December 3, 2021

*) US reports Omicron cases in multiple states Hawaii has found a case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, officials said, becoming the fifth US state to detect the variant. This brings the total number of reported infections in the country to nine. Earlier, New York reported five such cases. Scientists have been working to understand how dangerous is the new variant, which was first detected in South Africa and has now spread to many parts of the world. *) UN urged to investigate war crimes in Yemen More than 60 activist groups, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have called on the UN to investigate possible war crimes by all sides in Yemen's conflict. They accused Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of an "aggressive lobbying campaign" to quash that Geneva-based expert panel set up four years ago. More than 100,000 people have been killed and 4 million displaced in the war marked by Saudi-led coalition air strikes as well as shelling and missiles by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. *) US, EU and allies hit Belarus with coordinated sanctions The United States, European Union, Britain and Canada have slapped simultaneous sanctions on dozens of officials, organisations and companies in Belarus. The EU, meanwhile, imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 17 more people, including senior border guard and military officials, government representatives and judges. Belarus has has been accused of encouraging migrants to illegally cross the border into the EU in revenge for previous sanctions slapped on Minsk over human rights abuses. *) Iran offers European parties new commitments to restore nuclear deal Iran has provided European powers with drafts on sanctions removal and nuclear commitments as world powers and Tehran try to reinstate the nuclear deal. The development came after three days of indirect talks between Iran and the United States on bringing both fully back into the deal. In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump abandoned the deal, calling it too soft on Iran and reimposed ha