Europe

GENEVA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- A special session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) kicked off here on Monday amid growing concerns over the latest Omicron coronavirus variant, where the participants aim to negotiate a new "pandemic treaty."

LEGALLY BINDING PANDEMIC TREATY

LONDON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- While there is marked difference between U.S. red states and blue states in COVID-19 vaccination rate, the United States as a whole trails every other advanced country in vaccine uptake as its people selfishly put themselves first, The Guardian said in an opinion article Sunday.

PARIS (AP) — A far-right former TV pundit with multiple hate-speech convictions officially entered the race for France’s presidency on Tuesday and warned his supporters that they will likely be called racists for backing his anti-immigration and anti-Islam views that have already shaken up the election campaign.

The launch of Eric Zemmour’s run for the presidency made official a candidacy that had been gathering steam for months before it then stumbled of late — notably after the 63-year-old raised a middle finger at a woman who did likewise to him over the weekend.

BRUSSELS (AP) — New findings about the coronavirus’s omicron variant made it clear Tuesday that the emerging threat slipped into countries well before their defenses were up, as two distant nations announced their first cases and a third reported its presence before South African officials sounded the alarm.

29 Nov 2021; MEMO: Pope Francis said on Monday that migrants were being exploited as "pawns" on a political chessboard in an apparent reference to the crisis at the Belarus border, Reuters reports.

Thousands of migrants are stuck on the European Union's eastern frontier in what the EU says is a crisis Minsk engineered by distributing Belarusian visas in the Middle East, flying them in, and letting them go to the border.

30 Nov 2021; MEMO: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights and the illegal Israeli settlements erode the chances of peace, Wafa news agency reported.

Marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Guterres said: "The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – including East Jerusalem continues to pose a significant challenge to international peace and security."

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: Washington never stops trying to contain Russia’s development and is spending considerable funds to destabilize the situation in Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has left without comment the rumors Ukraine had allegedly handed over to Russia via Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a list of held persons to be exchanged. 

"I will leave this report without a comment," Peskov said.

"The problem of verification is an old one. It has not been resolved to this day. It has been and still remains part and parcel of the general set of issues and problems that exist between us," he said.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: The 2021 Winter Universiade in Switzerland’s Lucerne has been cancelled due to the emergence eruption of the new Omicron coronavirus strain, a source in the International University Sports Federation (FISU) told TASS on Monday.

The 2021 FISU Winter Universiade was scheduled to run between December 11 and 21 in Lucerne and the six cantons of Central Switzerland, including Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schwyz, Uri, and Zug.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: A completely new Tupolev Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber nicknamed the ‘White Swan’ by Russian military pilots will make its debut run along the runway of the Kazan Aviation Enterprise (part of the Tupolev Aircraft Company) in December, a source in the domestic aircraft-building industry told TASS on Monday.

"The aircraft is in a hangar readymade and fueled. Before the end of this year, the Tu-160M will surely make a run along the runway. A flight is not planned," the source said.