Fauci: Early reports on omicron ‘encouraging’ – National & International News – MON 6Dec2021

Fauci: Early reports on omicron ‘encouraging’. CNN fires Cuomo as sexual misconduct accusation emerges. Myanmar: Suu Kyi sentenced to 4 years.

NATIONAL NEWS

Fauci: Early reports on omicron ‘encouraging’

White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has called the early indicators about the severity of the COVID-19 omicron variant infections are “a bit encouraging”. Fauci’s optimism is in keeping with early reports from South Africa, where doctors first identified the variant.

Last week, a South African physician who treated some of the first known cases of the variant described its symptoms as relatively mild. The strain has become dominant in South Africa, but is not leading to an alarming spike in hospitalizations. This trend seems to be holding true in the U.S., even as omicron infections have popped up in 17 states.

Fauci and other experts have cautioned that it is still early days. It will take time to properly assess what impact omicron will have and what dangers it poses to broader populations. For now, the greatest COVID threat in the U.S. remains the delta variant, which has more dangerous symptoms. Even though omicron is spreading rapidly, delta is still the main driver of COVID cases in the U.S. which are topping 100,000 per day.

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CNN fires anchor Chris Cuomo as sexual misconduct charge emerges

Last week, CNN suspended anchor Chris Cuomo after more details came to light about his attempts to aid his brother and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid the onslaught of sexual assault and harassment allegations that eventually drove Gov. Cuomo from office. Over the weekend, CNN announced that they had fired Chris Cuomo. The stated reason for Cuomo’s dismissal was his violation of journalistic ethics, but there may be more to the story.

Reports have since surfaced that Chris Cuomo is now facing his own sexual misconduct accusation. Three days before Cuomo’s firing, attorney Debra Katz came forward saying she was representing a former colleague of Cuomo’s at another network. Cuomo had appeared on several other networks before moving to CNN, including Fox News, MSNBC and ABC. The accuser has not been named.

Chris Cuomo denies both the charges of journalistic malpractice and the sexual misconduct allegation.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Myanmar leader Suu Kyi gets 4-year sentence

Deposed leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to four years in prison for inciting dissent and violating a natural disasters law by breaking COVID rules. This is the first sentence Suu Kyi has received for the total of 11 charges against her. If she is found guilty of all charges, she could be jailed for life.

Suu Kyi has been in custody since Myanmar’s powerful military seized power in a February coup. The military junta unseated and imprisoned dozens of elected civilian leaders, many of whom also remain in custody. This followed an election in November last year in which the military-backed party had its poorest showing since civilian rule returned to the country in 2008. The leaders of the military junta have made unproven allegations of election fraud.

The country has since been embroiled in a civil war with pro-democracy demonstrators joining forces with marginalized ethnic militias to fight against military domination.

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