Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has placed a hold on President Biden’s pick to be the U.S. ambassador to China. Here’s what means for U.S. diplomacy.
Scientists are sounding the alarm, as what could be the most highly-evolved strain of the coronavirus has been discovered in patients in different parts of the world. Its resistance to vaccines adds to the concerns.
The latest known variant of Covid-19 has significant changes in its spikes, which could make it invincible to vaccination. It could be the most highly-evolved coronavirus strain yet, as 32 mutations have apparently been detected in it. The currently dominant, highly transmissible Delta strain, which has contributed to this year’s surge in cases globally, has at least 11 spike mutations.
Originally spotted in three patients in Botswana – and thus known as the Botswana variant – it has already been found in three countries since the first infections on November 11. Six cases have been detected in South Africa, and one more was later registered in Hong Kong, according to British media.
The Hong Kong patient recently traveled to China from South Africa – putting scientists on high alert, as the new variant could have spread anywhere through international travel. The patient is also said to be double vaccinated.
News of the mutated strain, known as B.1.1.529 and which could end up being named ‘Nu’, was shared by Tom Peacock, a virologist at London’s Imperial College Department of Infectious Disease. Describing the Botswana variant’s spike profile as “horrific,” he tweeted that it could be “worse antigenically than nearly anything else about.”
Just spotted: very small cluster of variant associated with Southern Africa with very long branch length and really awful Spike mutation profile including RBD – K417N, N440K, G446S, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q493K, G496S, Q498R, N501Y, Y505Hhttps://t.co/kgA9c1hKDa
Warning that the new variant has a “very long branch length and really awful spike mutation profile,” the virologist said it “very, very much should be monitored.” On the bright side, according to researchers, the high number of mutations could mean the variant is unstable, which might prevent it from becoming widespread.
So far, Covid-19 has killed more than five million people globally, with over 259.5 million infected.
Nairobi, Nov 24 (IPS) – Kenya’s secondary schools’ administration has been in the eye of a storm since schools reopened in October 2021. Since then, students have set on fire 35 schools and counting, forcing the government to announce an unscheduled break from school – ahead of the planned December 23 closing.Read the full story, “Ongoing Pandemic Push Africa’s Children Out of Schoolâ€, on globalissues.org →find more fun & mates at SoShow now !
Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has placed a hold on President Biden’s pick to be the U.S. ambassador to China. Here’s what means for U.S. diplomacy.
Libya’s election commission has disqualified 25 of the 98 candidates running for president, including Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the leader whose 2011 overthrow plunged the North African country into a decade-long civil war.
Gaddafi had announced his candidacy on November 14 and looked like one of the front-runners in the contest, scheduled for December 24. On Wednesday, however, the election commission ruled him ineligible. It is a preliminary decision and can be appealed in court.
A military prosecutor in Tripoli had urged the commission to disqualify Gaddafi on grounds of his 2015 conviction in absentia for war crimes related to the 2011 insurrection that overthrew his father. Muammar Gaddafi had ruled Libya for over 40 years before he was ousted and killed by NATO-backed rebels.
Saif al-Islam was the chosen candidate of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya, a group of his father’s loyalists formally established in 2016. He also has a pending arrest warrant on behalf of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Gaddafi reacted to the decision by pointing out that General Khalifa Haftar has two criminal convictions – a 1987 court-martial over his surrender to Chad, and a 1993 civilian conviction for plotting to overthrow the government – yet he has not been disqualified from running.
Haftar, who commands the armed forces of the Tobruk-based government that controls eastern Libya, was also accused by critics of holding a US citizenship and therefore ineligible. Meanwhile, the interim prime minister of the Tripoli-based national unity government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, had promised not to run for president prior to taking on the role, and has refused to resign three months before the election, as required by the controversial election rules.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday issued a statement stressing the importance of the election for the peace and reconciliation in Libya and urged all parties to respect the rights of their political opponents “before, during and after” the vote.
The Geneva-based UN special envoy for Libya, Slovak diplomat Ján Kubiš, abruptly resigned on Tuesday for reasons not yet revealed, but will remain in the post until Secretary-General António Guterres appoints a replacement.
COVID-19 cases have increased in the last week with 3.6 million infections reported globally, as opposed to the 3.3 million over the previous seven days, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.
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