WHO to hold coronavirus emergency meeting

Authorities in Portugal have launched raids after a tipoff that Portuguese troops may have smuggled contraband from the Central Afridan Republic. The country has 180 UN peacekeepers stationed in the African nation.

The move is part of measures to hit the brakes on a wave of new COVID infections in Germany. Meanwhile, APEC leaders have agreed to cut tariffs on COVID vaccines. DW has the latest.

Children between the ages of 5 to 11 are now eligible for a vaccine. Meanwhile, Japan's economy contracted for the first time in two quarters because of infections over summer. DW has the latest.

Pharma giants are earning millions every day with COVID vaccines, but leaving poorer nations in the lurch, an activist alliance says. The WHO reports that the delta variant has "outcompeted" others. DW has the latest.

Police have previously denied that the arrests are ethnically motivated. Almost 200 young children have starved to death in Tigray.

Antibodies tend to decrease about six months after the second shot of a vaccine. Many doctors think that booster shots are the solution, but some researchers are also looking into whether T-cells can help.

Austrians went back into lockdown after fierce protests over the weekend, for a period of at least 10 days and potentially 20. Elswhere, German logged its highest seven-day incidence of the pandemic. DW has the latest.

Are those protesting against Covid-19 restrictions just an angry few, or do they represent a much deeper malaise?As the Northern Hemisphere hunkers down for a new winter wave of Covid restrictions, backlash over these curbs is rearing up in Central Europe, the Netherlands and the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Some of the pushback is coming from fringe conspiracy theorists or muscle men, but many others have also lost trust in authorities and in what they see as heavy-handed measures and mixed messages. Is the unfiltered "anything goes" rhetoric that wins elections finally coming home to roost?

Humanitarian workers are racing against time to deliver aid as winter looms in Afghanistan, UN officials told DW. The situation on the ground is already desperate and "looks like it's going to get worse."

Germany is deep in the midst of its fourth wave, and many of its European neighbors are no better off. Only in southern Europe is the virus still under control.

The UN health body has given the new variant a name and said it is a variant of concern. The WHO urged against hasty travel curbs while it gathers more data.

Germany, the Czech Republic and the UK are the latest countries to confirm cases of the omicron variant. The new strain that was first detected in South Africa has prompted governments around the world to re-introduce travel restrictions.