• ‘Serious concern’ as South Africa detects new COVID variant aje.io/t2f226
• European states expand boosters and tighten curbs amid COVID surge aje.io/2t32rg
Follow our coverage for the latest updates ⤵️
What do we know about the new COVID strain found in South Africa? aje.io/uwmjsn
Several countries, including the UK, Israel and Singapore, have imposed travel restrictions after the discovery of a new COVID variant in South Africa aje.io/gv4x48
• Belgium detects Europe’s first confirmed case of new COVID variant
• Italy imposes entry ban on eight southern African states
• South Africa sport shutting down over new variant
Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates: aje.io/k8d6am
WHO declares new coronavirus strain ‘variant of concern’.
• Canada closes borders to travellers from seven southern African nations
• US to impose travel curbs on eight southern African countries
Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates: aje.io/qyckza
After early success, Taiwan struggles to exit ‘zero COVID’ policy aje.io/rjb99a
New Zealand’s plans to reopen its borders in April 2022 have frustrated businesses reliant on travel ⤵️ aje.io/tym9r2
Biden calls for intellectual property waivers on COVID vaccines as international concern is rising over a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa aje.io/spyhy6
WHO designates a new coronavirus strain detected in South Africa as a 'variant of concern', prompting countries around the world to impose travel restrictions amid fears over its potential spread ⤵️ aje.io/xynt8h
Merck’s experimental COVID-19 pill is significantly less effective in slashing hospitalisations and deaths than previously reported.
Save the Children reports that thousands of missing Palestinian children are trapped under rubble, buried in unmarked graves, harmed by explosives, detained by Israeli forces, or lost in the chaos of the war on Gaza.
Israel’s top court has ordered the government to provide information about conditions inside the military facility Sde Teiman, where Palestinians from Gaza are detained.
Malnourished Palestinian children are being treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, as Israel continues to restrict aid to the besieged enclave.
The UN is adding Israel to its 'blacklist' of countries that have committed abuses against children in armed conflict, as more than 15,500 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
An Israeli air attack on a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in northern Gaza has killed at least four Palestinians and injured 14 more, the Wafa news agency reports.
Two Palestinian men have been shot during an Israeli raid in the Aqabat Jabr camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, the Wafa news agency reports.
Qatar, Egypt and the US urge Israel and Hamas to conclude a ceasefire agreement that embodies the principles outlined by US President Biden, amid Israel's continuing bombardment of besieged Gaza.
Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy and advocacy at Save the Children, has told Al Jazeera that “Gaza is witnessing the worst levels of malnutrition, of child malnutrition especially, worldwide right now.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has denounced far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for threatening to dissolve Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if he were to accept President Biden’s new ceasefire deal.
On May 29, South Africans will head to the polls to vote in national and provincial elections to elect a new National Assembly, which will choose the president for the next 5 years.
Here’s a guide to the elections and major political parties ⤵️
South Africa follows a proportional voting system where parties and candidates compete for 400 seats in the National Assembly.
For the first time, independent candidates will compete in the elections with voters given three ballots instead of two.
Who is in South Africa’s current National Assembly?
South Africa’s lower house of parliament currently includes 14 political parties represented by 400 members, allocated proportionally based on the votes each party received in the 2019 elections.
Israel calls the ICJ binding order to immediately stop its attack on Rafah “outrageous, morally repugnant and disgusting” as it continues its war and bombardment of Gaza.
The Elders group of world leaders has said “no country is above the law” and Israel’s “unlawful approach” to its war on Gaza cannot continue following the ICJ’s order to halt attacks on Rafah.
US Senator Bernie Sanders warned the US that if it ignores “crimes against humanity” being committed in Gaza, it will not have the credibility to criticise “the actions of any country, no matter how terrible.”