World News in Brief: January 30

Authorities are rushing to prevent an oil spill in eastern Thailand from damaging fragile corals, after officials said on Sunday the leak that began last week was drifting towards more coastal areas.

Russia reported a record daily number of COVID-19 cases on Sunday as the Omicron variant of coronavirus has spread, authorities said.
Russia reported a record daily number of COVID-19 cases on Sunday as the Omicron variant of coronavirus has spread, authorities said.

* Russia will ask NATO to clarify whether it intends to implement key security commitments, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday, after Moscow said the alliance's response to its demands did not go far enough.

* The picture on Ukraine's border with Russia is "increasingly concerning", British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday.

* Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday on the first such visit, his office said, seeking to strengthen Gulf ties at a time of heightened regional tension as world powers try to revive a nuclear deal with Iran.

* French President Emmanuel Macron in a discussion with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday said a deal on Iran's nuclear activities was still possible but insisted on the need to boost efforts, Macron's office said on Sunday.

* Portuguese voters went to the polls on Sunday in a parliamentary election with no clear winner in sight and uncertainty increased by potentially low turnout amid record coronavirus infections.

* President Tayyip Erdogan repeated his unorthodox economic policy on Saturday, saying interest rates would be lowered further and inflation would fall as a result, days before inflation data for January is announced, adding Turkey's economic woes would pass.

* Indian troops on Sunday killed five militants, including a top commander from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group, in stepped-up anti-militancy operations in Kashmir, police said.

* Thirty-four new COVID-19 infections were detected among Olympics-related personnel, the Beijing 2022 Winter Games organising committee said on Sunday, including Poland's short track medal hopeful Natalia Maliszewska.

* Mexico's Health Ministry on Saturday reported 522 more fatalities from COVID-19 and 42,582 new infections, bringing the overall death toll since the pandemic began to 305,762 and the number of cases to 4,916,143.

* Italy reported 137,147 COVID-19 related cases on Saturday, against 143,898 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths was virtually stable at 377 against 378.

* Thousands of truck drivers from Argentina were stuck at the Chilean border on Saturday due to slow COVID-19 testing, as Chile faced its second transport delay crisis.

* Turkey has recorded 94,783 new COVID-19 cases in the space of 24 hours, its highest daily figure of the pandemic, health ministry data showed on Saturday, but Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the worst of the pandemic was over.

* Britain reported a further 72,727 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and 296 more deaths, government statistics showed.

* Hungary's daily tally of new COVID-19 cases could reach 30,000 in the next one to two weeks, up from about 20,000 this week, a government minister said on Saturday.

* Austria will begin easing COVID-19 related restrictions next week, Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference on Saturday, allowing shops and restaurants to remain open longer and easing restriction on the unvaccinated.

* A storm hit coastal areas in northern Germany overnight, disrupting train services and prompting flood warnings including in the port city of Hamburg, emergency officials said on Sunday.

* Thirteen people were killed when their van overturned and flipped into a ditch on a highway in central Mexico, leaving another 10 people injured, officials said on Saturday.

Reuters