The world prepares to celebrate the new year under a cloud of Covid

Festivities canceled or severely restricted, music prohibited, New Year's Eve limited to the family "bubble": the world is preparing to begin a third year of the pandemic in 2022, as contamination explodes but timid signs of hope appear. The past twelve months have seen the arrival of a new American president and a new Adele album, the first Olympics without spectators, and dreams of democracy fading from Afghanistan to Burma to Hong Kong. But it is the pandemic that has once again ruled the daily lives of most of humanity. More than 5.4 million people have died since the virus was first identified in China in December 2019. Countless others have been infected, subjected to lockdowns, curfews and a panoply of testing. The emergence of the Omicron variant at the end of 2021 caused daily coronavirus cases to exceed one million for the first time, according to an AFP count.

Hundreds of homes destroyed by fires in Colorado

Hundreds of homes were destroyed Thursday by fires in Colorado, a state in the western United States battered by strong winds and facing a historic drought, according to the authorities. “About 370 homes in the Sagamore Subdivision were destroyed. There may be 210 homes destroyed in Old Town Superior,” Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a conference call. hurry. The city of Boulder, which has more than 100,000 inhabitants, is located about fifty kilometers from Denver, the capital of Colorado.

IN SHORT

Clashes erupted Thursday morning between police and migrants during the dismantling of a camp in Calais, injuring around fifteen police officers and several on the migrant side, we learned from associations and the prefecture.

Violence was again unleashed in Sudan where four demonstrators were killed and dozens injured among a crowd that shouted down the military power, defying live ammunition, tear gas canisters and cutting off communications.

Cascading positive cases, postponed matches, gauges even behind closed doors: Europe of football, Spain in the lead, is bearing the brunt of the resurgence of Covid-19 which threatens to paralyze the start of 2022.