2.1 MILLION CHINESE WILL BE AT RISK, IF ZERO-COVID-19 POLICY IS LIFTED

Beijing: If China lifts its zero-COVID-19 policy between 1.3 and 2.1 million lives could be at risk, a report has said.

The London-based global health intelligence and analytics firm Airfinity said that Mainland China has very low levels of immunity across its population. Its citizens were vaccinated with domestically produced Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines which have proven to provide less protection against infection and death.

It also said that China's zero-COVID-19 strategy also means that the population has almost no naturally acquired immunity through the previous infection.

"As a result of these factors, our analysis shows if mainland China sees a similar wave to Hong Kong's in February, its healthcare system could be pushed to capacity as there could be between 167 and 279 million cases nationwide, which could lead to between 1.3 and 2.1 million deaths," the report said.

Dr. Louis Blair, the head of vaccines and epidemiology, Airfinity said that it is essential that China ramps up vaccinations to increase the immunity in order to lift its zero-COVIID-19 policy, especially since there is a larger elderly population. "Subsequently, China would need hybrid immunity to allow for the country to brace future waves with minimal impact," he said.

He added that this has proven effective in other countries and regions. While Hong Kong efforts to vaccinate the vulnerable prior to opening likely only dampened the impact of its first wave, its protection has been enhanced by hybrid immunity from mass infection leading to much less impactful and deadly COVID-19 waves," he said.

Chinese health authorities on Monday announced two COVID-19 related deaths, both in Beijing. The city is experiencing its worst outbreak since the beginning of COVID-19.

Since the easing of restrictions, these were the first officially reported deaths, a CNN report said. Last week many social media posts had spoken about the stress that is being added on the crematoriums and funeral homes in the country.

TALIBAN REGIME ORDERS NATIONWIDE BAN ON VARSITY EDUCATION FOR AFGHAN GIRLS

The Taliban authorities on Tuesday ordered a nationwide ban on university education for girls, as the hardline Islamists continue to crush Afghan women’s right to education and freedom.

Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the Taliban have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives, ignoring international outrage.

“You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending education of females until further notice,” said a letter issued to all government and private universities, signed by the Minister for Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem. The spokesman for the Ministry, Ziaullah Hashimi, who tweeted the letter, confirmed the order in a text message to AFP.

The ban on higher education comes less than three months after thousands of girls and women wrote university entrance exams across the country.

After the takeover by the Taliban, universities were forced to implement new rules including gender segregated classrooms and entrances, while women were only permitted to be taught by women professors or older men.

MUSK LOOKING FOR NEW CEO AFTER LOSING POLL: REPORT

Elon Musk has said he will resign as Twitter's chief executive officer when he finds someone "foolish enough to take the job".

The billionaire promised earlier to abide by the result of a Twitter poll which saw 57.5% of users vote "yes" to him quitting the role.

He says he will still run the software and servers teams after his replacement is found.

Changes on the platform since his takeover have been much criticised.

This is the first time the multibillionaire has responded to the poll launched on Sunday asking if he should resign. Finding someone to take over the social media platform may be a challenge, according to Mr Musk. Some people speculate Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey could also come back to run the company. He resigned as chief executive in November 2021.

"No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive," he tweeted following the poll.

Other names mentioned as possible replacements include Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's former chief operating office, Sriram Krishnan, engineer and close confidante to Mr Musk, and Jared Kushner, US former presidential adviser and son-in-law of Donald Trump.

PUTIN ADMITS DIFFICULTIES IN OCCUPIED UKRAINIAN REGIONS

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare acknowledgment of military challenges in the warsaying conditions for Russia were “extremely complicated” in the Donetsk region and three others in eastern and southern Ukraine that Moscow has illegally tried to annex, but does not fully control.

But far from relenting in his war effort, Putin signaled that he would continue to fight in Ukraine and would seek to crack down more harshly at home and in the illegally annexed areas. In a transcript of a video address published on Tuesday by the Kremlin, the Russian leader called on his security agencies to intensify their efforts “to put a firm stop to the activities of foreign special services and to promptly identify traitors, spies and diversionists. ”

In the video address, Putin acknowledged the “difficult tasks” facing the Russian security agencies working in the annexed areas, which he referred to as “Russia’s new regions. ” He framed the problem as one of ensuring the security, rights and freedoms of “Russian citizens,” as he claims the populations of those areas to be. Putin charged the Russian authorities with strengthening their efforts, especially the border services of the FSB. He said the FSB should ensure that places where citizens gather “should be under constant control,” along with “strategic facilities, transport and energy infrastructure,” and that Moscow would be sending additional equipment, weapons and “experienced personnel” to the annexed regions.

RUSSIA PIPS SAUDI AS CHINA’S TOP OIL SUPPLIER IN NOV

Singapore : China’s crude oil imports from Russia rose 17% in November from a year earlier, as Chinese refiners rushed to secure more cargoes ahead of aprice cap imposed by G7 nations on December 5. The jump made Russia China’s top oil supplier ahead of Saudi Arabia.

Arrivals of Russian crude amounted to 7. 81 million tonnes last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday. That is equivalent to 1. 9 million barrels per day (bpd), comparing to 1. 8million bpd in October and 1. 6 million tonnes in the same period last year.

From December 5, the EU banned imports of Russian crude oil and G7 nations introduced a cap of $60 a barrel on Russian oil. Steep discounts of Russian crude oil, however, still attracted Chinese buyers in November, although some stateowned refiners began scaling back purchases due to concerns about Western sanctions on Moscow. China’s imports from Saudi Arabia totalled 6. 6 million tonnes in November, or 1. 6million bpd. That was down 11% from a year ago.

SURRENDER TO A DRONE? UKRAINE IS URGING RUSSIANS TO DO JUST THAT

Tens of thousands of drones have been employed across Ukraine to kill the enemy, spy on its formations and guide bombs to their targets. But this month the Ukrainian military began a programme to use drones in a more unusual role: to guide Russian soldiers who want to surrender.

The programme had it genesis in November, when the Ukrainian military released footage of a Russian soldier throwing his weapon to the ground, raising his hands and nervously following a path set out by a drone overhead, leading him to soldiers from the Ukrainian army.

A few weeks later, the Ukrainian general staff released a video explaining how Russian soldiers can surrender to a Ukrainian drone, and it is now part of a wide-ranging effort by Ukraine to persuade Russian soldiers to give up. The programme, called “I want to live,” includes a phone hotline, a website and a Telegram channel all dedicated to communicating to Russian soldiers and their families. It adds another avenue for Ukraine to recruit Russian deserters. And if nothing else, it may further the erosion of Russian morale on the battlefield.

Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s coordination headquarters for treatment of prisoners of war, said in aninterview that Ukraine has had over 4,300 direct requests for information on how to surrender through the programme.

UKRAINE'S ZELENSKY PLANNING TO VISIT US ON WEDNESDAY - REPORTS

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning to visit Washington on Wednesday and may meet US President Joe Biden, reports say.

It would be his first foreign trip since the Russian invasion in February.

Mr Zelensky could also address Congress, unnamed officials told US media. There is no official confirmation of the visit or the plans.

A visit would be fraught with security concerns - meaning plans could likely change at short notice.

In a letter on Tuesday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged members of Congress to be in attendance on Wednesday night.

"Please be present for a very special focus on democracy," she wrote, without giving further details.

An unannounced visit to a foreign country would mark a first since the war began, and also signal the importance of Ukraine's relationship with the US which has played a leading role in providing military support.

In terms of overall spending on direct military support since the start of the conflict, the US has committed $18.5bn (£15.1bn), far more than any other individual country (to 20 November).

OFFICIALS: 33 MILITANTS KILLED BY PAK FORCES IN RAID, ALL HOSTAGES FREED

Peshawar : Pakistan’s special forces raided a police centre in a remote northwestern district on Tuesday, killing all of the 33 Pakistani Taliban militants who earlier this week overpowered guards at the facility, seized arms and taken hostages, officials said. The militants had killed two hostages before the rescue operation, according to the country’s defense minister.

The swift operation was successful, according to security and intelligence officials, but it was not immediately clear how many officers had been held by the hostagetakers at the centre in Bannu, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, since the brazen takeover on Sunday.

The officials declined to elaborate or provide details on the operation, which was launched after more than 40 hoursof negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban failed. On Monday, officials had said that one officer was killed when the Taliban detainees, held for years at the Bannu counter-terrorism center, seized the facility. Defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told the parliament that two hostages were killed by the militants and the rest had been freed. Asif said 15 security forces were wounded in Tuesday’s operation. He said there were 33 hostage-takers and all of them were killed by the security forces.

Earlier, the Taliban had claimed they were holding at least eight security personnel. Officials said there were about 30 Taliban fighters involved and that they had demanded a safe passage to former strongholds of the militant group.