Author: News Desk

The arrival of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the U.S. has health officials in some communities reviving contact tracing operations in an attempt to slow and better understand its spread as scientists study how contagious it is and whether it can thwart vaccines. In New York City, officials quickly reached out to a man who tested positive for the variant and had attended an anime conference at a Manhattan convention center last month along with more than 50,000 people. Five other attendees have also been infected with the coronavirus, though officials don’t yet know whether it was with…

Miami : After a pandemic hiatus, the official Art Basel show is back in Miami with all its eccentric glory, a dizzying list of celebrity attendees and dozens of spin-off shows that are already generating a buzz, including a phenom child painter and a $4 million Banksy sale. Ten-year-old contemporary artist Andres Valencia’s gallery has already nearly sold out at Art Miami. The San Diego-based artist simply saw a cubist painting in his living room two years ago and declared, ‘I can do that’. Actress Sophia Vergara bought one of his pieces this week and Channing Tatum, Jordan Belfort, and…

Banjul :  Gambians will cast their votes on Saturday using a unique voting system, marbles dropped in each candidate’s ballot drum, in a tightly fought presidential election that will test stability and democratic progress in the tiny West African nation. Nearly 1 million people out of a 2.5 million population are registered to vote in mainland Africa’s smallest country. Turnout is expected to be high, according to election officials. “The number of people registered are far more than the previous election,” said Mamadou A. Barry, a returning officer at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Barry said Gambians understood the process…

Beijing :  Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and the International Finance Forum (IFF), a Beijing-headquartered think tank, launched a green finance working group on Saturday, the two said. The working group will facilitate dialogue on climate action among senior executives from global corporations and researchers from leading institutions, according to a joint statement sent to Reuters. They said the group will advise and work with policymakers to enhance green finance cooperation in the public and private sectors. John Waldron, Goldman’s president and chief operating officer, and Zhu Xian, vice president and secretary-general of the IFF, co-chair the group. China’s goal…

Brussels :  Euro zone retail sales rose in line with expectations in October as consumers spent more on non-food purchases, particularly online, data from Eurostat showed on Friday. Retail sales, a proxy for consumer demand, in the 19 countries sharing the euro, gained 0.2% month-on-month in October and were up 1.4% from a year earlier, the European Union’s statistics office said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected increases of respectively 0.2% and 1.2%. With energy prices having soared and coronavirus infections rising, resulting in renewed restrictions, consumers are expected to become more cautious in the coming months. Consumer sentiment declined…

Rabat : Morocco has banned all festivals and all cultural and artistic events to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus. “On the basis of legal provisions relating to the management of the state of health emergency and strengthening of the necessary preventive measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, the government decided to ban all festivals and all cultural and artistic events,” Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP) quoted a government press statement released on Friday as saying. “The government reiterates its call to citizens to strongly adhere to the national vaccination campaign and to continue the responsible commitment…

Tokyo : Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to cancel a planned trip to the United States for talks with President Joe Biden this month due to the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, public broadcaster NHK said on Saturday. Kishida and Biden met in Glasgow last month on the sidelines of the United Nations climate summit, agreeing to meet formally by the end of the year to discuss issues of mutual concern, such as China, Japanese media reported at the time. But given the rapid spread of the new coronavirus variant as well as the U.S. political…

Hong Kong : Didi said Friday that it would “immediately” start the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and pivot to Hong Kong, just months after its disastrous IPO. “After a careful study, the company will start delisting on the New York Stock Exchange immediately, and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong,” the Chinese ride-hailing firm wrote Friday on its verified account on Weibo, a popular Twitter-like platform in the country. In a separate, English-language statement, the company said that its board of directors has authorized the company to file for delisting in New York. The board will “organize…

People planning on moving to Dubai or going there on holiday are being warned about the country’s different laws. Looking up what is and isn’t legal in a particular country is important to do before you visit it to make sure you don’t end up with fines or possible jail time. Billy Hood was jailed for 25 years in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for possessing CBD vape oil. The Brit was convicted of drug trafficking, despite working in the country as a football coach. He has since had his conviction reduced to 10 years. Police found four bottles of the CBD oil…

Washington : Ford Motor Co (F.N) expects to be the world’s second largest electric vehicle manufacturer within two years, with annual production capacity of nearly 600,000, a top company executive said Friday. Driving the automaker’s optimism is increasing demand for its next new EV, the Ford F-150 Lightning pickup, with retail reservations now approaching 200,000, according to Lisa Drake, chief operating officer of Ford North America. Speaking at an investor conference, Drake said Ford is working with five global battery suppliers to manufacture and help develop battery cells for its future EVs. Those suppliers include SK On (096770.KS), LG Energy…