The World Health Organization says the Omicron coronavirus variant is more transmissible than the Delta strain and reduces vaccine efficacy but causes less severe symptoms according to early data.
The WHO says Omicron had spread to 63 countries as of December 9. The faster transmission was noted in South Africa, where Delta is less prevalent, and in Britain, where Delta is the dominant strain.
It however stressed that a lack of data meant it could not say if Omicron’s rate of transmission was because it was less prone to immune responses, higher transmissibility or a combination of both.
The WHO says early evidence suggests Omicron causes a reduction in vaccine efficacy against infection and transmission.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have signed a $717m defence deal.
The new defence deal allows South Korean defence company Hanwha to provide the Australian army with artillery weapons, supply vehicles and radars.
It is the largest defence contract struck between Australia and an Asian nation and comes at a time of heightened tensions between Australia and China.
Morrison says the new defence contract would create about 300 jobs in Australia, where a division of Hanwha operates.
He says the contract signed speaks volumes about what they believe are the capabilities of the Korean defence industry.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says Russia faces massive consequences if it invades Ukraine at a meeting of top diplomats from the G7 group of leading industrialised nations.
Truss says there was a very much a united voice from the G7 nations being very clear that there will be massive consequences for Russia in the case of an incursion into Ukraine.
US intelligence assesses that Russia could be planning a multi-front offensive on Ukraine as early as next year, involving up to 175,000 troops.

The US has imposed visa restrictions on Isabel dos Santos, often described as Africa's richest woman, for her involvement in significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit.
A statement from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says her name appears among a list of other people from across the globe accused of corruption who are facing US sanctions.
Mr Blinken's statement does not go into details about what Ms Dos Santos is accused of having done.
The documents showed how she and her husband were allowed to buy valuable state assets in a series of suspicious deals.
Ms Dos Santos said the allegations against her were entirely false and that there was a politically motivated witch-hunt by the Angolan government.

French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot has announced her country will soon allow access to archive records related to criminal investigations during the Algerian War.
The classified documents are deemed to contain state secrets and it is hoped will help historians and researchers unravel a lot of cases of missing people and killings of Algerians under the French colonial administration.
The North African country had recalled its ambassador to Paris and closed its airspace to French military flights in October over comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Reuters and the AFP news agency has reported that Tigray rebels have recaptured the north Ethiopian town of Lalibela less than two weeks after government forces and their allies took control of the UNESCO World Heritage town.
Residents say Tigrayan fighters are in the town centre, there’s no fighting adding that they appeared to have come from the east, in the direction of Waldia.
They said the population are scared adding that most of the people already left because there might be an act of revenge.

West African leaders called for military-ruled Mali to hold elections in February and threatened further sanctions in January if Bamako fails to make any commitment towards returning to democracy.
President of the West African ECOWAS bloc Jean-Claude Brou says the heads of state decided to keep the deadline of February 27, 2022, for elections in Mali adding sanctions would be imposed in January if Mali did not move to stage polls.
The head of Mali’s transitional government, Colonel Assimi Goita justified postponing the election and holding a national consultation which he said would be indispensable for peace and stability.
Goita emerged as Mali’s strongman leader after a coup that toppled former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020

The federal government says that it was continuing to put pressure on its western allies to proscribe bandits, Boko Haram and the Indigenous People of Biafra as terrorists.
The government says that doing so would severely reduce the funding for the groups, noting that it was doing all within its powers to ensure that a stop is put to the killings throughout the country.
The presidential spokesman says the economic instability that the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked has further proven an effective recruitment tool for bandits and terrorists across the nation in particular and the African continent as a whole.

The United States Embassy has revealed that over the past two weeks it had helped connect oncology specialists from the US and Nigeria to help strengthen the capacity of cancer treatment and care in Nigeria.
A statement by Prof. Cindy O’Bryant of the University of Colorado and Prof. Donald Harvey of Emory University conducted training and shared best practices with their Nigerian counterparts in both Abuja and Lagos.
They also discussed early detection and prevention, enhanced delivery of care, and strengthening institutional support for patient-centred care models.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company has announced a huge leap in trading surplus of ₦141.96billion recorded in June 2021 compared to a deficit of ₦37.46billion in May 2021.
The June 2021 figures of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report shows operating revenue as compared to May 2021, decreased by 9.07% or N89.27billion to stand at N894.64billion. Similarly, expenditure for the month decreased by 29.32% or N299.44billion to stand at N721.93billion.
The report also noted that the increase in trading surplus was due mainly to the increased sales of crude oil and gas by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company and the increased gas sales and depreciation postings by the Nigerian Gas Company.