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  Washington:  The United States and Russia will hold much-anticipated talks in January on European security and the Ukraine conflict after Moscow listed demands including to end NATO's expansion. A spokesperson for the US National Security Council told AFP on condition of anonymity late Monday that the talks with Russia will take place on January 10. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Tuesday confirmed the date and said that they will take place in Geneva, where US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met for their first summit in June. The Kremlin has grown increasingly insistent that the West and NATO are encroaching dangerously close to Russia's borders. Moscow earlier this month presented the West with sweeping security demands, saying NATO must not admit new members and seeking to bar the United States from establishing new bases in former Soviet republics. "The United States looks forward to engaging with Russia," the Na...

  Johannesburg:  South Africa said Tuesday it would reinstate efforts to trace the contacts of people infected with coronavirus after a backlash over plans to scrap the measure. The health authorities said Thursday they would stop contact tracing everywhere except places like prisons and schools, as they believed most of the population had already been exposed to the virus through vaccination or infection. "The department of health has been inundated with media, stakeholders and public enquiries and comments since the release of the revised protocols," it said. "The department has decided to put the implementation of the revised policy changes on hold, while taking all... comments and inputs received into consideration." The health authorities said a new "amended circular" would be re-issued once all comments had been assessed. Last week's revision meant contact cases would only have to do a test if they started developing symptoms. If they tested posi...