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World News in Brief: December 12

 
World News in Brief: December 12

The number of registered COVID-19 cases in Russia now exceeds 10 million, data from the government's coronavirus task showed on Sunday, but the latest wave of the pandemic has lost its momentum and the number of deaths is declining.   

More than half a billion people globally were pushed into extreme poverty last year as they paid for health costs out of their own pockets during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization and the World Bank said on Sunday.


* Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to hold more talks amid tensions over a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday, and Putin would like to meet in person at some stage too.

* The United States, Australia and Japan said on Sunday they will jointly fund the construction of an undersea cable to boost internet access in three tiny Pacific countries.

* US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi reaffirmed the US-Japan alliance's importance for peace and security when they met on Saturday, a US state department spokesman said.

* Britain told Iran on Sunday that there was still time for Tehran to save the nuclear deal but that this was the last chance for Iranian negotiators to come to the table with serious proposals.

* Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will travel to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and meet the Gulf state's de facto ruler in the highest-level visit since the countries formalised relations last year.

* Israeli researchers said on Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the new Omicron variant.

* Mexico's health ministry on Saturday reported 235 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the country's official toll since the pandemic began to 296,620.

* Brazil has registered 53 new COVID-19 deaths, the Health Ministry said on Saturday, bringing COVID-19 deaths in the country to a total of 616,744.

* Britain reported 54,073 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and 132 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test, official data showed. The figures compared to 58,194 cases and 120 deaths reported on Friday.

* Italy reported 96 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, down from 118 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 21,042. New cases had jumped by nearly two thirds on Friday to 20,497.

* The first six cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Turkey, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca was reported as saying on Saturday by state broadcaster TRT Haber.

* Sri Lankan authorities on Sunday put on show what they said was the world's largest natural corundum blue sapphire, weighing 310 kilograms, which was found in a gem pit about three months ago.

* Oman said on Sunday it expects its budget deficit to reach 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, well within the limits of a medium-term fiscal plan launched by the Gulf state last year to fix its heavily-indebted finances.

* Extreme winds hit the Canadian province of Ontario to plunge more than 280,000 homes and businesses into darkness, utility Hydro One said on Saturday, although power supplies were later restored to some.


Reuters

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