Ireland on Tuesday announced fresh coronavirus restrictions with adjustments from Christmas until January 12 to curb the spread of new infections.
In a television address Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said his government had chosen to reintroduce the highest level of restrictions, level five, following an "extraordinary growth" in the virus.
Under the measures families will be asked to stay at home with some specific changes over the festive period. 
Non-essential shops will be allowed to stay open and January sales will be postponed. Schools will also remain open. 
Martin said the a current daily growth rate of "approximately 10 percent" was "obviously a source of serious concern, and is simply not sustainable".
He explained there was no "firm evidence" that a new strain of the virus which has spread in the south of England had reached Ireland. But he added that the high growth rate in the country meant the "most responsible thing to do is to proceed on the assumption that it is already here".
Under the special measures, the new restrictions will be imposed from Christmas Eve on 24 December until 12 January. 
Individuals will be permitted to beyond county borders until December 26 but not after.
Only two households will be allowed to mix from 27 December and hairdressers, restaurants and pubs that serve food must all also close on December 24.
In spite of the new restrictions, which will put extra pressure particularly on the Irish hospitality sector during the lucrative Christmas period, Martin sought to sound a note of optimism.
-As despondent as any of us might feel with the return of restrictions. It is important to remember that the hope is real, there is light at the end of this tunnel- he said.
The Irish Prime Minister said he had confirmed the arrival of 10,000 vaccines against the disease with the rollout of the shot for the most vulnerable.
-I am certain that our vaccination programme would bring us greater freedom and how we manage the virus in the new year- he said.
Ireland, which has nearly five million inhabitants, has recorded 2,158 deaths since the start of the pandemic and 80,267 cases, according to figures released on Monday.

Non-essential shops will be allowed to stay open and January sales will be postponed

Under the measures families will be asked to stay at home with some specific changes over the festive period

Ireland imposes new virus curbs over Christmas

Australia’s most populous state on Tuesday reported its lowest one-day rise in new COVID-19 cases in nearly a week, fuelling optimism that contact tracing and social distancing were working to bring a dangerous new outbreak in Sydney under control.&nbsp;New South Wales (NSW) reported eight new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down on 15 reported one day earlier. Seven of the new cases were traced to a cluster in Sydney’s northern beachside suburbs, officials said.
-The trend is going where we want it to go, where we need to it to go- NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.
-We’re confident that the strategy we’ve put in place is having the desired effect.-
The eighth case was a nurse who is believed to have caught the virus from a traveller returning from overseas, officials said.
The coronavirus cluster detected in Sydney’s northern beaches suburbs last week has now grown to 90 cases as authorities battle to contain the flare-up in Australia’s largest city just days before Christmas.
The source of the outbreak - which ended a run of nearly two weeks with zero locally acquired coronavirus cases nationally - is believed to have been a returning traveller from the United States.
The state government locked down the northern beaches, home to more than 250,000 people, for five days from Saturday, prompting other states to close their borders and throwing Christmas plans for thousands of families into chaos.
The restrictions are set to be reviewed on Wednesday, and Berejiklian said the decision whether to remove curbs and allow families to gather for Christmas was still too close to call.
Extending restrictions would be politically unpopular but should the cluster grow and NSW is forced to broaden restrictions, Australia’s economy would be stunted.
Australian retail sales soared 7% in November from the month before, led by pre-Christmas shopping in a sign fourth-quarter economic growth could be stronger than expected.
But a gauge of Australian consumer confidence fell 2% last week, a weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan survey showed, led by a sharper drop in Sydney.
The state government is watching to see if the outbreak spreads beyond the northern beaches area, with record rates of testing - almost 45,000 were conducted in the past 24 hours - helping to determine if restrictions can be lifted.
Virus carriers have visited more than 100 venues around the city of more than 5 million people, including restaurants, cafes, gyms and post offices, heightening the risk of wider community transmission. So far, however, tests have shown the outbreak is contained to the nothern beaches.
All Australian states have now moved to close their borders to NSW, with hundreds of police and military personnel deployed to ensure compliance.
The outbreak has also seen the annual Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race cancelled for the first time in 76 years, while the cricket test between Australia and India scheduled to start at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Jan. 7 is under threat.

Gladys Berejiklian: The trend is going where we want it to go, where we need to it to go

Customers sit at a restaurant on the first day of eased New South Wales coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, allowing up to 10 patrons to sit at a time inside establishments previously only open for take-away, in Sydney, Australia, May 15, 2020.

Testing blitz shows Australian coronavirus cluster contained in Sydney's northeast

When businesswoman Marina Wessolowski arrived in Cape Town on Dec. 12 she was looking forward to spending Christmas with family and friends before flying back to Germany early next month.But the emergence of a new, fast-spreading strain of the coronavirus in South Africa means that she, her husband and two daughters are now uncertain when they will be able to return home.
That’s because a growing number of countries, including Germany, have barred travellers from South Africa while they assess how much danger the new variant poses.
-We found out this morning that we won’t be able to go home, so that is quite a shock to us- Wessolowski, who runs a cosmetics distribution firm in Berlin, told Reuters on Monday outside her rental flat overlooking the city.
There had been no notification yet from airline Lufthansa on their Jan. 12 return flight to Frankfurt. “We haven’t heard from anybody specifically on what is the next step, so we are waiting,” she said.
At OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Tuesday, there were fewer passengers than normal, most flying domestic routes.
South Africa’s health department said last week the new virus mutation might be behind a recent surge in infections. The variant is different from one identified in Britain, though both carry mutations that make them more transmissible than previously circulating dominant strains.
Having not seen her 76-year-old mother for a year, Wessolowski - a South African-born German - said their inability to interact more to due COVID-related restrictions has been the hardest part of her visit.
-She has been very lonely ... but we are all following the rules and keeping our distance with her. It’s very difficult to see your mom after a year and you can’t hug her- a tearful Wessolowski added.
South Africa’s tourism department said it had no information on numbers of flights cancelled or rescheduled due to the bans, but that it was working with the foreign ministry and foreign embassies to facilitate contact between foreign citizens in South Africa and their governments.

Wessolowski: We found out this morning that we won’t be able to go home, so that is quite a shock to us

Marina Wessolowski, a Berlin-based businesswoman who is stranded in Cape Town poses for a photograph with her husband Achim and daughters, Emma and Clara, uncertain when they will return home after at least five countries and airlines banned flights from South Africa over the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus, in Cape Town, South Africa, December 21, 2020.

Family stranded in South Africa as travel ban over mutant virus strain kicks in

Germany on Tuesday extended a ban on arrivals from Britain, Northern Ireland and South Africa until January 6 after a new more infectious coronavirus strain appeared in the countries.
-The transport ban covers passenger traffic by train, bus, ship and flights directly from these countries- the health ministry said in a statement. 
-The order covers the period from December 22, 2020 until January 6, 2021.-
It added that people who have valid residency permits for Germany could return from January 1.
The ministry said that travellers who arrived from the affected countries or who spent time there in the last 10 days would be required to be tested for the coronavirus.
-Existing quarantine rules for arrivals from risk areas continue to apply- it added.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said that "as long as it is possible", Germany aimed to prevent "potentially dangerous virus mutations from spreading in continental Europe". 
-The entry ban from Britain, Northern Ireland and South Africa is a precautionary measure until we know more about the reported coronavirus mutations- in those countries, he said.
A string of nations around the continent on Sunday began suspending travel links with Britain to prevent the spread of the new strain of the coronavirus.
EU ambassadors were to meet Tuesday to try to thrash out a unified approach and work out how to eventually lift the border restrictions with Britain -- including by imposing a requirement for tests on all arrivals.

The transport ban covers passenger traffic by train, bus, ship and flights directly from these countries

The order covers the period from December 22, 2020 until January 6, 2021.

Germany bans UK, S.Africa arrivals until Jan 6

Kosovo was preparing for a snap poll Tuesday after its top court annulled a vote that installed Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, fuelling further turmoil in the crisis-hit democracy.
The constitutional court said the June parliamentary vote that ended a months-long political crisis was invalid as one of the MPs who gave Hoti's government a razor-thin majority had earlier been convicted for fraud. 
No government has finished its full term in the former Serbian province since it declared independence in 2008.
-Considering that the Government was not elected according to...the Constitution- the country's president now "announces elections," said the court verdict published late Monday.
President Vjosa Osmani was expected to invite political parties for "consultations on the date of the early elections," her office told local media.
The poll must be held within 40 days after it is announced, according to the constitution. 
Early elections have become routine in Kosovo, eroding public faith in a political class that lurches from crisis to crisis while neglecting pressing issues from widespread poverty to a patchy healthcare system.

Hoti's government was voted in through a parliament reshuffle after his LDK party's alliance with the left-wing nationalist Vetevendosje collapsed less than two months after it came to power.
It was Vetevendosje, now in the opposition, which brought the case to the constitutional court.
The party complained that Etem Arifi, a Roma MP, had been sentenced to 15 months in prison in April 2018 for misusing 26,000 euros (31,000) through an NGO.
The court agreed that Arifi's vote was invalid because "a person convicted of a criminal offence by a final court decision in the last three years" cannot serve in the assembly.
Opposition politicians welcomed the ruling.
-We will soon have new elections, and the legitimate government will return to power- said Vetevendosje's Arberie Nagavci.
Pristina is still reeling from the drama that felled its former president Hashim Thaci.
Long Kosovo's most powerful politician, Thaci resigned in November after being summoned to The Hague for trial on war crimes charges dating back from Kosovo's rebellion against Serbia.
Thaci was a leader of the guerilla fighters who battled Serbia in the 1990s.
The former rebels have dominated Kosovo's politics for over a decade, but are now weakened with several of them facing trials in The Hague.&nbsp;

No government has finished its full term in the former Serbian province since it declared independence in 2008

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti's government had a razor-thin majority in parliament

Kosovo heads for snap polls after top court brings down government

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he expects US President-elect Joe Biden to help stem the wave of migration from Central America through investment.
Since coming to power in 2018, Lopez Obrador has urged the US to invest in impoverished regions of Mexico and Central America to help tackle the mass migration heading north seeking the "American Dream."
-He knows he has to support Central American countries and Mexico, especially in the south and southeast ... so that there is development, to address the migratory phenomenon by giving options- said Lopez Obrador, who spoke to Biden by telephone on Saturday.
The left-wing populist also insisted he would have good relations with Biden despite having waited until last week and the US Electoral College vote to congratulate him on his November 3 presidential election victory.
Lopez Obrador had previously fostered a good relationship with President Donald Trump despite their obvious ideological differences.
-There's nothing to fear- said Lopez Obrador. -There's no indication, no sign of bad relations with the government headed by President Biden.-
Lopez Obrador added that Biden wanted a relationship "of equals" with Mexico.
When congratulating Biden last week, Lopez Obrador urged the President-elect to cooperate on migration issues.
The wave of thousands of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico heading for the US in 2018 infuriated Trump, who threatened Mexico with tariffs on its exports if it didn't stem the flow.
Despite that, the two leaders maintained good relations and Lopez Obrador even visited Trump in Washington last July.

He came in for a hail of criticism for that move given the US was in the midst of its presidential election campaign.

Lopez Obrador has urged the US to invest in impoverished regions of Mexico and Central America

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: There's no indication, no sign of bad relations with the government headed by President Biden

Mexico's AMLO expects Biden cooperation on migration

A new round of pandemic relief checks for Americans will start going out next week, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday.
Congress is expected to give final approval to a $900 billion stimulus package later Monday that will include payments of $600 to all Americans.
-People are going to see this money by the beginning of the next week- Mnuchin said on CNBC.
That amounts to "$2,400 for a family of four so much needed relief in just in time for the holidays."
After months of wrangling, US lawmakers on Sunday finally agreed on a deal to help support the pandemic-battered US economy even as a surge in infections has raised new fears about the recovery.
The package also will include a new round of Paycheck Protection Program loans to businesses, as well as aid for schools, child care and rental assistance, and an additional $300 week in aid to unemployed workers.
While the direct payments are only half the amount provided by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that Congress approved in March, Mnuchin said it is a "very fast way of getting money into the economy."
-It's money that gets recirculated in the economy, so people go out and spend this money and that helps small business- he said.
President-elect Joe Biden has welcomed the agreement but said much more will be needed to support the world's largest economy.
-Immediately, starting in the new year, Congress will need to get to work on support for our Covid-19 plan, for support to struggling families, and investments in jobs and economic recovery- he said in a statement.

Congress is expected to give final approval to a $900 billion stimulus package

Steven Mnuchin: People are going to see this money by the beginning of the next week

Americans to start receiving relief checks next week

Turkey on Monday hailed local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s historic city of Mostar after more than a decade.
-We welcome that first local elections in Mostar in 12 years were held in a peaceful and calm atmosphere- the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to the polls held on Sunday.
In June, the country’s main Bosniak and Croat parties reached an agreement to hold a vote in the ethnically-divided city.
-Holding the elections was a positive step towards strengthening the functionality of the democratic institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We hope that the election results will contribute to strengthening peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Balkans- the ministry said.
Turkey will continue to support the development of Bosnia and Herzegovina "in unity and solidarity," it added.

After 2008, polls were due in 2012. However, due to disagreements in the House of Representatives, a court declared the city's electoral law unconstitutional.
This has led to severe management issues in the city administratively divided into six municipalities equally between Bosnians and Croats since the 1995 Bosnian War.
In 2004, former High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina Paddy Ashdown initiated an effort to bridge differences between the two sides by issuing a new statute aimed at establishing a single municipality in Mostar.
But regulations could not be confirmed and put into place due to opposition by Croats who feared Bosnians could get equal or even more rights in parts of the city where Croats enjoy a majority.

Polls held in Mostar city for 1st time in 12 years

We welcome that first local elections in Mostar in 12 years were held in a peaceful and calm atmosphere

Turkey hails local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Countries around the world have begun banning flights and travellers from Britain as London the spread of a more-infectious new coronavirus strain was now "out of control".
Here are the places that have announced travel bans so far.

The former British colony is banning all flights arriving from the United Kingdom from midnight, and the quarantine of passengers who arrived from Britain in the last fortnight is being extended.
All international arrivals must already spend 14 days in isolation in a hotel.&nbsp;

France has halted all travel from Britain for 48 hours from midnight, including anyone transporting goods "by road, air, sea or rail".
The ban on everything but unaccompanied freight comes as companies scramble to shift merchandise across the Channel with days to go until Britain leaves the EU trade bloc.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex's office said the 48-hour period would offer time to coordinate a joint EU response that would ultimately allow travel from the UK to resume "with compulsory testing on departure".

Germany also halted air links with the UK from midnight, with the ban initially slated to last until December 31.
Cargo flights will be exempt.
A government source told AFP that Berlin is already "working on measures" to extend the suspension into January.

All passenger flights from Britain to the Netherlands have been banned until January 1. One case of the new strain has been found in the country, the health ministry added.

Flights from Britain from midnight were banned for at least 48 hours. The country shares a highly-porous 499-kilometre (310-mile) border with the UK.

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza said that he had signed a decree "which blocks flights from Great Britain and prohibits entry into Italy of people who have stayed there during the last 14 days".
Anyone in Italy who recently travelled from Britain must be tested, the statement added.
The new strain has been found in one person in Italy who recently returned from the UK.

Elsewhere in Europe, Belgium banned flights from the UK for 24 hours, Finland barred flights for two weeks and Switzerland stopped them until further notice.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have halted flights, with Croatia suspending them for 48 hours. 
Bulgaria said flights to and from Britain would be suspended until January 31.
Romania is banning all flights to and from the UK for two weeks from Monday afternoon.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada would ban all UK flights for 72 hours.
In a tweet, he added those who had already arrived from Britain on Sunday would be subject to secondary screenings and other "advanced measures".

Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that flights from Britain, Denmark -- where nine cases of the new strain have been detected -- the Netherlands and South Africa would be suspended.

Iran's health ministry has ordered flights from Britain suspended for two weeks.

Israel said it was barring entry to foreign citizens travelling from Britain, Denmark and South Africa.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office also announced tough quarantine rules for Israelis returning home from those nation.

Saudi Arabia said it was halting all flights and entry through land and sea ports for at least a week, with the option to extend for a further week.
Passengers who arrived in the kingdom from Europe -- or any country where the new strain was detected -- will be required to self isolate for two weeks and undergo testing.

Kuwait has added Britain to a list of "high-risk" nations and banned flights.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said that anyone who had been in Britain or South Africa in the past 30 days will not be allowed to enter the country.

Argentina has banned flights from the UK.
It said the last flight from Britain would arrive in the country on Monday.

Chile is suspending flights from the UK from Tuesday.
The government said anyone without a Chilean residence permit who had been in Britain in the past two weeks would be barred from entry into the country

Morocco banned all flights to the UK from Sunday.

More than 20 countries banned flights

Gatwick Airport on Sunday, as European nations began imposing travel bans

Countries banning travel from UK

Central African Republic’s main opposition coalition on Sunday demanded the Dec. 27 general election be postponed due to violence by armed groups outside the capital Bangui, while the government insisted the vote would go ahead.On Saturday, the authorities accused former president Francois Bozize of plotting a coup after his candidacy was rejected, as U.N. peacekeepers dispersed armed rebel groups occupying roads and towns near Bangui.
Fighting was ongoing in several towns, including Mbaiki, about 100 km (62 miles) from Bangui, according to one security source and two humanitarian sources.
The opposition alliance, called Cod2020, which includes Bozize, said violence was preventing presidential and parliamentary candidates from campaigning and had led to the destruction of electoral materials and threats in almost all provincial centres, without providing details.
In a statement, it “noted the impossibility of pursuing an electoral campaign in current insecure conditions,” and demanded the postponement of the vote until stability is restored.
In response, the government said it was doing everything possible to ensure the vote could take place as planned, deploying troops alongside U.N. peacekeepers to regain control of occupied towns.
-There is no plan B, the elections will take place on December 27- said government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui.
President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who has struggled to maintain stability, is seeking re-election.
Bozize was ousted in 2013 by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels, prompting reprisals from mostly Christian militias and plunging the country into a civil war.
U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed since 2014, including over 12,800 in uniform.
The violence has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, displacing over 600,000 people within the country while a further 600,000 live as refugees in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad, and elsewhere, according to U.N. figures.

The authorities accused former president Francois Bozize of plotting a coup after his candidacy was rejected

A general view shows a part of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic, February 16, 2016.

Central African Republic opposition calls for election delay due to violence

Annas Shuaibu says he awoke to the sound of gunshots fired by men who burst into his boarding school in northwest Nigeria in a nighttime raid. He and hundreds of other boys were rounded up and forcibly marched out of the school and into a nearby forest.After several hours trekking through woodland, the gunmen ordered them to stop walking and warned them not to try to flee, Shuaibu said. -They said even if you tried to escape, or we allowed you to run, you will go nowhere. Rather, you will die in the forest- he said.
Shuaibu, 16, was among 344 students who were kidnapped from Government Science Secondary School, an all-boys boarding school, on Dec. 11 in the town of Kankara, in Katsina state.
The boys were held for six days before security services rescued them on Thursday from Rugu forest, a vast woodland area that spans four of Nigeria’s 36 states.
The incident stoked anger about the insecurity that has gripped much of the country, Africa’s most populous, and evoked memories of Boko Haram’s 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls in the northeastern town of Chibok.
Dressed in a turquoise kaftan and smiling broadly while playing football with friends near his home in Kankara, Shuaibu seemed carefree a day after being reunited with his family.
But the smile left his face when he described the conditions in which he and the other boys were held.
-I was really scared because I didn’t know where we were going- he said, speaking softly and often looking at the ground as he described walking through the forest and the boys being beaten by their captors.
Shuaibu, who said he did not know how many people held them, said the boys received little food, sometimes resorting to eating leaves and drinking from pools of water in the forest.
Another freed student told Reuters, hours after the boys’ release on Friday, that the kidnappers had initially taken them to a hiding place.
-But when they saw a jet fighter, they changed the location and hid us in a different place. They gave us food, but it was very little- said the student, who did not give his name.
On Friday, with their ordeal over, the boys were taken to meet the governor and then President Muhammadu Buhari.
Many details surrounding the incident remain unclear, including who was responsible, whether ransom was paid and how the release was secured. The Islamist militant group Boko Haram said it was responsible for the abductions but there was no confirmation of this.

The joy of being free has not worn off for 14-year-old Muhammed Bello.
-Now that I returned back home, I’ll continue playing and do what I like- he said, with a broad grin. -I’m very happy.-
But the raid made parents fearful.
Shuaibu’s father, who previously told Reuters his son was 13, said he would not send the boy back to the school unless there was “proper security”.
Attacks by armed gangs, widely known as bandits, are common throughout northwestern Nigeria. The groups attack civilians, stealing from them or kidnapping them for ransom.
A criminal gang attempted to abduct 80 schoolchildren and take them into a forest in the Dandume area of Katsina state on Saturday night, Katsina police said on Sunday.
All the children were rescued, along with four other people who were also abducted, after police and a local vigilante group exchanged gunfire with the gang, police spokesman Gambo Isah said in a statement.
Following the rescue of the boys taken from Kankara, Katsina Governor Aminu Bello Masari said security will be strengthened at schools across the state.
When the Kankara children were reunited with their parents on Friday weeping mothers and fathers hugged their boys, and some parents knelt to kiss the ground in gratitude.
Shuaibu recalled his fear of never seeing his family again.
-We feel extremely happy- he said. -Some of us didn’t expect that we would return.-

344 students  were kidnapped from Government Science Secondary School

A freed Nigerian schoolboy plays football as he returns home, after he was rescued by security forces, in Kankara, Nigeria December 19, 2020.

'You will die in the forest' - Nigerian schoolboys describe kidnap ordeal

Facebook has taken down content that spread lies in Israel against coronavirus vaccinations as the government seeks to drum up support for the programme, the Justice Ministry said on Sunday.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday became the first person to be vaccinated in Israel. Opinion polls show some two-thirds of the public want to follow suit.
The Justice Ministry said that, at its request, Facebook took down four groups at the weekend that had disseminated texts, photographs and videos with “deliberately mendacious content designed to mislead about coronavirus vaccines”.
Such “fake news” included arguments that vaccines would be used to plant government tracking chips in recipients’ bodies, to poison them and thus cull the population or to subject them to medical experimentation, the ministry said in a statement.
A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed that four Hebrew-language groups had been taken down as part of the company’s policy against “spreading misinformation regarding the vaccines”.
Israeli officials say the country has enough vaccines on order by year’s end to protect the most vulnerable 20% of the population and then lift some coronavirus curbs, but worry that turnout might be dampened if people get false information about the innoculations.
Israel began administering vaccines to medical staff on Sunday. At Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, dozens of doctors and nurses danced as they prepared to receive their injections.
Next in line are elderly Israelis or those in high-risk groups. The wider adult population is slated to get shots in early 2021.
With a population of 9 million, Israel has logged 373,368 coronavirus cases and 3,074 deaths. It has imposed two national lockdowns and is mulling new curbs on high-contagion areas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday became the first person to be vaccinated in Israel

Facebook took down four groups at the weekend

Facebook removes anti-vaccine 'fake news' in Israel, government says

Harley Davidson bikers dressed in Santa Claus costumes rode through the streets of central Tokyo on Sunday for their annual parade against child abuse, saying more children were vulnerable in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The parade, followed by a toy run to donate toys to kids, is a global tradition around Christmas time. In Tokyo, the event is held by members of the “Harley Santa Club”, founded in 2008.
At the parade, bikers said this year’s event meant more, because more children were vulnerable to domestic violence during the coronavirus year.
-Especially because of the coronavirus pandemic this year, I think there are many child abuse cases out of sight- said Takashi Mine, director of the event.
-It is very likely now that parents will take the stress out on their children after losing their jobs, so I think particularly during the pandemic we have to do the parade- he said.
The number of child abuse cases in Japan per month rose up to 20% between January and March versus the same period last year, as more families spent time at home because of the pandemic, the daily Asahi Shimbun reported.
The number of reported child abuse cases was a record high last year, according to the health ministry.
Normally hundreds of motorcyclists take part in the parade, but because of coronavirus only about 100 rode this year.
Still, riders proudly roared their engines to bring Christmas joy to kids living in children’s homes. Riders plan to visit four homes in Tokyo this year to donate toys and candy to about 400 children.

The parade, followed by a toy run to donate toys to kids, is a global tradition around Christmas time

People dressed in Santa Claus costumes ride their motorbikes during Xmas Toy Run parade to rev up the holiday spirit and rally against child abuse, organised by Harley Santa Club, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan December 20, 2020.

Santa Claus bikers parade in Tokyo against child abuse

Nearly 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the northeastern Philippines as heavy rain across the country left at least eight people dead, authorities said Sunday.
The storm -- which has inundated villages and destroyed scores of houses in recent days -- is the latest to batter the disaster-prone archipelago. 
Floodwaters reached waist-deep in 14 towns in the Cagayan Valley in the northeast of the main island of Luzon -- which saw the worst flooding in decades last month -- regional civil defence officer Francis Joseph Reyes said.
That forced nearly 10,000 people to seek shelter in emergency centres. 
The rain, which was intensified by the northeast monsoon, has filled Magat dam near to its critical level and the release of water threatens to aggravate the flooding, Reyes said.
Authorities said at least six people drowned in two provinces on the major southern island of Mindanao, which was also hit by torrential rain in recent days. 
Two elderly women were also killed in a rain-induced landslide on Saturday in the central province of Leyte.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure in already impoverished areas.
At least 148 people were killed in a succession of typhoons in recent months that destroyed hundreds of thousands of houses.

Nearly 10,000 people to seeked shelter in emergency centres

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year

Eight dead in Philippine floods as thousands flee homes

Many U.S. holiday shoppers, wary of entering stores during the latest surge of COVID-19, went from their computers, phones and other devices to their cars on the Saturday before Christmas to make last-minute gift purchases and then drive to the store to pick them up.Super Saturday is traditionally the busiest day of the year for holiday purchases, and this year online retail has been extra busy, and high-priority vaccine shipments have many Americans fretting that deliveries could be delayed this week.
-The lines have gone from waiting to get inside the store to waiting to get your product brought outside the store- said Marshal Cohen, chief retail industry adviser at NPD Group. -That’s what you’ll see as the day goes on.-
U.S. retailers are expected to ring in record sales, with over 150 million American shoppers slated to buy holiday gifts Saturday online or in-store, up by more than 2 million from last year, the National Retail Federation said on Thursday.
As coronavirus cases spike and some states enforce stricter mandates, most last-minute holiday shoppers will go online, the trade group said.
At King of Prussia Mall, the largest retail shopping space in the United States and owned by Simon Property Group, “It’s absolutely dead,” said Bill Park, a partner at Deloitte &amp; Touche LP, at around 10:00 a.m. EST.
“Ninety percent of stores aren’t even open yet, and foot traffic is practically non-existent.
However, stores including Walmart and Target were by no means empty early on Saturday, according to three retail analysts making checks in Miami, New York and Chicago. Curbside business was bustling, the analysts said, and masked shoppers who ventured outside were efficient in making their purchases of groceries and hot products, such as TVs and games consoles.
Many retailers have clocked record digital sales during the pandemic, overwhelming traditional shipping companies including FedEx, UPS and the USPS. Vaccine shipments are a priority now, and this week, delivery drivers in the Northeast have had to contend with a major snowstorm.
Retail experts said the well-publicized shipping crunch has many consumers in the driver’s seat themselves.
“Because so many people are shopping online and can’t rely on delivery ... people are going to get nervous and do more buy-online-pick-up-in-store or curbside,” said Amy Shulman, global head of professional services at retail data firm Sensormatic Solutions.
Department stores like Nordstrom and J.C. Penney are dangling perks such as free gift wrapping and extra discounts for those who “click and collect” online orders.
“The goal, even with pickup, is to get you in the store,” NPD’s Cohen said. “If I can get you in, I have a chance.”
Some say this approach is at odds with messages from public health officials urging people to stay home and stop the spread of COVID-19. Retailers have responded by spelling out the safety measures they have taken.
Craig Johnson, president at retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners, expects people to spend $36.1 billion this year on Super Saturday, up from $34.4 billion last year. This estimate includes in-store and online purchases but excludes sales at gas stations, restaurants and automobile dealers.

Super Saturday is traditionally the busiest day of the year for holiday purchases

Shoppers wait in line outside a Bath and Body Works retail store, as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., December 8, 2020.

Click, then drive: Last-minute U.S. holiday shoppers do curbside pickup

Sudan has sent "significant military reinforcements" to the border with conflict-hit Ethiopia, state media said Saturday, days after the army said troops were ambushed there by Ethiopian forces.
Soldiers were deployed in the eastern Al-Fashaqa border region, the site of sporadic clashes, where Ethiopian farmers cultivate fertile land on territory claimed by Sudan.
The area also borders Ethiopia's troubled Tigray region, where fighting broke out last month, causing over 50,000 Ethiopians fleeing the conflict to cross into Sudan in recent weeks.
-The Sudanese armed forces continued to advance on the front lines inside Al-Fashaqa to recapture the stolen lands and take up positions on the international lines- Sudan's SUNA news agency said.
Sudan's army said troops were attacked on Tuesday evening in an "ambush by Ethiopian forces and militias inside Sudanese territories".
Sudanese media said four soldiers were killed and 27 wounded, although the army did not confirm the reports.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the armed forces and the Sovereign Council, Sudan's highest executive body, visited the area this week.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, on a visit to Addis Ababa last week, spoke to his Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed about demarcating the border between the countries.
Addis Ababa was keen to downplay the importance of the ambush, saying the incident did not threaten the relationship between the two countries.

Soldiers were deployed in the eastern Al-Fashaqa border region

Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan after being sworn in as head of Sudan's newly formed sovereign council on August 21, 2019.

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World

Ireland imposes new virus curbs over Christmas

Testing blitz shows Australian coronavirus cluster contained in Sydney's northeast

Family stranded in South Africa as travel ban over mutant virus strain kicks in

Germany bans UK, S.Africa arrivals until Jan 6

Kosovo heads for snap polls after top court brings down government

Mexico's AMLO expects Biden cooperation on migration

Americans to start receiving relief checks next week

Turkey hails local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Countries banning travel from UK

Central African Republic opposition calls for election delay due to violence

'You will die in the forest' - Nigerian schoolboys describe kidnap ordeal

Facebook removes anti-vaccine 'fake news' in Israel, government says

Santa Claus bikers parade in Tokyo against child abuse

Eight dead in Philippine floods as thousands flee homes

Click, then drive: Last-minute U.S. holiday shoppers do curbside pickup

Sudan sends more troops to Ethiopian border