Leaders of the EU on Thursday met via videoconference to discuss the novel coronavirus pandemic and vaccination efforts in the member states.

"The EU leaders will discuss coordination on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the large-scale roll-out of vaccines and the deployment of all available instruments to limit the spread of the virus," said an EU statement.

Possible travel measures against the acceleration of the pandemic due to the new variants of the virus will also be on the meeting's agenda.

Speaking at a press conference in the German capital Berlin ahead of the leaders' summit, Chancellor Angela Merkel urged people in Germany and Europe to take the virus variants more seriously.

"We can see the danger of the mutation of the virus more clearly now than we could at the beginning of the year," she said, adding that the mutant strain first detected in the UK was also seen in several other European countries, including Germany.

The main topic on the agenda is expected to be vaccine production and distribution amid rising criticism in EU countries over the vaccines' slow deployment.

"On vaccines, the European Commission will present a state of play on the vaccination roll-out and on how to ensure future production increases and equitable access to vaccines. The leaders will be invited to share their experience on the implementation of vaccination campaigns," the statement said.

"The leaders will also discuss the suitability of a common approach to vaccination certification within the EU," it added.

The European Commission's communication reaffirms on Tuesday the need for vaccination certificates, but it leaves it to EU governments to determine the conditions and privileges the document would allow.

Stella Kyriakides, commissioner for health, called it "premature" to talk about other uses of such certification than medical purposes, but did not rule out cross-border solutions in the future.

However, the EU body recommends that the states agree on a common approach by the end of January.

In a letter to the European Commission last week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed an EU-wide COVID-19 vaccination certificate for travel.

In an attempt to save the coming tourist season, he suggested granting free movement to those who have already been vaccinated.

Although Mitsotakis dismissed the idea of making vaccination compulsory or a prerequisite for travel, his suggestion has already divided EU leaders.

European Council President Charles Michel also warned that these travel certificates should be introduced once a great number of people already received the jabs. Otherwise, the governments risk creating enormous frustration.

The leaders will also "look at cooperation with third countries in relation to vaccines, both in the EU's neighborhood and beyond."/aa

Fifteen out of 47 counties in Kenya have been hit by a second and deadlier wave of locusts that came in through Ethiopia and Somalia, the Kenyan government announced on Thursday.

The counties hit by the deadly swarms are in Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) where most people are nomadic pastoralists who rely on livestock for living.

Agriculture Minister Peter Munya told a news conference on Thursday that Kenya, like other East African nations, is well-prepared to contain and battle the swarms in the second invasion, but the threat is far from over.

“The [East African] country is under the second invasion by desert locusts which entered from Ethiopia and Somalia. To date, 15 counties [out of 47] have reported desert locust invasion,” Munya said.

He added that a total of 75 swarms have invaded different regions in Kenya since November 2020.

Munya said that out of 75 swarms, sprayer crafts and ground teams had tackled 66 swarms, covering 19,100 hectares and registering an 80% success rate in the fight against the critters that destroy any green foliage in their path.

“We have also deployed nine surveillance and sprayer aircrafts and three are on standby. We have also deployed 21 vehicles mounted with sprayers for ground control operations,” he added.

Farmers suffer huge losses

In the Meru county, the locusts attacked just as farmers were preparing to harvest their maize plantations.

Many farmers have turned to the government for assistance in killing the critters that are eating everything in their farms. “Not even trees are spared. The ones that are in our farms are immature [locusts],” Kawira Mberia, a farmer, told Anadolu Agency.

“These immature locusts eat as much food as their body size and are the most dangerous. They have destroyed many maize plantations. Grass for dairy cows has been decimated and trees have been broken. The farmers have suffered huge losses and the government should move in to cushion us,” he added.

Mberia said most farmers are trying their best to ward off the swarms, using primitive methods but urgent help is needed to save livelihoods and prevent a state of food insecurity.

The East African desert locust intensity has also been blamed on climate change with a focus on Cyclone Gati that hit the Somalia coast in the Indian Ocean, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said.

In a statement Thursday, Etienne Peterschmitt from the UN food body said: “Rains and winds are two of the most favorable conditions for desert locusts to multiply rapidly and spread to areas where they had been under control.”/aa

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Thursday that the country will close schools primarily due to a marked increase in the highly transmissible UK variant of the coronavirus.

“Last week, data showed that the British strain had a low prevalence. This week, we’ve seen very significant growth,” he said at a news conference.

Portugal is suffering from one of the world’s worst COVID-19 infection rates. An additional 13,544 cases were detected Thursday – the second-highest surge on record.

But daily deaths reached an unprecedented high. Health officials reported 221 more lives lost from a population of a little more than 10 million.

The country entered full lockdown last Friday but schools remained open. Lockdown rules were further tightened Wednesday.

Still, experts convinced the government to take even more drastic measures Thursday, particularly due to surging infections caused by the UK variant.

Health Minister Marta Temido told Portuguese broadcaster RTP late Wednesday that the variant is responsible for around 20% of the cases sequenced in Portugal – up significantly from one week ago.

She warned the strain could make up 60% of all infections before the end of the month.

Schools will close Monday for at least 15 days, after which the measure will be re-evaluated based on the epidemiological situation.

In-person classes will not be substituted for online learning, and instead will be made up at later dates.

Schools will remain open for children under 12-years-old whose parents are essential workers.

"There isn't enough money in the world to pay for the harm that this measure inflicts on childhood development by interrupting the learning process," said Costa./aa

Some 21 bricks of cocaine hidden in banana shipments ended up at grocery shops in Canada following a bungled drug-trafficking operation, authorities have confirmed.

A local store owner in Kelowna, a small town in Central Okanagan, British Columbia province, alerted authorities after finding 12 packages of what appeared to be cocaine among a banana shipment on 24 February 2019.

The packages were seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for further investigation into their origins and intended destination.

Later that day, a second grocery shop owner contacted RCMP saying they had also discovered what they believed was a haul of the Class-A drug.

Front line officers attended and confiscated an additional nine individually wrapped bundles.

Kelowna RCMP and Canada's Border Service Agency (CBSA) subsequently launched an investigation, which concluded on Tuesday and confirmed the packages, each weighing around 1kg, were cocaine.

Investigators said the cocaine had come from Columbia and ended up in Kelowna as a result of a failed drug deal.

"The drug section of the Kelowna RCMP Street Enforcement Unit worked collaboratively with the CBSA to determine that these shipments originated in Colombia," Cpl Jeff Carroll of the Kelowna RCMP Drug Section said in a statement.

"Our investigation leads us to believe these illicit drugs were not meant to end up in the Central Okanagan and arrived here in the Okanagan Valley as a result of a missed pickup at some point along the way."

Experts estimated that the packages would have introduced upwards of 800,000 doses of crack cocaine into the Canadian illicit drug market, according to Kelowna RCMP.

That's enough for every resident in the City of Kelowna to receive nearly 6 doses each, the force added./aa

On the night that Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States, Tucker Carlson opened his primetime show on Fox News by spending about 30 seconds acknowledging what he generally described as a “peaceful transfer of power” before mocking his CNN and MSNBC competitors for what he viewed as their overly solicitous coverage of the momentous day.

But what Carlson really wanted to talk about what was the portion of Biden’s inaugural address in which he denounced “political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.”

“Those are America’s enemies, we must wage war against them,” Carlson replied. That didn’t seem to sit right with the host, who said that “not many Americans” support white supremacy and instead find it “disgusting,” as they “should.” But at the same time, he wondered, “What is it, exactly?”

“Now that we’re waging war on white supremacists, can somebody tell us in very clear language what a white supremacist is?” Carlson asked. Since Biden “controls the largest military and largest law enforcement agencies in the world” and “has now declared war,” he said, “we should know specifically and precisely who exactly he has declared war on. We have a right to know that.”

“Innocent people could be hurt in this war. They usually are,” the host continued. “There could be collateral damage in this war. And the casualties will be Americans. So again, what is a white supremacist? You might be surprised to learn just how broad the definition for that has become.”

As he went on to point out various examples of white supremacy as defined by everyone from Colin Kaepernick to the United States Army, Carlson seemed very concerned that his viewers—or god forbid even him!—might be mistaken for a white supremacist in Biden’s new “war.”

“Here’s the problem,” he said. “Let’s say you don’t buy those definitions. Let’s say you’re for example white but poor, and you have trouble accepting the idea that you are benefiting from some kind of structural advantage. You better shut up about it if you know what’s good for you because according to the United States Army, the ‘denial of white privilege’ is a classic sign of, yes, white supremacy.”

Carlson said the “kids” who work on his show were “shocked and horrified” that some people consider him to be a white supremacist, prompting advertiser boycotts.

And yet despite, among many things, saying previously that immigrants are making America “dirtier” and that the Black Lives Matter “mob” is “definitely not about Black lives,” the host insisted Wednesday night that charges like that one against him are “totally undeserved.”

Despite one of his own Fox News colleagues telling The Daily Beast last year that Carlson had created a “white supremacist cell inside the top cable network in America,” he claimed that he would never judge anyone by the color of their skin.

Now that his preferred president is officially out of the White House, however, Carslon seemed more scared than ever that the “white supremacist” label might just stick this time.

Three US soldiers were killed after an Army National Guard helicopter crashed in Mendon, New York, during a routine training mission in the evening, according to the state's National Guard.

The incident is under investigation.

Three US soldiers were killed after an Army National Guard helicopter crashed in Mendon, New York, during a routine training mission in the evening, according to the state's National Guard.

A UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopter based at the Army Aviation Support Facility at Rochester International Airport was said to have crashed, the New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs said in a statement.

The incident is under investigation.

The UH-60, which has been used by the US military for over 40 years, plays numerous roles, including air-assault and medical evacuation missions. Its crew ordinarily consists of at least a pilot, co-pilot, and a crew chief.

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A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck Turkey's western province of Izmir early Thursday, according to the country’s disaster management agency. 

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on its website that the epicenter of quake was in Seferihisar district.

Turkey is crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. Last October, a powerful 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck the country's third-largest city, Izmir, killing at least 115 people and injuring more than 1,000 others.​​​​​​​