December 1, 2021

*) Vaccine likely to protect against severe Covid from Omicron: BioNTech CEO BioNTech's Chief Executive Ugur Sahin says his company’s Covid-19 vaccine will "likely offer strong protection" against any severe disease from the new Omicron virus variant. BioNTech's guarded confidence contrasts with a sense of alarm conveyed by the chief executive of rival vaccine maker Moderna, Stephane Bancel. Bancel had raised the prospect of a material drop in protection against the new coronavirus lineage from current vaccines. Sahin would not be drawn on whether Omicron will become as dominant as the Delta variant. "But even if, that in itself is no reason to panic," he said. *) China 'hunting' Taiwan citizens abroad through deportation Beijing has pressured foreign governments to deport hundreds of Taiwan nationals to China in what human rights activists describe as a "hunt for Taiwanese". Over 600 Taiwanese people were extradited from various countries to China between 2016 and 2019 to "undermine Taiwanese sovereignty,” a report found. Beijing has been pressuring governments to extradite hundreds of Taiwanese people, mostly accused of telecoms fraud to China, according to the rights group Safeguard Defenders. Those extradited to China faced "arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, and forced televised confessions", the group said. *) At least three people dead in Michigan high school shooting In the US state of Michigan, a student has gone on a shooting rampage at a high school north of Detroit. The 15-year-old suspect killed three students and injured eight other people, including a teacher. Police say he was in possession of a semi-automatic handgun when taken into custody. *) Castro set to become Honduras' president as rival concedes defeat Honduras’ ruling party has conceded defeat in presidential elections, giving victory to leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro. Nasry Asfura of the National Party said in a statement that he had personally congratulated Castro, despite only about