WORLD

US President Joe Biden warned on Thursday (December 16) that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is going to spread more rapidly in the United States and that a winter of severe illness and death awaits the unvaccinated.

Getting an update on the pandemic from top health advisers, Biden also said it is past time for people to get booster shots and urged them to do so as quickly as possible.

"We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death" for the unvaccinated, Biden said.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday was questioned by lawmakers weighing his nomination to become the ambassador to India.

Garcetti during his testimony gave a statement followed by questions from lawmakers of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."Few nations are more vital to the future of American security and prosperity than India," Garcetti told the committee.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired by Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat lawmaker from New Jersey, along with only a handful of Democrats and two Republicans, stressed how Washington sees India as a key partner in its effort to push back against China's expanding power and influence.

India on Monday voted against a largely western attempt to rush the climate change issue at the United Nations Security Council, questing the need for the resolution when the issue is already being dealt under the UNFCCC or United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The resolution, which was eventually not adopted was jointly presented by Niger, the president of the body for this month, and Ireland and backed by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

In the explanation, the Indian envoy to United Nations TS Tirumurti said, "India is second to none when it comes to climate action and climate justice. But the UN Security Council is not the place to discuss either issue. In fact, the attempt to do so appears to be motivated by a desire to evade responsibility in the appropriate forum and divert the world’s attention from an unwillingness to deliver where it counts."

A historic court decision sheds light on how China has used espionage to gain a military and economic advantage over the US and the rest of the world.

US counterintelligence officials managed to lure Yanjun Xu, a senior Chinese intelligence officer, out of China in 2018 and then get him extradited to the US to stand trial for attempting to steal advanced aircraft-engine technology, which China's military has struggled to develop.

This case is only the latest in a series of espionage operations by Beijing meant to steal industrial and military secrets from the US and its allies and partners and even from Russia — theft that has allowed China's military to rapidly build its arsenals of sophisticated weapons.

UNSC reforms and expansion of its membership, with India as a permanent member, continues to be one of India's key priorities in all its bilateral and multilateral engagements including at the highest level, government told the Parliament. Government of India has been according the highest priority to obtain a permanent membership for India in an expanded United Nations Security Council, according to MoS (MEA) V Muraleedharan.

"Towards this objective, India is actively engaged in the ongoing Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on United Nations Security Council reforms at the United Nations and has been working with other reform-oriented countries through its membership of the G-4 (India, Brazil, Germany and Japan) and the L.69 Group (cross-regional grouping of developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America)," said Muraleedharan, responding to a written question in Lok Sabha.