A record number of journalists were behind bars this year, a US-based watchdog said Tuesday, accusing governments worldwide of suppressing the media and fueling misinformation amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The annual report by the Committee to Protect Journalists found that 274 journalists were imprisoned in 2020 -- the highest number since the non-profit organisation began its survey in the 1990s.
The report also found that 26 journalists and media workers had been murdered this year, with Mexico listed as the world's most dangerous country for the press. 
-It's shocking and appalling- CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement.
-This wave of repression is a form of censorship that is disrupting the flow of information and fueling the infodemic- he added.
The worst offender was China for the second consecutive year, the survey found, with 47 reporters behind bars and where authorities only last week detained a Bloomberg employee on suspicion of endangering national security.
Other top jailers were Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, with Belarus and Ethiopia -- where popular unrest and armed conflict flared this year -- also seeing sharp increases in the number of reporters behind bars.
While the US had no reporters in jail as of the report's release, the survey noted an "unprecedented" 110 had been arrested or detained through the course of the year. 
The CPJ said the outgoing Trump administration bore some of the blame for the worsening global press freedom -- not only for the US president's lack of global leadership on human rights, but also his emboldening of authoritarians abroad with his hostility towards the media. 
-The incoming Biden administration must work as part of a global coalition to bring the number down- CPJ CEO Simon said.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon: It's shocking and appalling

A record number of reporters were in jail in 2020, the Committee to Protect Journalists said

Record number of journalists jailed in 2020, says watchdog

A U.S. decision to remove Sudan from a list of state sponsors of terrorism came into effect on Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, eliminating a burden that had weighed on Sudan’s economy since 1993 and restricted its ability to receive aid.&nbsp;The move is a boost for the transitional authorities who took over after president Omar al-Bashir was overthrown last year, and are grappling with a deep economic crisis.
President Donald Trump said in October that he would rehabilitate Sudan, days before announcing that Israel and Sudan intended to normalise relations. A 45-day Congressional review period has now elapsed.
-This achievement was made possible by the efforts of Sudan’s civilian-led transitional government to chart a bold new course away from the legacy of the Bashir regime and, in particular, to meet the statutory and policy criteria for rescission- Pompeo said in a statement issued in Washington.
Sudan had been engaged in talks with the United States for months, and paid a negotiated $335 million settlement to victims of al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998 who had been awarded much higher damages by U.S. courts.
A process to release the settlement money and restore Sudan’s sovereign immunity is currently stalled in Congress, however.

-We have been liberated from the global blockade which we were forced into by the behavior of the ousted regime- Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said in a statement.
-This achievement ... contributes to economic reforms, attracting investments and remittances through official channels, creating new job opportunities for young people, and many other positives.-
The United States listed Sudan in 1993 on grounds that Bashir’s regime was harboring militant groups including al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. It cut Sudan off from financial assistance and investment, and from the global banking system.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Washington would now help Khartoum to seek financing from international lenders and negotiate relief on $60 bln in foreign debt.
Sudan also hopes to gain access to equipment and software for healthcare, energy, transport, education and infrastructure, Hamdok’s office said.
-This decision has given us hope that our circumstances could improve- said Mohamed Hassan, a 58-year-old private sector employee in Khartoum.

Pompeo: This achievement was made possible by the efforts of Sudan’s civilian-led transitional government

United States takes Sudan off terrorism list after 27 years

Dozens of parents on Monday in Nigeria's northwestern city of Kankara gathered for the second day to stage a protest against the abduction of hundreds of schoolchildren.
Suleiman Abdullah, whose son was among those kidnapped by gunmen at the Government Science Secondary School, said: -We won't give up until our children are rescued completely.-
Gunmen riding motorcycles and a bus fired several shots in the air on Friday night and abducted the school boys, residents said.
The exact number of the abducted boys has not been ascertained.
President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attack and asked the school to give them names of the missing children.
The weekend attack was the third of its kind in the span of a few years, with similar kidnappings occurring in February 2018 and April 2014.

Unknown gunmen abducted hundreds of schoolchildren on Friday

The weekend attack was the third of its kind in the span of a few years

Parents demand rescue of kidnapped schoolboys

A U.S. appeals court on Monday will hear arguments in the Trump administration’s appeal of a judge’s order that blocked a ban on Chinese-owned TikTok from domestic app stores.&nbsp;U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington on Sept. 27th blocked the Commerce Department order hours before it was to prohibit new downloads of the short video-sharing app.
The ban would have required Apple Inc and Alphabet’s Google to remove the app from their stores, preventing new users from downloading it or existing users downloading updated versions. It would not have stopped existing users from accessing the app on their devices.
The appeals panel consists of Judges Judith Rogers, Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins. All three were nominated by previous Democratic presidents. Arguments are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) and last 20 minutes.
On Dec. 4th, the Trump administration opted not to grant TikTok-owner ByteDance a new extension of an order requiring the company to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets, but talks have continued over the short video-sharing app’s fate.
President Donald Trump’s order issued in August gave the Justice Department the power to enforce the divestiture order once the deadline expired, but over a week has passed and the department has not gone to court seeking to compel divestiture.
The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns as the personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by China’s government. TikTok, which has over 100 million U.S. users, denies the allegation.
Under pressure from the U.S. government, ByteDance has been in talks for months to finalize a deal with Walmart Inc and Oracle Corp to shift TikTok’s U.S. assets into a new entity aimed to satisfy the divestiture order.
On Dec. 7, Judge Nichols separately granted a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Commerce Department from imposing restrictions on TikTok that would have effectively barred its use in the United States.
Nichols issued an order in a suit filed by ByteDance after U.S. judge Wendy Beetlestone in Pennsylvania earlier blocked the same restrictions set to take effect on Nov. 12.
The Commerce Department had sought to bar data hosting within the United States for TikTok, content delivery services and other technical transactions.

The ban would have required Apple Inc and Alphabet’s Google to remove the app from their stores

The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns

U.S. court to hear appeal challenging order blocking TikTok app store ban

The US government confirmed Sunday that its computer networks had been hit by a cyberattack, as The Washington Post reported at least two departments had been targeted by Russian state hackers.
-We have been working closely with our agency partners regarding recently discovered activity on government networks- a spokesperson for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told AFP.
-CISA is providing technical assistance to affected entities as they work to identify and mitigate any potential compromises.-
The Post said the hacks were linked to an attack last week on cybersecurity firm FireEye, which said its own defenses were breached by sophisticated attackers who stole tools used to test customers' computer systems.
FireEye said it suspected the attack was state-sponsored.
US media reports also said the FBI was investigating a group working for the Russian foreign intelligence service, SVR, and that breaches had been taking place for months.
The same group also reportedly hacked US government agencies during the Obama administration.
-The United States government is aware of these reports and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this situation- National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said.
Russia's embassy in the US hit back later Sunday against what it said were the "unfounded" media claims, denying any role in the alleged attacks.
-Malicious activities in the information space contradicts the principles of the Russian foreign policy, national interests and our understanding of interstate relations- the embassy said in a statement on its official Facebook page.
-Russia does not conduct offensive operations in the cyber domain.-

The Post said the hacks were linked to an attack last week on cybersecurity firm FireEye

The US government has confirmed that its computer networks, including the Treasury, were hit by a cyberattack.

US government confirms cyberattack

Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony held online because of the coronavirus, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned Thursday of a "hunger pandemic" it said could be worse than Covid-19.

"Because of so many wars, climate change, the widespread use of hunger as a political and military weapon, and a global health pandemic that makes all of that exponentially worse, 270 million people are marching toward starvation," WFP executive director David Beasley said.

"Failure to address their needs will cause a hunger pandemic which will dwarf the impact of Covid," he said, removing his facemask to make his remarks broadcast from the WFP's headquarters in Rome.

The largest humanitarian organisation fighting famine, the UN agency founded in 1961 feeds tens of millions of people each year -- 97 million in 2019 -- across all continents.

The WFP was honoured with the Nobel for its efforts "to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict", committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said when she announced the winner on October 9.

With nationalist tendencies taking hold across the globe, the WFP "represents exactly the kind of international cooperation and commitment that the world is in dire need of today," Reiss-Andersen said Thursday, speaking from a deserted Nobel Institute in Oslo.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced Nobel officials to scale back the traditional festivities to a bare minimum, both in Oslo where the Peace Prize is announced and presented, and in Stockholm, which hosts the prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics.

Cancellations hit the lavish banquets and glittering ceremonies attended by distinguished guests and royals in tiaras, replaced by more austere events mostly online.

Because of the exceptional circumstances, the Nobel gold medal and diploma were sent to Rome in a diplomatic pouch.

- 'Call to action' -
"This Nobel Peace Prize is more than a thank you. It is a call to action," Beasley said.

"Famine is at humanity's doorstep", he said, and "food is the pathway to peace."

In recent weeks, the agency has expressed alarm about the risk of famine in Burkina Faso, South Sudan, northeastern Nigeria and Yemen. 

Already at record levels, malnutrition in Yemen is expected to get even worse due to the pandemic and lack of funds.

"We stand at what may be the most ironic moment in modern history," Beasley said.

"On the one hand, after a century of massive strides in eliminating extreme poverty, today those 270 million of our neighbours are on the brink of starvation."

"On the other hand, there is 400 trillion dollars of wealth in our world today. Even at the height of the Covid pandemic, in just 90 days, an additional 2.7 trillion dollars of wealth was created. And we only need 5 billion dollars to save 30 million lives from famine," he added.

The usual Nobel festivities in Sweden were also cancelled.

A ceremony was nonetheless held in Stockholm's City Hall on Thursday, decked out with red and pink flowers but void of a live audience and broadcast online instead.

Pre-recorded musical interludes were interspersed with speeches and footage from the past week of the other laureates receiving their awards in their countries of residence. 

"The Nobel Prize shows humanity's ability to constantly find solutions to the difficult challenges we face. This year, when we are all deeply affected by the corona pandemic, it feels especially important to highlight scientific, literary and humanitarian efforts that inspire us and give us hope for the future," Nobel Foundation chairman Carl-Henrik Heldin said.

- 'Feed them all' -
This year's laureates will be welcomed to Oslo and Stockholm at a later date, probably in 2021.

In order to receive the prize sum of 10 million Swedish kronor (975,000 euros, $1.18 million), Beasley must hold the traditional Nobel lecture within six months.

Saying he goes "to bed weeping over the children we could not save", Beasley concluded his remarks with a desperate appeal.

"When we don't have enough money and the access we need, we have to decide which children eat and which children do not eat, which children live, which children die," he said.

"Please don't ask us to choose who lives and who dies... Let's feed them all."

With nationalist tendencies taking hold across the globe, the WFP "represents exactly the kind of international cooperation and commitment that the world is in dire need of today," Reiss-Andersen said Thursday, speaking from a deserted Nobel Institut

This year's Nobel Peace Prize laureates, CEO of the World Food Program WHO, David Beasley, speaks with Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide and moderator Christian Borch during the Nobel Peace Prize Forum

Nobel-winning UN food agency warns of 'hunger pandemic' worse than Covid

A suicide bomber blew himself up in Russia's North Caucasus region of Karachay-Cherkessia Friday, injuring six police officers, the country's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said. 
An unidentified person tried to break into an area where police were conducting searches and triggered the bomb when they tried to arrest him, the committee said, adding that "six officers were lightly injured" in the blast.
The blast occurred around 09:00 GMT in the village of Uchkeken, the committee said, noting that no civilians were injured.
In the 1990s Moscow fought two brutal wars against separatists in Chechnya, a neighbouring North Caucasus region to Karachay-Cherkessia.
Although attacks on police have decreased in recent years in the North Caucasus, Moscow remains in conflict with militants from across the region.

The blast occurred around 09:00 GMT

An unidentified person tried to break into an area where police were conducting searches and triggered the bomb when they tried to arrest him

Suicide bomber injures six police in Russia's North Caucasus

Morning mass in Karemlash, an Iraqi village once held by Islamic State jihadists, is usually a sombre affair. But this week, elderly parishioners could rejoice: Pope Francis is coming to Iraq next year.
-We're all so happy. We have been waiting for this for so long- said 45-year-old Adiba Henna, smiling in the cold air after a prayer service at St. Adday Chaldean Church, in the Nineveh highlands of northern Iraq.
-Every time he visits a country, we think, why doesn't he come to Iraq? Aren't there Christians in Iraq? This is the greatest, most beautiful thing he could do.-
The Vatican announced Monday that the 83-year-old pontiff would make the first-ever papal visit to Iraq in early March.
The itinerary consists of trips to Baghdad, the southern city of Ur -- where Abraham is said to have been born -- and the Christian heartland of Nineveh province.
The Nineveh plains were seized by IS in 2014, displacing hundreds of thousands of Christians who feared execution or forced conversion by the extremist fighters.
Christians have slowly started to come back, including to the historic village of Karemlash, 28 kilometres (17 miles) from the city of Mosul, the provincial capital and jihadists' former stronghold.
Half of the village's roughly 800 families have returned, with others hesitating due to a lack of public services and tensions among state-sponsored armed groups in the surrounding plains.
-We hope this visit can prevent demographic change, preserve the identity of our region and prompt the government to seriously start rebuilding our areas- said St. Adday's priest, Father Thabet al-Mekko.
-We've started the countdown. We need to feel closer to the Christian community in the rest of the world.-

Iraq once counted more around 1.5 million Christians, but the community has been ravaged by back-to-back conflicts.
Following the US-led invasion in 2003, sectarian warfare prompted diverse Christian sects to flee and IS' 2014 attacks further hit all minority communities.
Now, an estimated 400,000 Christians remain in Iraq. 
Zuhair Mansour, a 50-year-old school principal in Karemlash, said the pope's visit could help Iraq heal.
-It could be the step in building peace in this wounded country- he said outside St. Adday, which has been mostly renovated after Karemlash was recaptured from IS in 2016.
Pope Francis was formally invited to Iraq in 2019 by President Barham Saleh, but all of the pontiff's trips were cancelled in June this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It will be the pope's first trip abroad since the outbreak hit Italy -- and Iraq is the perfect destination, said Louis Sako, patriarch of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church.
-Visiting Ur is a visit to Abraham, the father of all believers. It is a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage to an Abrahamic family that should draw people together, not tear them apart- said Sako.
-This is unique to Iraq - the Pope can't do this anywhere else.-

Although much of Iraq is no longer experiencing active conflict, thousands have died from the coronavirus and the worst economic crisis in decades will see poverty rates double this year. 
-It's an exceptional time for Iraq. And in a time like this, a father needs to be with his children - so that's where this father will be- Sako told AFP in Baghdad. 
Families are also still grieving the deaths of nearly 600 Iraqis who died in protest-related violence since an unprecedented youth-led movement erupted in Iraq's capital and across the south in October 2019.
At a mass last year, Pope Francis said he was "saddened" by the "harsh" crackdown on demonstrators. 
The Pope's visit could help turn the page. 
-As Iraqis, as Middle Easterners, we need to hear a voice other than the sound of gunshots- Sako said. 
Martin Banni, the 29-year-old priest who heads the parish at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Baghdad, said he hoped the papal trip would spur real change for Christians.
-We hope it won't just be a media visit, and that it has an impact on our leaders- said Banni, who hails from Karemlash but fled IS in 2014.
His church is modest and still doesn't feature Christmas decorations, but Banni said that could change now.
-The news of the Pope's visit is a great, wonderful Christmas gift- he said. 
-We will celebrate the coming of Christ on December 25th, and the coming of the Pope in March.-

The Vatican announced Monday that the 83-year-old pontiff would make the first-ever papal visit to Iraq in early March

Pope Francis was formally invited to Iraq in 2019 by President Barham Saleh

'We've waited so long': Iraq's Christians await Pope

Hundreds of people have been treated for mystery illness in a southern Indian town, with one doctor ruling out "mass hysteria" at a time nerves are already frayed because of the coronavirus.
The government rushed medical experts to Eluru in Andhra Pradesh state to investigate the illness, which first appeared Saturday causing seizures, nausea and chronic pain.
Officials said nearly 500 people have been treated -- with most swiftly recovering -- but the death of a 45-year-old man at the weekend was attributed to the mystery disease.
India is already in grip of coronavirus with the world's second-highest number of cases -- and soon expected to pass 10 million.
-Some people are saying that it is mass hysteria but it is not- said A.S. Ram, a senior doctor at Eluru government hospital.
He said most victims had suffered genuine symptoms, but "we are unable to diagnose what is causing it".
Other officials pinpointed a possible role of chemical additives in pesticides, while residents have highlighted a problem with garbage and feral pigs.
They released a report on Monday which said symptoms included "epilepsy for 3-5 minutes, forgetfulness, anxiety, vomiting, headache and back pain."&nbsp;The government has sent doctors from the National Institute of Virology, National Centre for Disease Control and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences have been sent to investigate.
The team was collecting samples of edible oil, rice, blood and urine for analysis.
-Most of the patients are coming in with minor head injuries or a black eye as they collapsed suddenly with the seizure- Ram said.
-But within one or two hours most of them are fine.-
Police constable Kiran Kumar - who collapsed while on duty Monday - said he had been left "scared" after being semi-conscious for more than two hours.
-My colleagues told me, I shouted something and collapsed. I injured my right shoulder due to falling on the road.-
According to district officials, the illness is not spread person-to-person.
They released a report on Monday which said symptoms included "epilepsy for 3-5 minutes, forgetfulness, anxiety, vomiting, headache and back pain".&nbsp;

Symptoms included "epilepsy for 3-5 minutes, forgetfulness, anxiety, vomiting, headache and back pain."

Hundreds of people have been treated for mystery illness in a southern Indian town, with one doctor ruling out "mass hysteria" at a time nerves are already frayed because of the coronavirus.

Mystery illness frays India's coronavirus nerves

President-elect Joe Biden will nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for secretary of health and human services as soon as Monday, a source familiar with the decision said, as he builds up his team to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.The choice of Becerra, 62, a Latino former congressman, comes as Biden faces more pressure to add diversity to his cabinet appointments, including complaints from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about the number of Latinos.
Becerra will lead the health agency as officials struggle to contain a resurgence of the coronavirus, including record infections and a daily death toll that has exceeded 2,000 in recent days, and to prepare for a mammoth effort to vaccinate Americans against the virus.
More than 281,000 Americans have died from the COVID-19 disease, according to a Reuters tally.
The person with knowledge of Becerra’s appointment declined to be identified because the personnel decision had not yet been announced.
Biden, who named some top members of his health team last week, is expected to roll out more members this week as he fills in key roles in his cabinet ahead of taking office on Jan. 20. He already has announced top nominees for his national security and economic teams.
Biden has pressed ahead with the transition to the White House even as President Donald Trump refuses to concede the Nov. 3 election and wages a foundering effort to overturn the results. Dozens of Trump’s legal challenges have been rejected by the courts, often in scathing terms.
Trump suffered another setback on Sunday when the leader of his legal team, personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, tested positive for COVID-19. A source familiar with the situation said Giuliani was admitted to a Washington, D.C., hospital.

-I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything- Giuliani tweeted on Sunday night.&nbsp;Biden’s choice of Becerra gives him an administrator with a long record of supporting the Affordable Care Act - former President Barack Obama’s key domestic policy achievement.
Becerra played a key role in passing the landmark law during his time in Congress, and in his current role in California leads the coalition of 20 states defending the program better known as Obamacare, including in a case before the Supreme Court last month.
-Biden is living up to his commitment to make the cabinet a reflection of diversity- said Robert Garcia, mayor of Long Beach, California, and a longtime ally of Becerra and Biden.
Garcia said Becerra “has a strong record on healthcare but I think it goes beyond that. The president-elect selected someone with the highest levels of integrity and intellect.”
Biden is also expected to nominate Rochelle Walensky, chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, to run the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a different person familiar with hiring for the President-elect’s health team said.
Biden already has asked Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, to stay on as chief medical adviser.
The former vice president also has named Jeff Zients, an economic adviser touted for his managerial skills, as a coronavirus “czar” to oversee an unprecedented operation to distribute hundreds of millions of doses of a new vaccine, coordinating efforts across multiple federal agencies.
Biden picked Vivek Murthy, a physician and former surgeon general who has gained prominence in recent months as co-chairman of Biden’s advisory board dealing with the pandemic, to return for a second term as surgeon general.
Becerra served as a Democratic U.S. representative from 1993 to 2017 before moving back to his home state to become attorney general. In that post, he succeeded Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

More than 281,000 Americans have died from the COVID-19 disease, according to a Reuters tally

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra

Biden picks Becerra as health secretary as he builds team to battle COVID-19

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes "a win-win formula" can be found in a row with Greece over undersea resources, according to comments published on Monday, as EU leaders mull sanctions ahead of a summit.
NATO members Turkey and Greece have been at loggerheads over maritime territory in the eastern Mediterranean, believed to be rich in energy resources including natural gas. 
Turkey has enraged Greece by sending a survey ship and navy vessels to the disputed waters, prompting Athens to push its EU allies for tougher sanctions at Thursday's summit. 
-I am calling on all neighbouring countries in the Mediterranean especially Greece not to see this issue as a zero-sum game- Erdogan said. 
-I believe a win-win formula that observes everyone's rights could be found-.
Erdogan reiterated a call to gather "all the actors around the table" including the breakaway republic in northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey.
But Greece has insisted Turkey - a candidate country to join the European Union - must halt its exploration before negotiations can begin. 
Not all EU members are convinced by sanctions, with some fearing that an escalating standoff could see Erdogan's government once again allow asylum seekers to leave Turkey and cross into the bloc. 
European Council chief Charles Michel, who will host the summit, on Friday expressed Europe's frustration. 
-I think that the cat and mouse game needs to end- Michel said, referring to Turkey's repeated incursions into disputed waters with gas exploration vessels.
-We will have a debate at the European summit on December 10 and we are ready to use the means at our disposal- he said. 
Last month, Turkey pulled its research vessel Oruc Reis back to port, just as it did before a previous EU summit.&nbsp;

NATO members Turkey and Greece have been at loggerheads over maritime territory in the eastern Mediterranean

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments come at a time as EU leaders mull sanctions against Turkey, a candidate country to join the bloc, ahead of a summit.

Erdogan seeks 'win-win formula' in Greece gas row

An Australian surfer told Monday how he managed to paddle back to shore and walk hundreds of meters to get help after being attacked by a great white shark.
The 29-year-old said he had been enjoying a "normal days surfing" on Sunday on Kangaroo Island -- off Australia's southern coast -- when he had a sensation of "being hit by a truck" on his left side.
-It bit me around my back, buttock and elbow and took a chunk out of my board- the surfer said in a statement.
-I got a glimpse of the shark as it let go and disappeared.-
Police said a member of the public took the man from D'Estrees Bay and was met by paramedics while on route to the island's main city of Kingscote.
Ambulance leader Michael Rushby told Nine News he helped stabilize the man, who was suffering from "serious lacerations" before organising an emergency airlift to the mainland.
South Australia Police said the man's injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
-I'm feeling incredibly lucky and grateful, and I'm optimistic I'll make a full recovery- the man said in his statement.
There have been eight fatal shark attacks in Australian waters so far this year, according to statistics maintained by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia.

-It bit me around my back, buttock and elbow and took a chunk out of my board- the surfer said in a statement

The attack happened on Kangaroo Island, off Australia's southern coast yesterday

Australian surfer survives great white shark attack

Global coronavirus infections passed 65 million on Friday and countries doubled down on restrictions, even as plans to roll out vaccines gathered pace.
Joe Biden said he would ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days when he takes over as president of the United States, the world's worst-hit country from a pandemic that has now killed more than 1.5 million people across the planet.
-I'm going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask - not forever- Biden told CNN on Thursday.
The US is among the countries posting all-time highs in daily deaths this week along with Italy, which is undergoing a dramatic resurgence after it largely tamped down its earlier outbreak by enforcing a strict lockdown in the spring.
The alarming spikes come after more positive news on vaccine development, with US-based Moderna announcing its candidate drug confers immunity for at least three months.
To build trust in vaccines after they are approved, 78-year-old Biden said he was willing to be vaccinated in public - following up on similar commitments from former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Biden also used the CNN interview to say he had asked the government's top infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci to join his Covid team and serve as a chief medical adviser.
But in a sign of the difficult work ahead, California announced new statewide bans on gatherings and non-essential activities, as hospitals in the nation's most populous state face being overwhelmed.

The pandemic is showing little sign of slowing, with the daily global death toll in recent weeks reaching its highest rate since the virus emerged in China late last year.
However, the rapid development of several vaccines has provided respite from the dismal cycle of lockdowns and surging cases.
Britain on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve a vaccine for general use, piling pressure on other countries to swiftly follow suit.
But Fauci said Britain had rushed its approval process.
-In all fairness to so many of my UK friends, you know, they kind of ran around the corner of the marathon and joined it in the last mile- he told CBS, although he later said he had not meant to imply "any sloppiness".
Britain's regulator hit back on Friday, saying: "No vaccine would be authorised for supply in the UK unless the expected standards of safety, quality and efficacy are met."
Other nations are also moving ahead with plans to roll out the vaccines. Belgium and France have said jabs would begin in January for the most vulnerable.
But officials were not the only ones to focusing on vaccines. 
IBM said on Thursday that hackers had targeted companies involved in the effort to distribute doses around the world.
The firm said it was not sure if the cyberattacks had been successful or who was behind them, but the precision of the operation had "the potential hallmarks of nation-state tradecraft".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that even if vaccines were quickly approved, the world would still be fighting the pandemic's aftershocks.
-Let's not fool ourselves. A vaccine cannot undo damage that will stretch across years, even decades to come- Guterres said while opening a special UN summit on the virus. 
The worlds of sport and culture are still grappling with the pandemic's society-altering effects.
On Thursday, Warner Bros. studio said it would release its entire 2021 schedule of movies on HBO Max streaming and in theatres simultaneously -- a paradigm shift for the cinema industry.
And the organisers of the Tokyo Olympics, which will take place one year later than planned, said Friday the postponement would inflate its already bloated budget by a further $2.4 billion. 
But some English football supporters were given a reminder of pre-pandemic days as Arsenal welcomed a crowd of 2,000 for Thursday's Europa League win over Rapid Vienna.
It was the first time in 270 days that fans were back inside a Premier League ground.
-It's just great to have that sound back and have our 12th man back- said Arsenal midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Britain on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve a vaccine for general use

Global coronavirus infections passed 65 million on Friday

Global virus cases top 65 million as nations plan for vaccine

A yellow fever outbreak in Nigeria has killed 172 people so far, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The outbreak poses an extra challenge to the country's health system as Africa's most populous nation deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, several concurrent disease outbreaks and a humanitarian crisis in the northeast, the WHO said.
Nigeria has been battling successive yellow fever outbreaks since 2017. This latest outbreak was detected in November, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.
-As of November 24, the outbreak has been reported in five states in Nigeria: Delta, Enugu, Bauchi, Benue and Ebonyi- he said.
-A total of 530 suspected cases have been reported, including 48 that have been confirmed by lab testing.
--A total of 172 deaths have been reported out of those 530 suspected cases."-He said sample testing was ongoing through national reference laboratories.
The spokesman said Nigerian national and state authorities were focused on the Covid-19 pandemic response, limiting the human resources required to conduct investigations and response activities for the yellow fever outbreaks.
Capacity has been increased in certain hospitals to help manage patients who develop yellow fever symptoms and complications.
Currently, 16 of Nigeria's 36 states and the federal capital territory have completed vaccination campaigns.
Six more are expected to do so in the first quarter of 2021, with a further six set to do so by the end of next year, bringing the total to 28, the WHO said.
The percentage of people immunised against yellow fever remains low in many parts of Africa, even though the vaccine is nearly 100 percent effective and relatively cheap.
There is no specific treatment for yellow fever, which is largely transmitted in urban settings by mosquitoes.
Nigeria - like the rest of Africa - has so far been spared the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic but authorities are wary of a fresh wave. 
So far, more than 68,300 cases of Covid-19 have been registered, and 1,179 deaths.

The outbreak has been reported in five states in Nigeria: Delta, Enugu, Bauchi, Benue and Ebonyi

A total of 530 suspected cases have been reported, including 48 that have been confirmed by lab testing

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Swedish prosecutors said Thursday they no longer suspected a woman of holding her son captive in their apartment for decades, saying he had not been held against his will.
Police had arrested the 70-year-old mother earlier this week, initially saying the 41-year-old man had been "locked up for a very long time" in their apartment in a southern Stockholm suburb.
Media reports quoted the man's sister, who hadn't seen her brother in 20 years, as saying that the mother had pulled her son out of school when he was 12 and isolated him from the outside world for 28 years. 
The sister explained she had gone to the apartment on Sunday after learning the mother had been admitted to hospital.
She found her brother undernourished with infected sores on his legs, almost no teeth and laboured speech.
He was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery. Doctors alerted police to the man's condition.
The mother was initially detained on suspicion of illegal deprivation of liberty and causing grievous bodily harm, but was released on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Emma Olsson told AFP the woman was no longer a suspect, after the investigation determined that the man had not been physically restrained from leaving the apartment.
-We haven't found any indications that he has been locked up, tied up or physically prevented from leaving the scene. There are no indications that there have been locked spaces- Olsson said.
-The man himself has said that it was up to him if he wanted to leave the apartment- she added.
-He's an adult and could go out if he wanted- she said, adding that witnesses had seen him outside on occasion.
She said a medical examination had also shown no signs of violence.
-He has no injuries that are consistent with violence. The sores are due to illness, sores that have become infected.- 
Olsson said social services were investigating the case, in particular the reports about him being removed from school at a young age and isolated at home.
Asked if that could be considered a crime, Olsson said that "in such a case the statute of limitations would have expired long ago."
-One can question her suitability as a mother, but this is now up to social services to look into- she said.
-Society now needs to help this man, and this woman too. And make sure that we can prevent this kind of thing from happening again.-

He has no injuries that are consistent with violence

A police technician prepares for the examination of an apartment in Haninge, which is south of Stockholm, on Tuesday.

Swedish mum no longer suspected of holding son captive

Climate change has become the biggest threat to UN-listed natural world heritage sites like glaciers and wetlands, and has pushed Australia's Great Barrier Reef into "critical" condition, conservationists said Wednesday.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revealed in a new report that shifts due to the changing climate now imperil a full third of the 252 UNESCO-listed natural sites around the globe.
Overall, 94 of the sites are facing significant or critical risk from a wide range of factors - including tourism, hunting, fire and water pollution -- marking an increase from the 62 listed in the previous study published in 2017. 
The study also hinted that the Covid-19 pandemic was taking a toll on some of the world's most beautiful and precious natural places.
However, climate change is by far the biggest single threat.
It constitutes a high or very high risk factor at 83 of the sites, and has thus overtaken invasive and non-native species, which topped the threat list three years ago.
The report "reveals the damage climate change is wreaking on natural World Heritage, from shrinking glaciers to coral bleaching to increasingly frequent and severe fires and droughts," IUCN director-general Bruno Oberle said in a statement.
-This report signals the urgency with which we must tackle environmental challenges together at the planetary scale.-
The coronavirus crisis had showed the need for the global community to "stand together and work as one for the common good," the IUCN report said.

Since its assessment had begun before the novel coronavirus first surfaced late last year, IUCN said it had systematically recorded how the crisis was affecting the World Heritage sites.
But the report said it was becoming clear that the pandemic and associated restrictions were impacting or had the potential to impact more than 50 of the sites.
Some of the effects were positive, "most notably a decrease in pressure from tourism visitation on natural ecosystems," it said, warning though that "negative factors are numerous."
It pointed to how the closing of sites to tourism were causing a significant loss of revenues and livelihoods, as well as how limits on in-person staffing had led to reduced control over illegal activities.
-These factors are increasing the risk of wildlife poaching and illegal use of natural resources, with incidents recorded in some sites since the pandemic- the report said.
Overall, the study found that 30 percent of the sites faced "significant" threats, and seven percent are considered "critical", meaning they "require urgent, additional and large-scale conservation measures" to be saved.
Alarmingly, two new sites have been moved up into the critical category since 2017, including the world's largest coral reef.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef has seen dramatic coral decline amid ocean warming, acidification and extreme weather, which in turn has resulted in shrinking populations of marine species, the report found.
Protected areas in Mexico's Gulf of California are also among the sites now deemed in critical condition, joining the likes of the Everglades National Park in the United States and Lake Turkana in Kenya, which already figured on the list. 
The IUCN report said climate change had also exacerbated the spread of invasive species in a number of areas, including South Africa's Cape Flora Region Protected Areas.
Brazil's Pantanal Conservation Area was meanwhile badly damaged by unprecedented wildfires in 2019 and 2020.
Meanwhile, the rapidly-melting Kaskawulsh Glacier had altered the river course, depleting fish populations in the Kluane site in Canada and the United States.
The IUCN report found that eight sites had improved since 2017, but double as many have deteriorated in that time.

94 of the sites are facing significant or critical risk from a wide range of factors

The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Australia has suffered coral bleaching

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World

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Parents demand rescue of kidnapped schoolboys

U.S. court to hear appeal challenging order blocking TikTok app store ban

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Nobel-winning UN food agency warns of 'hunger pandemic' worse than Covid

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Biden picks Becerra as health secretary as he builds team to battle COVID-19

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Yellow fever claims 172 lives in Nigeria: WHO

Swedish mum no longer suspected of holding son captive

Climate change biggest threat to natural World Heritage sites