World News Roundup: UK PM Johnson apologises for attending lockdown party; Irish minister confident of easing COVID curbs from February and more

Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last month that veteran Governor Riad Salameh, who is at the centre of domestic and international probes over allegations ranging from fraud to embezzlement, should stay in his job to avoid adding to problems in Lebanon as it navigates a deep financial crisis. UK population growth to slow dramatically The United Kingdom's population growth is projected to slow dramatically in the next decade, largely due to lower assumptions about future fertility levels making net immigration a crucial variable over coming decades.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

UK PM Johnson apologises for attending lockdown party

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologised on Wednesday for attending a "bring your own booze" gathering at his official residence during the first coronavirus lockdown as opponents said he had to resign. Johnson admitted for the first time he had attended the party at Downing Street on May 20, 2020, when social gatherings were limited to a bare minimum and said he understood the anger that the revelations had caused.

Irish minister confident of easing COVID curbs from February

Ireland should be in a position to start easing restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19 from next month once the number of people requiring critical care remains stable, a senior minister said on Wednesday. Ireland has the second highest incidence rate of COVID-19 in Europe but also one of the continent's highest uptake of booster vaccines, helping keep the number of patients in intensive care stable and well below the peak of previous waves of the disease.

Lebanon's PM denies meddling in judiciary over financial probe

Lebanon's prime minister said on Wednesday the government had not interfered with the judiciary's work, after reports that he had put pressure on a judge who is seeking data from banks in an investigation into the conduct of the central bank governor. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last month that veteran Governor Riad Salameh, who is at the centre of domestic and international probes over allegations ranging from fraud to embezzlement, should stay in his job to avoid adding to problems in Lebanon as it navigates a deep financial crisis.

UK population growth to slow dramatically

The United Kingdom's population growth is projected to slow dramatically in the next decade, largely due to lower assumptions about future fertility levels making net immigration a crucial variable over coming decades. The United Kingdom's population is projected to grow 3.2% to 69.2 million in the decade to 2030, up from 67.1 million in 2020. In the decade to 2020, the population grew by 4.3 million, or 6.9%.

Cambodia shelves first ASEAN meeting over attendance 'difficulties'

Cambodia said on Wednesday it had postponed a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) scheduled for next week, because some ministers had expressed "difficulties" in attending. The meeting was the first under Cambodia's chairmanship of the 10-member bloc, which comes amid divisions on how to deal with https://reut.rs/30NQFot the military that seized power in Myanmar last year and has led a bloody crackdown on thousands of its opponents.

'No ultimatums': Russia sets out security demands at NATO meeting

Russia laid out its demands for security guarantees in Europe to NATO's 30 allies on Wednesday but insisted they were not ultimatums following intense talks with the United States in Geneva that failed to break the deadlock. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg received Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko at allied headquarters to try to defuse the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War over Russia massing troops near its border with Ukraine.

Car bomb in Somali capital kills eight - ambulance services director

A car bomb exploded on a road leading to the airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, killing at least eight people, the head of the city's ambulance services said. Mogadishu resident Mohamed Osman said the shock of the blast hit the walls and roof of a mosque he was praying in nearby.

Tunisia to restore curfew and ban gatherings over COVID

Tunisia will re-impose a night curfew and ban all gatherings for two weeks starting from Thursday to counter the rapid spread of COVID-19, the government said on Wednesday in a move critics decried as aimed at stopping protests. The ban on gatherings and a request to avoid travel within the country except for emergencies comes two days before a planned demonstration against President Kais Saied called by major political parties.

'Children should be playing': Pope pleads for fight against child labour

Pope Francis on Wednesday urged governments to combat child labour, saying it was terrible that children who should be playing are instead working as adults or scavenging in garbage dumps for something to sell. Speaking at his weekly general audience Francis also lamented that in many countries people were being exploited in the unofficial, underground economy, working without benefits or legal protection.

China's Omicron-hit Tianjin launches new tests; Toyota idles local plant

The Chinese port city of Tianjin began a new round of testing of its 14 million residents on Wednesday to contain the Omicron variant, as analysts warned of the growing economic costs to China of curbs to extinguish clusters of coronavirus infections. Japanese automaker Toyota said operations at its joint-venture in Tianjin, which has annual production capacity of 620,000 vehicles, had been halted since Monday due to the impact on suppliers of mandatory COVID-19 testing of city residents.

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