A major sell-off in technology company stocks pushed US market to close lower and post weekly declines amid weak jobs report of last month and omicron COVID-19 variant worries. 

The Nasdaq plummeted 295 points, or 1.92%, to close at 15,085. The tech-heavy index lost 2.6% for the week.

The S&P 500 fell 38, or 0.84%, to end the day at 4,538 points. It declined 1.2% this week, posting its second consecutive weekly loss.

The Dow Jones lost 59 points, or 0.17%, to close at 34,580. The blue-chip index saw a weekly loss of 0.9% -- its fourth weekly decline in a row.

US economy added 210,000 jobs in November, going much lower than market estimate of 550,000 in November, and showing that the labor market in the world's largest economy is far from full recovery.

After the first case of the omicron variant seen in the state of California, Minnesota became the second state in the country to see the new variant and New York state confirmed five cases of omicron, which created fear and uncertainty among investors.

In a highly volatile week, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, soared 10% to 30.75 for the second time this week -- a level that was last seen on March 5.

The dollar index was steady at 96.16, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes fell 6.4% to 1.356%.

Crude prices were mixed with Brent crude was trading at $70.16 per barrel with a 0.7% gain, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was steady at $66.53.

Precious metals were on the rise with gold gaining 0.9% to $1,785 an ounce, and silver increasing 0.7% to $22.54./aa

Oil prices lost more than 4% during the week ending Dec. 3 due to investor concerns of lower demand from the spread of the new COVID-19 variant and over uncertainties in the OPEC+ production scheme.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $71.60 per barrel at 1222 GMT on Friday, posting a 4.03% loss from the Monday session that opened at $74.61 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) registered at $68.33 per barrel at the same time on Friday, decreasing 4.51% relative to the opening price of $71.56 a barrel on Monday.

Oil prices last week posted the largest daily drop of 10% since April last year, as the new coronavirus variant, omicron, alarmed investors of a possible decrease in demand.

The bearish sentiment continued up to Thursday when major oil producers met to discuss their production volume for January.

OPEC+ producers agreed to extend the existing deal to incrementally increase production cuts amid several concerns caused by omicron and the US-led international initiative to sell oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to reduce high energy prices.

The OPEC+ cartel will raise production by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January. However, the group promised to monitor developments over omicron until their next meeting on Jan. 4, and 'make immediate adjustments if required.”

Prices started to claw back after the OPEC+ decision with investor confidence boosted that major oil producers will intervene in any pandemic-related fluctuations.

Investors are now monitoring whether the group will pause the output increase if oil demand weakens again due to worsening COVID-19 restrictions./aa

Prosecutor in the US state of Michigan announced Friday the parents of a suspected school shooter will each face four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

The four counts relate to the four students who were killed by shooting suspect 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, on Tuesday afternoon, at Oxford High School, northwest of Detroit.

It is a very rare move for prosecutors to charge parents when their child is involved in a mass shooting, but Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said the behavior of Jennifer and James Crumbley was "so egregious, unconscionable. It is criminal."

Ethan Crumbley is charged with four counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder, for the seven others who survived.

McDonald laid out the evidence against the parents: James Crumbley purchased the semiautomatic gun at a local gun shop with his son Ethan on Nov. 26, four days before the shooting, and Ethan later posted a photo of himself with the gun to social media with the words "Just got my new beauty today, any questions, I will answer." 15-year-olds are not allowed to possess guns under Michigan law.

Jennifer later posted a photo of herself and her son with the gun and the words "Mom and son day, testing out his new Christmas present".

Ethan was caught in class on Monday, Nov. 29, searching on his cell phone for ammunition. When a teacher called Jennifer Crumbley to let her know about the search, she did not reply, and instead she texted Ethan with the words: "LOL, I'm not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught."

The following morning, the day of the shooting, McDonald said, a teacher saw a note on Ethan's desk with drawing of a person who appeared to be shot and bleeding, along with a laughing emoji and the words "The thoughts won't stop, help me, blood everywhere. My life is useless. The world is dead."

McDonald said Ethan's parents were immediately summoned to the school and were told they were required to get Ethan into counseling within 48 hours. But the parents resisted the idea of Ethan leaving the school at the time, and the parents did not search Ethan's backpack for the presence of the gun. He returned to the classroom, and minutes later, the shooting started.

McDonald said when news of the shooting broke out, Jennifer texted her son, "Ethan, don't do it."

McDonald also revealed that the gun was stored, unlocked, in Ethan's parents' bedroom, and that as the shooting unfolded, James Crumbley called police to report that the gun was missing and that he believed his son had it.

The charges against the parents, McDonald said, are designed to hold the parents accountable "and to send a message: that gun owners have a responsibility. When they fail to uphold that responsibility, there are serious consequences. We need to do better in this country. We need to say enough is enough."

McDonald would not say whether any school officials will face any criminal negligence charges for not doing more to prevent the shooting. Legal experts say at the moment, it appears the school and the school district will likely face civil lawsuits, not criminal charges, but McDonald said the criminal investigation is on-going.

She added that Michigan's gun laws are "woefully inadequate". Unlike some states, there is no requirement in Michigan that gun owners must keep their guns safely secured from children.

After the announcement of charges, national security and legal analyst Juliett Kayyem told CNN the behavior of the parents, as outlined by the prosecutor, was "shocking".

"As this kid is showing more and more evidence of really disturbing behavior, the parents ignore it, they 'LOL' the son, then they insist with the school that he gets to stay and don't look to see where the gun is."

Kayyem said the charges against the parents are "groundbreaking".

"But it feels absolutely right in my mind. I feel there is collective national jaws dropping. Good. It's about time parents are held responsible," added Kayyem./agencies

Tunisia has reported its first case of the omicron coronavirus variant, health minister announced on Friday.

Speaking on state television, Ali Mrabet said a 23-year-old passenger travelling from the Democratic Republic of Congo was diagnosed with the variant.

He further noted the person in question was placed in quarantine at a location dedicated for the COVID-19 patients.

According to the official data, over 25,320 people in Tunisia have so far lost their lives due to COVID-19, whereas the tally of cases in the country neared 718,000.

The country has a population of some 12 million and more than 4 million of them have received two vaccine doses./aa

The European Central Bank chief on Friday said an interest rate increase in 2022 looks unlikely, despite the region struggles with record high inflation.

"Conditions to raise rates are very unlikely to be satisfied next year," Christine Lagarde said at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress.

The central bank "must not rush into a premature tightening" of its monetary policy, she added.

Lagarde's comments came at a time when inflation in the region has reached its highest level in almost 25 years.

Euro area posted an annual inflation rate of 4.9% in November, the highest rate since 1997, according to provisional figures released by Eurostat.

Although Lagarde said inflationary pressures are "unwelcome and painful," she noted that high inflation is likely to climb further until the end of this year.

She also warned that inflationary pressures would "probably" slow the pace of economic recovery in the short-term./agencies

Dutch police on Friday detained dozens of supporters of the PKK terror group in the Hague.

In a statement, the police said that a large group, who demanded action against Turkey, tried to storm the building of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at noon.

The police said it intervened and arrested nearly 50 people.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants./aa

US stocks opened higher on Friday with a decline in the November unemployment rate.

The Dow Jones was up 84 points, or 0.24%, to 34,724 at 9.37 a.m. The S&P 500 rose 17 points, or 0.37%, to 4,594.

The Nasdaq increased 19 points, or 0.13%, to 15,400.

US economy added 210,000 jobs last month, way below the market estimate of 550,000. The unemployment rate in the US decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2% in November, from 4.6% in October.

The weak gain in nonfarm payrolls suggests that the Federal Reserve could delay its first rate hike next year.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was down 4% to 26.82.

The dollar index rose slightly by 0.07% to 96.22, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes gained 1.1% to 1.465%.

Crude prices were soared around 4%. Brent crude was trading at $72.44 per barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was at $69.09.

Precious metals were mixed with gold rising 0.2% to $1,772 an ounce, but silver losing 0.1% to $22.36./aa

A World Health Organization spokesman said Friday the health body has not seen reports of deaths related to the new omicron variant of coronavirus and stressed that delta remains the focus of the fight against the pandemic.

At a UN news conference, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told journalists that the health organization is still collecting evidence on the new variant that was tracked down in southern Africa on Nov. 11 and named as omicron about a week ago.

"We have not seen reports of omicron-related deaths yet," said Lindmeier.

"Let's also not forget that the predominant variant right now still remains the delta variant. Omicron may be on the rise, and we may come to a point where it takes over as the dominant variant."

The WHO spokesman said the world needs to protect itself against the delta variant.

Since COVID-19 was first discovered nearly two years ago, the WHO has confirmed nearly 263 million cases and over 5.22 million fatalities globally.

"The more countries keep looking into and keep testing people and looking into specifically the omicron variant, we will also find more cases and more information, and hopefully not, but also possibly deaths," said Lindmeier.

After the omicron variant was tracked down in Botswana and South Africa, some countries in Europe and North American last week put severe travel restrictions on counties in the southern African region and even banned flights.

These measures drew top officials' condemnation at the UN, WHO, international travel bodies, and workers' associations.

"Instead of looking at closing borders, restrictions, and so on, it is much more preferable to prepare your country, your health system for possible incoming cases," said Lindmeier.

"We can be pretty sure that this omicron variant will spread. Delta also started somewhere. And now we have it as a predominant variant in over 90% of the world."

He said that due to the behavior of the omicron variant, "we will not be able, most likely, to keep it out of individual countries."/aa

US forces continue providing military training to YPG/PKK terrorists in Syria, according to local sources.

Sources said US Special Forces dispatched 70 soldiers to Al-Hasakah through Iraq on Nov. 28 to provide armed training to YPG/PKK members east of the Euphrates River.

The US soldiers, who arrived in the town of Rmelan -- where the US airbase is located -- started armed training for hundreds of YPG/PKK terrorists on Dec. 1.

In the training, which will last for about a month, the use of light, medium and heavy weapons, raids and infiltration methods in the villages will be taught to the terrorists.

After the training, the sources, who asked not to be named, said that some of the terrorists will be sent to the Ash Shaddadi district in Al-Hasakah and the Omar Oil Field in Deir Ez-Zor, while the remaining terrorists would stay in Rmelan.

The US and France, members of the coalition against Daesh/ISIS, previously supported YPG/PKK terrorists with military training in areas of Al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor.

​​​​​​​The YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK, a designated terror group in the US, EU, and Turkey. US support for the YPG-led SDF has significantly strained relations with Ankara.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants./aa

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Friday that Europe should pay more attention to the issue of irregular migration.

Speaking at the Mediterranean Dialogues forum in Rome, Draghi said over 63,000 irregular migrants arrived in Italy this year, six times the number in 2019.

Stressing that Italy cannot control migration flows alone, he said more participation from all European countries is required in this matter.

The country will continue to support European progress towards collective problem management that strikes a balance between responsibility and solidarity, he said.

On the Libyan crisis, he said Italy supports the reconciliation and transition process in the North African country.

He said the forthcoming elections in Libya are of “vital importance for both the Libyans and the democratic future of the country.”

Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said the stabilization of Libya is their priority, adding that Libya's leading figures should work to ensure free, fair, inclusive, and reliable elections on Dec. 24.

Libya's presidential and parliamentary elections will be held under the terms of an UN-sponsored agreement reached between rivals last year.

Libyans are hoping that the elections will help to end a long-running armed conflict in the oil-rich country./agencies