KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

Pos   /   Country   /   New Daily cases   /   Total Deaths   /        Daily Deaths /           Active Cases   /           Deaths/1M Pop.

               World    4,36,395              /             53,27,310            /             4,598     /             2,20,99,369               /             683.4

1             USA        78,451   /             8,18,860              /             351        /             1,00,56,634        /               2,453

2             UK          54,661   /             1,46,477              /             38           /             11,98,677            /               2,141

3             Germany              28,804   /             1,06,591              /             260        /             10,17,425               /             1,266

4             Russia    29,558   /             2,90,604              /             1,121     /             9,85,934              /               1,990

5             France   12,036   /             1,20,431              /                            /             8,20,037              /               1,839

6             Netherlands        13,783   /             20,140   /             28           /             6,11,098              /               1,172

7             Belgium                              /             27,504   /                            /             4,80,769              /               2,358

8             Poland   11,379   /             88,508   /             29           /             4,36,874              /               2,342

9             Mexico  855        /             2,96,672              /             52           /             3,48,284              /               2,267

10           Vietnam               15,377   /             28,081   /             242        /             3,44,435              /               285

11           Turkey   18,796   /             79,322   /             171        /             3,41,669              /             926

12           Spain     16,600   /             88,484   /             35           /             2,97,189              /               1,891

13           Italy       12,712   /             1,34,929              /             90           /             2,90,757              /               2,236

14           Ukraine 4,073     /             91,215   /             188        /             2,66,071              /               2,104

15           Czechia 4,111     /             34,551   /             53           /             2,50,545              /               3,218

16           Honduras                            /             10,421   /                            /             2,45,549              /               1,028

17           Norway 4,864     /             1,136     /                            /             2,32,656              /             207

18           Switzerland         2,767     /             11,841   /             15           /             2,18,446              /               1,354

19           South Africa       13,288   /             90,148   /             11           /             1,77,340              /               1,493

20           Hungary               16,017   /             36,884   /             455        /             1,70,416              /               3,832

26           India      7,241     /             4,75,636              /             93           /             91,456   /             340

72           Sri Lanka              747        /             14,641   /             27           /             13,575   /             680

76           Philippines           360        /             50,341   /             61           /             11,083   /             451

78           Pakistan               244        /             28,836   /             6             /             9,048     /             127

86           Bangladesh         385        /             28,031   /             3             /             7,262     /             168

BRITONS RUSH TO GET SHOTS IN BOOSTER BLITZ AFTER OMICRON 'TIDAL WAVE' WARNING

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday confirmed the UK’s first death from the Omicron variant, probably the first known fatality from the highly transmissible variant of Covid in the world.

Hundreds of people queued up for Covid vaccines in British cities on Monday and home testing kits ran out after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned a "tidal wave" of the Omicron variant could overcome those inoculated with two shots.

Since the first Omicron cases were detected on Nov. 27 in the United Kingdom, Johnson has imposed tougher restrictions and on Sunday he urged people to get booster shots to prevent the health service from being overwhelmed.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the Omicron coronavirus variant was spreading at a "phenomenal rate" and now accounted for about 40% of infections in London.

At St. Thomas' Hospital Vaccination Centre in central London, a queue of hundreds of people snaked back onto Westminster Bridge. Reuters journalists also documented queues across London and in Manchester, northern England.

"The Covid vaccine booking service is currently facing extremely high demand so is operating a queuing system," the National Health Service said on Twitter. "For all others experiencing waits, we would advise trying again later today or tomorrow."

IMRAN KHAN: US MADE MISTAKES IN AF & BLAMED PAKISTAN FOR ITS OWN SHORTCOMINGS

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday lambasted the United States, stating that it “made mistakes in Afghanistan” during its presence for 20 long years and held Islamabad responsible for Washington's shortcomings, International The News reported citing a newspaper, Dawn. Speaking at the inaugural session of the annual Margalla Dialogue in Lahore, Pakistan's leader stressed that the United States botched up its ‘War on Terror (WoT)’ and Pakistan has to bear the brunt of the situation.

PM Imran Khan then accused the Western media of playing "a double game" in Afghanistan and instead of giving credit to Pakistan, maligned its reputation internationally. Further at the forum, Khan said that "Pakistan was held responsible for the shortcomings of the United States,” according to International The News.

The Pakistan PM condemned the US for causing the biggest collateral damages for Islamabad, as he stressed that throughout the war in Afghanistan, as a “US ally” Pakistan suffered more than 80,000 casualties. He then added that millions of people were displaced and the country incurred a loss of over $100 billion, Pakistan’s Geo TV reported. "The inability of the national leadership to handle the Afghan situation wisely landed the country into two main pro and anti-America divisions," Pakistan PM told the forum.

US TROOPS TO GO UNPUNISHED OVER DEADLY AUGUST KABUL DRONE STRIKE

The Pentagon said Monday that no US troops or officials would face disciplinary action for a drone strike in Kabul in August that killed 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children.

Spokesman John Kirby said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had received a high-level review of the strike which made no recommendation of accountability.

"He approved their recommendations," Kirby said. "The secretary is not... calling for additional accountability measures."

The August 29 drone strike took place in the final days of the US-led evacuation of Kabul after the Taliban seized control of the country.

US officials said they had intelligence of a possible Islamic State attack on the evacuation operations at Kabul airport, and launched a missile from a drone at a target that, in reality, was a family that included an Afghan man who worked for a US aid group.

In early November an initial report carried out by the US Air Force inspector general, Lieutenant General Sami Said, called the strike tragic but "an honest mistake."

The review by Central Command head General Kenneth McKenzie Jr. and Special Operations Command chief General Richard Clarke made use of Said's report and detailed recommendations on procedures for future drone strikes.

But it made no call for anyone to be punished for the mistake.

EU SLAPS SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN MERCENARIES, WAGNER GROUP

The European Union imposed sanctions Monday on a group of private Russian military contractors it accuses of fomenting violence and committing human rights abuses in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine.

EU foreign ministers agreed to slap asset freezes and travel bans on eight people involved with the Wagner Group, including founder Dmitry Utkin, and three energy companies linked to the group in Syria.

“The activities of this group reflects the Russian hybrid warfare. They represent a threat and create instability in a number of countries around the world,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters after chairing the meeting.

EU headquarters said in a statement that “the Wagner Group has recruited, trained and sent private military operatives to conflict zones around the world to fuel violence, loot natural resources and intimidate civilians in violation of international law, including international human rights law.”

It accused those targeted of “serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, or in destabilizing activities in some of the countries they operate in, including Libya, Syria, Ukraine (Donbas) and the Central African Republic.”

The EU said the group is “also spreading its malign influence elsewhere, notably in the Sahel region” of Africa. The EU warned that Wagner Group mercenaries pose a threat to the countries they work in, wider regions and to the 27-country EU itself.

The Wagner Group, owned by a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been accused by Western governments and U.N. experts of human rights abuses in the Central African Republic and involvement in the conflict in Libya.

EU lawmakers say the group should be treated as a “proxy organization” for the Russian state. France and Germany have complained about the presence of Wagner Group fighters in Mali.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the company has a “legitimate” right to be in Mali because it was invited by the transitional government, and he insisted the Russian government is not involved.

NEW FRIENDS? UAE & ISRAEL LEADERS HAVE ‘MEANINGFUL’ HISTORIC MEET

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan hosted Israel’s PM Naftali Bennett on Monday in the first-ever public meeting between the UAE’s de facto ruler and an Israeli leader. Israel’s ambassador to Abu Dhabi, speaking ahead of the meeting, said the issue of Iran would “certainly come up”. The meeting follows the formalisation of Israel-UAE relations last year under a US-led regional initiative.

In a statement before his departure, Bennett said he had held “meaningful, in-depth and straightforward talks” about the region. Releasing photos of Bennett and Sheikh Mohammed smiling and shaking hands, the Israeli PM’s office described the meeting as “historic”. Before he flew home later in the day, Bennett’s office said Sheikh Mohammed had accepted an invitation to visit Israel. There was no confirmation from UAE officials.

A statement on state news agency WAM said Sheikh Mohammed voiced hope for “stability in the Middle East (West Asia” and that Bennett’s visit would “advance the relationship of cooperation towards more positive steps in the interests of the people of the two nations and of the region”.

LOG4J VULNERABILITY SENDS CYBER DEFENDERS SCRAMBLING

A newly discovered vulnerability in a widely used software library is causing mayhem on the internet, forcing cyber defenders to scramble as hackers rush to exploit the weakness.

The vulnerability, known as Log4j, comes from a popular open source product that helps software developers track changes in applications that they build. It is so popular and embedded across many companies' programs that security executives expect widespread abuse.

"The Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution Vulnerability is the single biggest, most critical vulnerability of the last decade," said Amit Yoran, chief executive of Tenable, a network security firm, and the founding director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

The US government sent a warning to the private sector about the Log4j vulnerability and the looming risk it poses on Friday.

In a conference call on Monday, the leader of CISA said it was one of the worst vulnerabilities seen in many years. She urged companies to have staff working through the holidays to battle those using new methods to exploit the flaw.

VATICAN OFFICIAL APOLOGISES FOR TAKING DOWN LGBTQ RESOURCE

A Vatican official has apologized to a leading Catholic LGBTQ advocacy group for having yanked a reference to it from the Vatican website, saying he realized the move caused pain and that the Catholic Church indeed wants to include gays and hear from them.  The Vatican’s General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, which is organizing a two-year consultation of rank-and-file Catholics ahead of a 2023 meeting of bishops at the Vatican, restored the reference to New Ways Ministries on the website over the weekend. The synod’s communications director, Thierry Bonaventura, said he wanted to apologize “to all LGBT and to the members of New Ways Ministries for the pain caused” and urged them to contribute their reflections on the consultation process.

LARRY NASSAR ABUSE SURVIVORS TO RECEIVE $380M SETTLEMENT

Hundreds of women abused by former US national gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar are to receive $380 million (£287 million) after reaching a settlement with USA Gymnastics.

It ends a five-year legal battle that began in the wake of the huge abuse scandal that rocked US sport.

Nassar was sentenced to over 300 years in jail in 2018 for molesting gymnasts.

Athletes including a number of Olympic medallists testified about how Nassar sexually abused them.

The settlement is among the largest ever for a sexual abuse case, and as part of the agreement USA Gymnastics and the Olympic Committee will give board seats to survivors.

Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to go public with allegations against Nassar in 2016, welcomed the news, writing on Twitter: "This chapter is finally closed."

The settlement will cover claims brought by Olympic gold medallists including Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.

In total, Nassar was accused of sexual abuse by more than 330 women and girls at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.

DANISH, U.K. SHIPS COLLIDE IN SWEDEN, TWO ARRESTED

Sweden on Monday arrested two people after a fatal early morning collision between a Danish and a British ship off the southern Swedish coast, prosecutors said.

Sweden’s Prosecution Service said in a statement that an investigation into “aggravated drunkenness at sea,” “gross negligence in sea traffic,” and “gross causing of death by negligence” had been opened.

One of those arrested was a British citizen born in 1991 and the other a Croatian citizen born in 1965, the Prosecution Service said.

Nine boats and a rescue helicopter scoured for two missing crewmembers for hours following the early morning collision in the waters between the Swedish city of Ystad and the Danish island of Bornholm, the media spokesman at the Swedish Maritime Administration said.

Shortly after 3 p.m., authorities decided to cancel the rescue operation, after divers had found a body in the wreck.

“The person is deceased, but the next of kin have not yet been informed yet,” police spokeswoman Evelina Olsson said.

ELON MUSK NAMED TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR

WashingtonTime magazine on Monday named Tesla founder and space entrepreneur Elon Musk as person of the year, capping a roller-coaster 2021 for the technology magnate. “Person of the Year is a marker of influence, and few individuals have had more influence than @elonmusk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth too,” tweeted Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.