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GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization expressed concerns Thursday that rich countries spooked by the emergence of the omicron variant could step up the hoarding of COVID-19 vaccines and strain global supplies again, complicating efforts to stamp out the pandemic.

The U.N. health agency, after a meeting of its expert panel on vaccination, reiterated its advice to governments against the widespread use of boosters in their populations so that well-stocked countries instead can send doses to low-income countries that have largely lacked access to them.

 GENEVA, Dec 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Omicron variant appears to be no worse than other coronavirus strains, top scientists from the WHO and the United States said, while cautioning that more research is needed to judge its
severity.

  The hopeful assessments came as global concern grew over the heavilymutated variant, which has forced dozens of nations to re-impose borderrestrictions and raised the possibility of a return of economically punishing lockdowns.

08 Dec 2021; MEMO: The human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is "disastrous", UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said yesterday.

GENEVA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist on Friday urged people not to panic over the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and said it was too early to say if COVID-19 vaccines would have to be modified to fight it.

Speaking in an interview at the Reuters Next conference,

Soumya Swaminathan also said it was impossible to predict if Omicron would become the dominant strain.

GENEVA, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World Health Organization member states agreed to start building a new international accord on how to handle future pandemics and ensure there can be no repeat of Covid-19.

   The economic turmoil and millions of lives lost during the coronavirus crisis triggered calls for new international defences strong enough to prevent a future such disaster.

GENEVA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Sixty-seven World Trade Organization members agreed on Thursday to pare back regulations such as licensing requirements placed on service providers operating in foreign countries, a move that could save $150 billion in annual trade costs.

The group of developed and some developing countries from Peru to the Philippines committed to greater transparency, legal certainty and an easier regulatory process with electronic applications and clear and reasonable fees.

GENEVA, Dec 01 (APP): The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has voiced deep concern at the recent arrest of Khurram Parvez, a leading human rights defender in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) under a draconian anti-terrorism law, and called for his release.

“We are deeply concerned at the arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez under Indian counter-terrorism legislation, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),” OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville said in a statement issued in Geneva on Wednesday.

GENEVA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- A special session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) kicked off here on Monday amid growing concerns over the latest Omicron coronavirus variant, where the participants aim to negotiate a new "pandemic treaty."

LEGALLY BINDING PANDEMIC TREATY

GENEVA, Nov 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Trade Organization (WTO) became the first major diplomatic casualty of the new coronavirus variant on Friday when it postponed its first ministerial meeting in four years due to the deteriorating health situation.

Ministers from WTO members were due to have gathered next week for a meeting widely seen as a test of the WTO’s relevance.

GENEVA, Nov 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World nations will gather Monday to thrash out whether to pursue a pandemic treaty setting out how to handle the next crisis — which experts fear is only a matter of time.

  The three-day meeting at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva comes with the planet still besieged by Covid-19, nearly two years on from the first recorded cases.

  The economic turmoil and millions of lives lost have triggered calls for new international defences strong enough to prevent a repeat disaster.