KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    11,90,229            /             54,30,171            /             6,381     /             2,59,54,605        /             696.6

1             USA        2,95,701              /             8,41,901              /             1,716     /             1,20,02,081        /             2,521

2             UK          1,29,471              /             1,48,021              /             18           /             20,10,757            /             2,164

3             France   1,79,807              /             1,23,188              /             290        /             12,77,037            /             1,881

4             Spain     99,671   /             89,253   /             114        /             9,01,171              /             1,908

5             Russia    21,922   /             3,06,090              /             935        /             7,93,615              /             2,096

6             Germany              30,978   /             1,11,752              /             448        /             7,29,794              /             1,327

7             Italy       78,313   /             1,36,955              /             175        /             5,98,856              /             2,270

8             Netherlands        9,111     /             20,803   /             75           /             4,85,899              /             1,210

9             Vietnam               14,440   /             31,632   /             214        /             3,85,071              /             321

10           Poland   9,843     /             94,914   /             549        /             3,73,887              /             2,512

11           Belgium               2,247     /             28,218   /             23           /             3,51,169              /             2,419

12           Mexico  943        /             2,98,819              /             42           /             3,50,254              /             2,282

13           Turkey   32,176   /             81,917   /             184        /             2,94,630              /             956

14           Norway 4,702     /             1,258     /                            /             2,92,579              /             229

15           Switzerland         10,373   /             12,227   /             11           /             2,69,798              /             1,398

16           Honduras             84           /             10,432   /             2             /             2,45,061              /             1,029

17           Brazil     8,430     /             6,18,723              /             148        /             2,21,665              /             2,880

18           South Africa       7,216     /             90,854   /             25           /             1,99,366              /             1,504

19           Finland  2,714     /             1,523     /                            /             1,89,232              /             274

20           Canada 21,658   /             30,199   /             15           /             1,85,065              /             790

36           India      6,358     /             4,80,290              /             80           /             75,456   /             343

87           Pakistan               316        /             28,912   /             3             /             9,915     /             127

88           Sri Lanka              479        /             14,923   /             22           /             9,788     /             693

89           Philippines           421        /             51,213   /             2             /             9,750     /             458

93           Bangladesh         397        /             28,062   /             1             /             7,917     /             168

ISRAEL HITS SYRIAN PORT FOR SECOND TIME THIS MONTH - SYRIAN ARMY

Israel launched an air strike on Syria's main port of Latakia on Tuesday in the second such attack this month, the Syrian army said, setting ablaze the container storage area where two port sources said Iran has been storing munitions.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment saying: "We don't comment on foreign reports."

Official Syrian reports made no mention of any casualties. A source familiar with the operations of the port said the strike hit a container area where large consignments of Iranian munitions that had arrived last month were stored.

"These blasts and huge fires were caused by the explosions from the munitions stored in a warehouse close to commercial cargo," the source who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter told Reuters.

Syrian state news agency SANA quoted the head of the Latakia fire brigade as saying the containers targeted in the strike contained oils and spare parts for machines and cars.

Israel has mounted frequent attacks against what it says are Iranian targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces led by Lebanon's Hezbollah have deployed over the last decade in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.

SOUTH AFRICA STUDY SUGGESTS OMICRON COULD DISPLACE DELTA

Research by South African scientists suggests that Omicron could displace the Delta variant of the coronavirus because infection with the new variant boosts immunity to the older one.

The study only covered a small group of people and has not been peer-reviewed, but it found that people who were infected with Omicron, especially those who were vaccinated, developed enhanced immunity to the Delta variant.

The analysis enrolled 33 vaccinated and unvaccinated people who were infected with the Omicron variant in South Africa.

While the authors found that neutralisation of Omicron increased 14-fold over 14 days after the enrolment, they also found that there was a 4.4-fold increase in neutralisation of the Delta variant.

"The increase in Delta variant neutralization in individuals infected with Omicron may result in decreased ability of Delta to re-infect those individuals," the scientists who conducted the study said.

The results of the study are "consistent with Omicron displacing the Delta variant, since it can elicit immunity which neutralizes Delta making re-infection with Delta less likely," they said.

According to the scientists, implications of this displacement would depend on whether or not Omicron is less pathogenic compared to Delta. "If so, then the incidence of COVID-19 severe disease would be reduced and the infection may shift to become less disruptive to individuals and society."

Alex Sigal, a professor at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa, said on Twitter on Monday that if Omicron was less pathogenic as it looked to be from the South African experience, "this will help push Delta out".

PAKISTAN ROLLS OUT ITS FIRST NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY

PM Imran Khan’s cabinet approved on Tuesday a security plan described by the government as Pakistan’s first national security policy (NSP) aimed at guiding the country’s economic foreign and defence policies. “It is a truly historic achievement; a citizen-centric comprehensive national security policy with economic security at the core will now be pursued in earnest,” Moeed Yusuf, Pakistan’s national security adviser (NSA) said in a series of tweets. The policy was approved a day earlier at the meeting of the national security committee (NSC), the government’s top consultative and decisionmaking body for coordinating issues pertaining to national security. The five-year policy document covering 2022-26 is being flaunted by the government as the firstever strategy paper of its kind that sets out the state’s national security vision and guidelines for the attainment of those goals. The policy, however, has not been publicly shared yet. Major General Babar Iftikhar, the army’s spokesperson, said the policy was an important milestone in strengthening Pakistan’s national security. “Pakistan’s armed forces will play their due part in achieving the vision laid out in the policy,” he said.

The policy reportedly covers both traditional and non-traditional security challenges, including economy, food, water, military security, terrorism, population growth and dealings with the external world. The document places special emphasis on economic diplomacy as the focus of Pakistan’s foreign policy aimed at avoiding being sucked into bloc politics. It has been prepared by the national security division. Over 600 academics, analysts, civil society members and students across Pakistan have been consulted to make the policy process inclusive.

‘UNACCEPTABLE PREACHING’ SHUTS FRANCE MOSQUE FOR 6 MONTHS

France has ordered the closure of a mosque in the north of the country because of the radical nature of its imam’s preaching, regional authorities said on Tuesday. The mosque in Beauvais, a town some 100 km north of Paris, will remain shut for six months, according to the prefecture of the Oise region where Beauvais is located. It said the sermons there incite hatred, violence and “defend jihad”. The move on the mosque comes two weeks after interior minister Gerald Darmanin said he had triggered the procedure to close the site because the imam there “is targeting Christians, homosexuals and Jews” in his sermons. This, he said, was “unacceptable”.

A lawyer for the association managing the mosque said that it had filed for an injunction to overturn the ban. The authorities said the imam had called the jihad and had glorified its fighters as “heroes” who protected Islam against Western influence. He had also labelled non-Muslims as “enemies”, it said. The French government announced earlier this year that it would step up checks of places of worship and associations suspected of spreading radical Islamic propaganda.

BRITISH AIRWAYS FLIGHT SUFFERS FREAK ACCIDENT, WINDSCREEN SMASHES AT 35,000 FEET

A British Airways aircraft carrying around 200 holiday travellers from London survived a mid-air scare after a lump of ice from a jet 1,000 feet above it smashed into the plane at 35,000 feet that left its windscreen cracked, according to media reports. The Boeing 777 aircraft cruising at 35,000 feet was making the journey from London Gatwick to San Jose in Costa Rica on Christmas Day when the freak accident took place.

The block of ice fell from another plane that was flying 1,000 feet above the jet while it was cruising at 35,000 feet.

It completely cracked up the two-inch-thick windscreen, which is built to withstand extreme force and is similar to bulletproof glass. The aircraft landed safely at San Jose. The incident has been described as a ‘onein-a-million’ chance and left some 200 passengers stranded over Christmas instead of being able to make it back to London.

Despite the mid-air accident, all the passengers were safe but were stranded at an airport for several hours after their plane made an emergency landing. The flight was rescheduled 50 hours after the passengers’ original scheduled time.