Top 10 world news: Blinken tells Russia to choose diplomacy or face consequences on Ukraine and more

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warnedhis Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov of consequences if Russia did not seek diplomatic resolution over the situation with Ukraine.GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has said that its coronavirus drug called sotrovimab is effective against the Omicron variant.

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He said Russia and Ukraine should each fully implement their obligations under the 2014 Minsk peace process, which was designed to end a war between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in the east of the former Soviet republic.

The British pharmaceutical industry company had conducted a trial against key mutations of the new Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant.

Heavily mutatedOmicronis rapidly becoming the dominant variant of the coronavirus inSouthAfricaless than four weeks after it was first detected there, and the United States on Wednesdaybecame the latest country to identify anOmicroncase within its borders.

The two nations are in touch to discuss the possibility of US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin and Xu Qiliang holding talks.

A relatively lesser-known cryptocurrency had been witnessing a massive surge in the crypto market. In two days, the value of the digital token shot up by a massive 900 per cent.

Johnson has been accused of hosting a packed party that violated restrictions imposed across the country last year on Christmas.

North Korean local governments are hurrying to create candies in advance of a statewide celebration of leader Kim Jong-Un's birthday in January, but the government is forcing hungry residents to pay the bill.

A new report by the federal government revealed that the US is the biggest contributor to global plastic waste in the world as it contributed around 42 million metric tons of plastic waste in 2016.

Arjuna Capital had sought a report from the software firm on the effectiveness of its policies to battle sexual harassment in the workplace.

In a bizarre incident, an Austrian doctor was fined over $3,000 for amputating the wrong leg of a patient. The 43-year-old surgeon was found guilty after he removed the right leg of the patient, instead of the left.