“I had to sit with friends in the development unit in Hamburg having to build the showers, and then asked Toulouse management to see how it could be done, and so they bought in.” 

That innovation generated headlines but did not translate into sales needed to keep the A380 going. 

The plane was designed in the 1990s when travel demand was soaring and China offered seemingly unlimited potential. 

By the time the first delivery came in 2007, the plane was more than two years late. And when Emirates got its first A380 a year later, the emerging financial crisis was already forcing analysts to trim their forecasts for the biggest jets. 

Boeing was meanwhile capturing orders for a revolutionary new 787 Dreamliner, to be followed by the Airbus A350. 

“There was a slowing down of appetite and enthusiasm. We didn’t share that view; we put this great [A380] aircraft to work,” Clark said on the sidelines of an airlines meeting. 

“We have what I think is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever flown.” 
…

Liudmyla Momot wipes away tears as she searches for clothes and household items to salvage from the ruins of her home that was shelled by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Her village of Nevelske, northwest of the rebel-held city of Donetsk, is only about 3 kilometers from the line of contact between the separatists and the Ukrainian military and has been emptied of all but five people.

Small arms fire frequently is heard in the daytime, giving way to the booms of light artillery and mortar shelling after dusk.

With the bloody conflict now more than 7 years old, there are fears in Ukraine and the West that a buildup of armed forces on Russia’s side of the border could lead to an invasion or the resumption of full-scale hostilities.

Rebels targeted Nevelske with shelling twice in the last month, damaging or destroying 16 of the village’s 50 houses and rattling the handful of nervous residents who remain.

“The worse Ukraine-Russia relations are, the more we simple people are suffering,” said 68-year-old Momot, who has worked at a dairy farm all her life.

Now with no home, “who could have imagined that? I was preparing for the winter, stocking up coal and firewood.”

After the shell hit her house, Momot fled to a nearby settlement where her son lives. But the anxiety has followed her there.

“We fear that a big war will start. People are scared and packed up their bags,” said Momot, who collected some blankets, warm clothes and other items in the debris.

The conflict in the eastern industrial heartland known as the Donbas erupted in April 2014, weeks after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula following the ouster of Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly former president. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of supporting the rebels with troops and weapons, but Moscow says that Russians who joined the fight were volunteers acting on their own.

More than 14,000 people have been killed in fighting that has driven more than 2 million people from their homes in the east.

When the conflict began, Nevelske had a population of 286. Now, the five older people who remain in the ruined village collect rainwater for drinking and cooking. Between shipments of humanitarian aid, they rely on eating stale bread.

“We have grown accustomed to the shelling,” said 84-year-old Halyna Moroka, who has stayed in Nevelske with her disabled son.

A 2015 peace agreement brokered by France and Germany ended large-scale battles, but frequent skirmishes have continued. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors the shaky cease-fire, has reported an increasing number of such incidents, with both sides trading the blame for truce violations.

“The security situation along the contact line is still of concern, with a high level of kinetic activity,” Mikko Kinnune, the OSCE representative for the group that involves representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the rebels, said earlier this month.

Amid the recent Russian troop buildup, Washington and its allies have warned Moscow that it will pay a high economic price if it attacks Ukraine. Moscow denies having such intentions and accused Ukraine of planning to reclaim control of rebel-held territory, something Kyiv has rejected.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the West to provide guarantees that NATO won’t expand to include Ukraine or deploy the alliance’s forces and weapons there, calling that a “red line” for Moscow. The U.S. and its allies have refused to make such a pledge, but U.S. President Joe Biden and Putin decided last week to hold talks to discuss Russian concerns.

The geopolitical threats resonate in Nevelske on those few occasions that the village has power, enabling its remaining residents to watch Russian television news.

“We don’t want war!” exclaimed 75-year-old Kateryna Shklyar, who shares her fears with her husband, Dmytro. Their daughter and grandchildren live in nearby Krasnohorivka, a Ukrainian-controlled western suburb of Donetsk.

“For how long will this torment last?” asked Shklyar. “It has worn out our souls and hearts. You can’t call that life, but we have no place to go.”

Humanitarian groups provide basic supplies to Nevelske and other villages and even try to offer housing in safer areas, but their resources are limited.

“I just survive each day, trying to make it to the evening, and my soul aches,” said Moroka, who has lost vision in one eye but can’t get any medical help.

“We are frightened,” she added. “It’s really scary to sit here and wait for death. It’s horrible!” 

 
…

Germany is expelling two Russian diplomats over what a German court said was a Russian-ordered killing of a German citizen of Chechen origin in Berlin in 2019. 

In the high-profile incident, Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili was gunned down in a Berlin park. 

On Wednesday, a German court found Russian Vadim Krasikov guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment, saying he was working for Russian authorities who had provided him with a false identity and other resources.

Calling the murder a “grave breach of German law and the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock summoned the Russian ambassador to discuss the case and expel the two diplomats. 

In 2004, Khangoshvili was involved in an attack on a Russian police station that left police and civilians dead. 

“There is no doubt that Khangoshvili bears responsibility for people’s deaths,” Judge Olaf Arnoldi said, adding that Russian authorities wanted “revenge and retribution” for the attack. 

“Khangoshvili had given up the fight against the Russian Federation years before. He had not held a weapon in his hands since 2008,” Arnoldi said. “This was not an act of self-defense by Russia. This was and is nothing other than state terrorism.” 

In December 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Khangoshvili a “terrorist and murderer.” 

While living in Georgia in 2015, Khangoshvili survived an assassination attempt. He later moved to Ukraine and then to Berlin. 

Russia’s ambassador in Berlin denied Russian involvement in Khangoshvili’s murder. 

“We consider the verdict an unobjective, politically motivated decision that seriously aggravates already complicated Russian-German relations,” Russian Ambassador Sergei Nechayev said, adding it was “an unfriendly act that won’t go unanswered.” 

“The absurd notion about Russia’s involvement in the wrongdoing during the entire course of the trial was being methodically imposed on the public, was being weaved into the general anti-Russian background, but wasn’t in the end proved with convincing evidence,” he said. 

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press. 

 
…

Istanbul hosts a two-day African Summit this week, the latest effort by Turkey to expand its diplomatic and economic influence in Africa. For VOA, Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.

Produced by: Marcus Harton
…

The European Union’s drug regulator Wednesday approved booster shots of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for adults who received their first dose of the vaccine at least two months prior.

In a statement, the Europe Medicines Agency (EMA) said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may also be taken by people who had received the full two-shot dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines as well.  

The EMA said it will continue to look at all available data on the safety and efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.  

In its statement, the agency said individual national public health agencies may issue their own official recommendations on the use of booster doses, considering the local epidemiological situation, availability of vaccines, and emerging effectiveness and the limited safety data for the booster dose.

The Johnson & Johnson shot is the third vaccine approved for boosters by the EMA, after the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson had presented results from a large study it conducted indicating a second dose of its vaccine just two months after the first increased protection against COVID-19 symptoms from 70% to 94% in U.S. recipients.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.

 
…

French troops have left a military base in Timbuktu, Mali, where they were posted since liberating the area from Islamist militants in 2013. French forces have been gradually withdrawing from the region, despite ongoing fighting with militants that threatens stability. Locals are expressing unease about the French troops’ departure.

On Tuesday, French troops left their military base in Timbuktu as part of a reorganization of Operation Barkhane announced by French president Emmanuel Macron in June. 

The Kidal and Tessalit bases were handed over to the Malian army in October and November, respectively. The French troops first set up a base here when the city, along with several others in northern Mali, was liberated in 2013 from Islamist militants. Then-French president Francois Hollande visited Timbuktu the day after its liberation and was welcomed by residents. 

Salem Ould El Hadj, a historian and a teacher at Timbuktu’s famous Ahmed Baba Institute, spoke from a public square by Timbuktu’s Sankore mosque about his experience when the city was liberated.  

We needed it, he says, and you’ve seen how the population welcomed them with widespread enthusiasm. An unabashed fervor. It’s true. I was in Bamako, he says, and it’s thanks to [the French intervention] that I came back to Timbuktu.

Since 2013, Mali has weathered two more coup d’etats. Violence and killings have increased and moved further south into the country’s center. Large protests in Bamako have called for the departure of French troops, with popular sentiment in the capital favoring a potential Russian intervention in Mali. 

Mohamed El Bashir, president of Timbuktu’s municipal youth council, says that withdrawing Barkhane troops from Timbuktu will make the region less secure.

It’s not the same feeling here, he says, because the people in Bamako don’t live what we’re living here in Timbuktu. What we’re living here, people in Bamako aren’t living. They should come here, and we will go to Bamako, and they can ask that Barkhane leaves, he says, then they will understand. That’s the reality.

France has been gradually retiring its troops from military bases in northern Mali and moving them to Gao, which will now serve as Operation Barkhane’s northern base. 

General Etienne du Peyroux, Barkhane’s representative in Mali, says that the handing over of Timbuktu’s military base is not an abandonment.  

He says, this is ultimately the goal of Operation Barkhane, to allow Mali to take its destiny in its hands. After a phase of preparation, after a phase of ramping up, after a training phase. And always in partnership, which will be different, with less of a physical presence but just as real, he says.  

At a ceremony on the military base yesterday, the French flag was lowered, the Malian flag raised, and a symbolic key to the base handed over from the French military to the Malian army. Malian military authorities declined to comment to journalists, who were asked to leave the ceremony before their commander spoke to Malian troops. 

French armored vehicles exited the base for the last time.

At the airport, French troops could be seen boarding a military plane headed for Gao. The fate of Timbuktu, once a symbol of Mali’s liberation from extremist rule, now rests in the hands of Mali’s army.
…