UK issues allergy warning over Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, I have no case to answer, Maina tells Court and more

Since China imposed a security law on Hong Kong, more than 100,000 people have left. The UK has offered a special visa to its former colony, and 70% of Hong Kong's population is eligible. But for those who've fled, it's difficult to leave home behind.

Lawmakers in the United States have voted to raise the government's borrowing limit by $2.5 trillion, narrowly avoiding a catastrophic default. The Senate passed the measure 50-49. The new debt ceiling will give the US government enough space to borrow until 2023, after the midterm elections. Focus in Washington will now return to whether President Joe Biden can get his $1.75 trillion social spending plan, "Build Back Better", passed by the end of the year.

Will Jacob Zuma return to prison? South Africa's highest court orders the former president to be re-incarcerated after setting aside an earlier decision to release him on medical parole. Meanwhile, the country records close to 27,000 new Covid-19 cases, an all-time record. Plus, European football clubs say they may not release their African players to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations, amid fears surrounding the tournament's Covid-19 health protocol.

The omicron coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly in the UK, where the number of daily infections has hit a record high. Health experts warn that it's the most significant threat to public health since the start of the pandemic.

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Simon Case was leading the probe into alleged Christmas parties held by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's staff in breach of COVID restrictions. Case has quit after reports of parties in his own office.

A case of whether to uphold a Mississippi law that bans terminations of pregnancy after 15 weeks has made it to the country's highest court. A ruling could see the landmark 1973 'Roe versus Wade' case that legalized abortion overturned.

German doctors and their staff have been facing aggression and threats from vaccine opponents. They have described having frayed nerves as pandemic fatigue sets in among patients and medical staff.

Greece's new high-security refugee center on the island of Samos promises improved living conditions for asylum-seekers. But human rights organizations have reacted with dismay to a facility that so closely resembles a prison.

The court has agreed to hear arguments about the Biden administration's vaccine or testing requirement for large employers, and a separate vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

The head of the World Health Organization says rich countries are merely prolonging the pandemic by fueling vaccine inequality. "No country can boost its way out of the pandemic," he says.

Instead, mRNA vaccines use mRNA created in a laboratory to teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.