WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a new plan to increase testing, speed up vaccination and boost the capacity of hospitals that could be strained in the coming weeks amid surging cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Biden emphasized that vaccinated individuals, especially those with a booster shot, are "highly protected" against the virus, while reassuring the country can avoid lockdowns or school closure. (US-Omicron-Biden)
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MOSCOW -- Russia confirmed 25,264 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 10,292,983, the official monitoring and response center said Wednesday.
The nationwide death toll increased 1,020 to 300,269, while the number of recoveries increased 42,322 to 9,097,521. (Russia-COVID-19)
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ATHENS -- A man lost his life and dozens were missing after a boat carrying a yet unknown number of refugees and migrants sank off the island of Folegandros, Greece's Coast Guard said on Wednesday.
Twelve persons have been rescued, including seven men, a woman and four minors. The rescue operation was underway to locate the missing, Hellenic Coast Guard spokesperson commander Nikos Kokkalas told Greek national news agency AMNA. (Greece-Migrant)
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JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa's North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday granted former president Jacob Zuma leave to appeal last week's court ruling that declared his medical parole release unlawful.
Judge Elias Motojane said it was necessary to allow the appeal because another court could come to a different decision. (South Africa-Zuma) Enditem
