* Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would send proposals to Washington within a week to follow up his talks with US President Joe Biden on Ukraine a day earlier.
* The head of India's armed forces, General Bipin Rawat, was among 13 people killed on Wednesday when the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed, the air force said.
* US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Britain for a Group of Seven ministers meeting before visiting Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand from Dec. 9-17, the State Department said on Wednesday.
* Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it hoped that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would receive its certification in the spring so it can begin to operate, RIA news agency reported.
* Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Reuters on Wednesday that talks between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin had enabled "deterrence and de-escalation".
* Talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Thursday in Vienna, a senior European Union official said.
* Indonesia’s volcanology agency is sending a team of researchers to the Mount Semeru volcano to identify areas too dangerous for villagers to stay after it erupted on Saturday, killing dozens of people on the slopes of Java island’s highest mountain.
* China reported 74 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Dec. 7, down from 94 a day earlier, its health authority said on Wednesday.
* EU health ministers discussed measures to try to halt the spread of the Omicron variant, with the Netherlands calling for negative tests for incoming travellers from outside the bloc and France urging tests even for those arriving from EU states.
* Preliminary evidence indicates that the Omicron variant likely has a higher degree of transmissibility but is less severe, top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said.
* Vaccine plants in the European Union are expected to produce 3.6 billion COVID-19 shots next year, out of a global output of more than 20 billion, two senior EU officials said.
* A nascent recovery in Asia-Pacific international travel demand has been set back by the Omicron variant as governments tighten rules, but airline bosses say they hope any backward moves will be short-lived.
* The African Union called for an urgent end to travel restrictions imposed on some of its member states, saying the measures effectively penalize governments for timely data sharing in line with international health regulations.
* The Omicron variant can partially evade protection from two doses of Pfizer and partner BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said on Tuesday.
* Brazil will require that unvaccinated travelers entering the country go on a five-day quarantine followed by a COVID-19 test, after its president said he opposed the use of a vaccine passport.
* Britain could implement tougher COVID-19 measures, including advice to work from home, as early as Thursday in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, according to media reports.
* The head of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Tuesday said it could soon approve the COVID-19 vaccine developed by US biotech company Novavax.
* The fifth wave of COVID-19 hitting France has not yet reached its peak, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday, and the cabinet's top adviser on the coronavirus indicated a fourth vaccine shot to fight the disease was possible.
* A rebound in market sentiment continued in early European trading on Wednesday, with world shares set for their biggest two-day jump since November last year as investors became less concerned about the Omicron variant.
* Austria will let a wide range of businesses, from non-essential shops to theatres, restaurants and hairdressers reopen when its COVID-19 lockdown ends on Sunday, the government said on Wednesday, but many regions will open up more cautiously.
* Kuwait has detected its first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, state news agency KUNA reported on Wednesday.
