A higher, 100 microgram booster dose of the same vaccine drove antibody levels even higher – more than 80 times pre-boost levels. read moreBurton said it would be up to governments and regulators to gauge whether they want the enhanced level of protection that a 100 microgram dose might confer. The company said that the 100 microgram dose was generally safe and well tolerated, although there was a trend toward slightly more frequent adverse reactions. U.S. regulators authorized the 50 microgram booster of Moderna’s vaccine in October. Several studies have suggested that Moderna’s vaccine is likely to cause the heart inflammation at a higher rate.

HONG KONG (AP) — Pro-Beijing candidates dominated Hong Kong’s legislative elections, beating out moderates and independents in the city’s first public poll after Beijing passed a resolution to amend the city’s election laws. Candidates loyal to Beijing won a majority of the seats in Sunday’s election after the laws were changed to ensure that only pro-Beijing “patriots” could run the city. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said during a news conference Monday she was “satisfied” with the election despite a 30.2% voter turnout — the lowest since the British handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997. Lam is expected to travel to Beijing later Monday on a duty-reporting trip, which she says is to give a full account to Beijing on the latest political and economic situation in Hong Kong. “I expect to cover a wide range of issues on this particular duty visit because through two very decisive acts of the central authorities, Hong Kong is now back on the right track of ‘one country, two systems,’” she said.

(AP) — The COVID-19 omicron variant is “just raging around the world,” the White House’s top medical adviser said Sunday as President Joe Biden prepares to issue “a stark warning of what the winter will look like” for unvaccinated Americans. It is just, you know, raging through the world, really,” Fauci said. I think most scientists did not — upon whose advice and direction we have relied — didn’t see delta coming.” She added: “We didn’t see omicron coming. Fauci told NBC he saw the variants coming and he thought Harris’ statement “was taken a bit out of context,” adding he believed she was referring to “the extraordinary number of mutations … particularly with omicron. No one had expected it that much but we were well-prepared and expected that we were going to see variants.”

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The fate of the 2022 African Cup of Nations scheduled in Cameroon on January remains unclear, owing to a lack of agreement on when the tournament should be held and coronavirus complications. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced holding the African Cup of Nations from January 9 to February 6, amid a refusal from the European clubs to send their players in light of the fears about the omicron variant spreading across African nations. According to sources, Infantino is expected to present two solutions to the executive office of the CAF in order to save the tournament. The first is to postpone it, and the second solution is to hold the tournament without professional players in Europe. This idea came to the first official in FIFA after the great success that took place in FIFA Arab Cup 2021, despite being held without professional players from European clubs.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed its rejection of a German government statement commenting on an upcoming trial session of lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer and other defendants before the Egyptian judiciary. With this we see double standards.”The Foreign Ministry statement stressed that it “reaffirms once again its complete rejection of interference in internal affairs, the necessity of respecting the rule of law and the constitution of the Egyptian state, and that assuming a specific outcome is totally rejected because this represents a waste of the judiciary and justice, the principles of the rule of law, and the provisions of the Constitution”. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry concluded its statement by saying, “It is better for the German government to pay attention to its internal challenges, rather than imposing its guardianship on others.”The German Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, that “the upcoming pronouncement of a judgment on 20 December 2021 in the trial of the lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer will show where the human rights situation in Egypt is heading. ”It added that “the German Government expects the Egyptian Government to work to ensure that Mr El-Baqer receives a fair trial and is released, along with his co-defendants Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed Ibrahim. Lawyers must not be punished for practicing their profession.”“We welcome the most recent steps by the Egyptian Government to improve the human rights situation, including by introducing Egypt’s first national strategy for human rights in September 2021, and we will follow its implementation with great interest,” the statement said.

The Chairman of the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) Abdel Moneim al-Tarras received on Sunday Minister of Electricity in Yemen Anwar Kalashat, and the accompanying delegation, to discuss Egypt’s contribution to helping rebuilding Yemen. The meeting covered the experience Egyptian institutions, led by the AOI – the industrial backer of the Egyptian state – hold to participate in plans for the reconstruction and development of Yemen. During his visit to the AOI production display, Kalashat stressed his country’s keenness to strengthen partnership and cooperation relations with Egypt, a leading country in the Arab world. He pointed out the Yemen is keen to develop bilateral relations, welcome Egyptian investors in all fields to utilize untapped Yemeni energies and wealth. Kalashat discussed long-term joint partnerships with the AOI, in all fields of industry, training, digital transformation, information transfer and participation in development projects in Yemen in accordance with international quality standards.

CAIRO- 19 December 2021: The first three cases infected with Omicron variant and isolated in Egyptian isolation hospitals are completely stable, said Egyptian Acting Health MinisterKhaled Abdel Ghaffar on Sunday. He added during the inauguration of the national campaign for polio vaccination that two cases have no disease symptoms, while the third case suffers from minor symptoms. “No worries about Omicron, he said, adding that Isolation and health hospitals are fully prepared for any changes that may occur due to Omicron. More than 550,000 citizens are being vaccinated daily with various doses of the Coronavirus vaccine, the Acting Minister said. The four-day national polio vaccination campaign was launched on Sunday nationwide.

The Youth Love Egypt (YLE) Foundation organized a cycle marathon in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on FridayCAIRO – 18 December 2021: Egypt named the year 2016 as the year of youths, since then, building youth capacity became on the state’s radar and part of its development agenda. As young people, below 40 years, represent about 60 percent of the Egyptian population, capacity-building, training and empowerment plans were adopted at different state agencies. The state has also announced the National Academy for Youth Training and Rehabilitation, supported the partisan participation of youth Launching the Youth Parties' Coordination, and launched the New Republic's Youth Union. 4- Established 11 incubators all over Egypt, benefiting more than 340 young men and women, with 10 feddans for each young man. 7- Provided more than 40 thousand job opportunities for young people to provide more than 40 thousand jobs for young people.

(Reuters) - Dominant Inter Milan notched a sixth consecutive Serie A victory by thrashing bottom side Salernitana 5-0 in Salerno on Friday to stretch their lead at the top of the standings to four points. The champions are on an unstoppable run of league form, winning their last five games without conceding a goal and going ten matches without defeat. I made some changes but you couldn’t tell, everyone was involved," Inter coach Simone Inzaghi told Sky Italia. Inter are top with 43 points, four clear of AC Milan in second, who play Napoli on Sunday evening. The Ukrainian has picked up one point from his first six league games in charge and his side are 19th with 10 points, while Lazio climbed to eighth with 28 points.

CAIRO- 17 December 2021: Egypt’s Cabinet approved to give COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for those who were fully-vaccinated more than six months ago. The Acting Minister said that 23 million booster doses will be provided until June 30, 2022. On Thursday evening, the Health Ministry said 901 new coronavirus cases were detected in 24 hours in Egypt, upping the total number of infections to 372,599. Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said 31 patients died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 21,234. He added that the ministry has already used 48 million doses in vaccination so far, with about 51 million doses remaining ready for use.

(Reuters) - Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has called for the Premier League to offer more clarity on the games being postponed due to COVID-19, telling reporters on Friday that transparency was essential to maintain fairness. The Premier League has postponed the games that were scheduled for the weekend due to COVID-19 outbreaks at various clubs. Arsenal's trip to Leeds United on Saturday, however, is set to go ahead. Arteta also stressed the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and said there were no positive cases in the Arsenal camp but added that the situation was changing every day. Yes, we try to do the right thing and it's a really personal matter.

ANKARA, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Turkey will hike its minimum wage by a massive 50% to 4,250 lira ($275.44) per month next year to address a currency crash and inflation spike, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday. The dollar value of the 2021 minimum wage – some 2,825 lira monthly – has tumbled to $185 from $380 at the start of the year due to the currency crisis, Turkey’s second in four years. The government would also lift taxes on the minimum wage to ease burdens on employers, he said. read more“Our currency is known, and it is the lira, and we will not let it be swallowed,” Erdogan said. Erdogan said stability will be ensured with new measures in the coming days, but did not specify what they were.

CAIRO-17 December 2021: Trent Alexander-Arnold, England and Liverpool defender, praised the current form of his Egyptian teammate, Mohamed Salah, after Liverpool's 3-1 victory over Newcastle United on Thursday night. Salah and Alexander-Arnold were on the scoresheet, moving the Reds back within one point behind the league leaders, Manchester City. "He's the best player in the world right now - that goes without saying. He wants to break every single record and write his name in the history book. The English defender stated.

The Health Ministry determined the type of the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine that some groups will receive to enhance their immunity, hours after the Cabinet announced, in its weekly meeting, the approval of granting a booster dose of the vaccine. The third dose should be received six months after receiving the second dose, according to the ministry. The target group will receive messages for the third dose to determine the time and place of receiving the vaccine..Whoever receives the first and second doses of the Sinovac vaccine will receive the third booster dose of one of the following vaccines Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Sinofarm, and whoever receives the first and second doses of AstraZeneca vaccine gets the third booster dose of Pfizer or Moderna. Whoever gets the first and second dose of Johnson’s vaccine, gets the third booster dose of Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca. As for those who receive the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine, will receive the third booster dose of Moderna or AstraZeneca, and whoever receives the first and second doses of the Moderna vaccine will receive the third booster dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca.