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U.S. and Israeli defense chiefs are expected on Thursday to discuss possible military exercises that would prepare for a worst-case scenario to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities should diplomacy fail and if their nations' leaders request it, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.

The scheduled U.S. talks with visiting Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz follow an Oct. 25 briefing by Pentagon leaders to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the full set of military options available to ensure that Iran would not be able to produce a nuclear weapon, the official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, saying it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The U.S.-Israeli preparations, which have not been previously reported, underscore Western concern about difficult nuclear talks with Iran that President Joe Biden had hoped would revive a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by his predecessor, Donald Trump.

But U.S. and European officials have voiced dismay after talks last week at sweeping demands by Iran's new, hardline government, heightening suspicions in the West that Iran is playing for time while advancing its nuclear program.

The U.S. official declined to offer details on the potential military exercises.

"We're in this pickle because Iran's nuclear program is advancing to a point beyond which it has any conventional rationale," the official said, while still voicing hope for discussions.

The Israeli embassy in Washington and Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gantz, in a post on Twitter as he departed for the United States, said: "We will discuss possible modes of action to ensure the cessation of (Iran's) attempt to enter the nuclear sphere and broaden its activity in the region." He did not elaborate.

Nuclear negotiations will resume on Thursday, according to the European Union official chairing the talks, and the U.S. special envoy for Iran plans to join them over the weekend. read more

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last week that Iran had started the process of enriching uranium to up to 20% purity with one cascade, or cluster, of 166 advanced IR-6 machines at its Fordow plant, which is dug into a mountain, making it harder to attack.

The 2015 agreement gave Iran sanctions relief but imposed strict limits on its uranium enrichment activities, extending the time it would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, if it chose to, to at least a year from around two to three months. Most nuclear experts say that period is now considerably shorter.

Underlining how badly eroded the deal is, that pact does not allow Iran to enrich uranium at Fordow at all, let alone with advanced centrifuges.

COMPROMISED

With the deal's nuclear benefits now badly compromised, some Western officials say there is little time left before the foundation of the deal is damaged beyond repair.

Such drills by the United States and Israel could address calls by Dennis Ross, a former senior U.S. official and Middle East expert, and others to openly signal to Iran that the United States and Israel are still serious about preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"Biden needs to disabuse Iran of the notion that Washington will not act militarily and will stop Israel from doing so," Ross wrote last month.

Ross even suggested the United States should perhaps signal a willingness to give the Israeli's the U.S. military's bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bomb.

Asked about such remarks about deterrence, the senior U.S. official said: "When President Biden says Iran will never get a nuclear weapon, I mean, he means it."

Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns said on Monday that the CIA does not believe Iran's supreme leader has decided to take steps to weaponize a nuclear device but noted advances in its ability to enrich uranium, one pathway to the fissile material for a bomb.

Burns cautioned that, even if Iran decided to go ahead, it would still require a lot of work to weaponize that fissile material before attaching a nuclear weapon to a missile or other delivery system.

"But they're further along in their mastery of the nuclear fuel cycle and that's the kind of knowledge that is very difficult to sanction away or make disappear, as well," he said.

U.S. officials have also long worried about America's ability to detect and destroy dispersed components of Iran's nuclear weaponization program once enough fissile material for a bomb were produced. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization warned wealthy countries on Thursday against hoarding COVID-19 vaccines for booster shots as they try to fight off the new Omicron variant, threatening supplies to poorer countries where inoculation rates are low.

Many Western nations have been rolling out boosters, targeting the elderly and people with underlying health issues, but worries about the fast-spreading Omicron have prompted some to expand their programmes.

The WHO recommended boosters instead for those with health issues, or those who have received an inactivated shot.

The jury is still out on how effective current vaccines are against Omicron. They have so far proved hugely successful in slowing the spread of the coronavirus and the severity of illness, but low rates of inoculation pose the risk of more dangerous and more vaccine-resistant variants emerging.

"As we head into whatever the Omicron situation is going to be, there is risk that the global supply is again going to revert to high-income countries hoarding vaccine," the WHO's vaccine director, Kate O'Brien, told a briefing.

Mike Ryan, WHO emergencies director, said Omicron appeared to be "fitter and faster" but it was not invincible.

"We don't fully understand the implications clinically or the implications for our vaccines. ... What we do in the coming days and weeks, both in terms of virus suppression, vaccination and equity will make a huge difference to the evolution of this pandemic in 2022," he said.

Omicron was first detected in southern Africa and Hong Kong and Africa accounts for 46% of reported cases globally, Richard Mihigo, coordinator of the WHO's Immunisation and Vaccine Development Programme for Africa, told an online briefing.

Just 7.5% of more than one billion people in Africa have had primary vaccine shots.

O'Brien's warning came as supplies to the global COVAX vaccine-sharing programme run by the WHO and charity GAVI have increased in the past few months due to donations from wealthy countries and after India eased limits on exports of vaccines.

She said a major problem for COVAX had been wealthy countries donating vaccines with a relatively short shelf life. read more

The WHO has said in recent months that administering primary doses should be a priority and its vaccine advisory panel recommended on Thursday that people who are immunocompromised or received an inactivated vaccine should receive a booster. read more

Coronavirus infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in central China two years ago.

More than 267.28 million people have been infected and nearly 5.6 million have died, according to a Reuters tally.

LOCKDOWN PARTIES

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world was not on track to meet vaccination targets and that Omicron illustrated the "perilous situation" the world was in.

Britain was struggling to enforce tougher restrictions to slow the spread of Omicron after revelations about alleged lockdown parties at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's residence provoked an outcry over hypocrisy.

Johnson apologised in parliament for a video showing staff laughing about a party in Downing Street during a 2020 Christmas COVID lockdown when such festivities were banned for the population. read more

World stock markets stalled at two-week highs on Thursday as increased restrictions in parts of the world to contain the spread of Omicron tempered optimism on the vaccine front. read more

John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control, said on Thursday the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker, had let Africa down by pulling out of talks to supply vaccines.

He denounced recent comments from the SII that uptake of its COVID-19 shots had slowed because of low demand from Africa and vaccine hesitancy, saying the real problem lay with the institute.

Serum did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Nkengasong said SII had engaged in discussions last year with the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), and that at one point he had believed a deal was very close, but then SII abruptly ended the talks.

"Serum just decided to act in a very unprofessional manner and stop communicating with AVATT team, so that created a situation where we found ourselves extremely unhappy ... and then engaged with Johnson & Johnson," he said.

African countries had agreed to buy 400 million doses of COVID vaccines from J&J (JNJ.N), abandoning efforts with SII, he said. (Reuters)

Indian farmers called off a year-long protest on Thursday after the government conceded a clutch of demands, including assurances to consider guaranteed prices for all produce, instead of just rice and wheat, union leaders said.

The move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last month he would roll back three farm laws, seeking to end the longest-running farmers' protest that galvanized millions of growers who remained resolute in opposing the legislation. read more

Despite the government's climbdown, thousands of farmers had continued to camp out on major highways leading to New Delhi to press for other demands such as the guaranteed prices, as well as for legal action against protesters to be dropped. read more

"We have received a letter from the government which has conceded to our requests," said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a senior farm union leader.

Farmers' leaders would meet on Jan. 15 to review progress on the government's assurances, Rajewal told a news conference.

"We will resume our protests if the government moves away from the assurances," said Gurnam Singh Charuni, another farmers' leader.

The government will set up a panel of growers and government officials to find ways of ensuring Minimum Support Prices (MSP), as the guaranteed rates are called, for all farm produce, according to the letter seen by Reuters.

The government now buys mainly rice and wheat at such guaranteed prices, benefiting barely 6% of India's millions of farmers.

OUTSTANDING DEMANDS

Farmers' outstanding demands included retracting legal cases filed against the protesting growers and compensation for the families of those who died during the protest.

State administrations have agreed to the demands, according to the government letter addressed to farm union leaders.

Farmers had also asked the government to withdraw a draft of a proposed electricity bill, which they feared would lead to state governments withdrawing their right to free or subsidised power, used mainly for irrigation.

The government will discuss the draft with farmers.

Growers had also called for dropping fines and other penalties for burning crop waste, a major source of pollution, and the government has assured farmers that they would be not be held criminally liable for crop waste burning.

"Since the government has addressed every possible concern of farmers, there was hardly any justification for their agitation," said a government official who didn't wish to be named in line with official policy.

After calling off the protest, some farmers started removing makeshift tents and began loading their belongings into trucks and tractor trolleys.

While Modi's retreat has cheered farmers, economists fear that the repeal of the laws aimed at deregulating produce markets will starve the farm sector of much-needed private investment and saddle the government with budget-sapping subsidies for years. (Reuters)

Several parents associations in South Korea held protests on Thursday against a vaccine pass mandate for children aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 among teenagers.

From February, those aged 12 or older will have to show a vaccine pass to enter public spaces, including private tuition centres, libraries and study cafes. The exemption age is scurrently 17 years. read more

The mandate, however, has sparked uproar among some parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, citing potential side effects and reports of vaccine breakthrough infections.

At least 70 members of parents associations gathered in front of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency building in Cheongju city on Thursday, holding up signs that read "Vaccine Dictatorship".

A poll conducted this week by another activist group showed 93% of the more than 18,000 parents who responded were against the idea of enforcing the vaccine pass mandate on students.

Health officials have said vaccines offer protection against severe symptoms and the rate of adverse side effects reported among teenagers is lower than that of adults.

The wider vaccine pass mandate comes as infections among teenagers in South Korea have risen sharply following the resumption of full-time in-person classes in November.

Out of a 100,000 children, 210 infections were reported over the past four weeks, while out of a same number of adults, only 167 tested positive. New daily infections rose this week to over 7,000 for the first time, government data showed. read more

Children infections accounted for 8.3% of the total cases in the last two weeks and 99.8% of them were either unvaccinated or partially immunized.

South Korea has fully vaccinated nearly 92% of its adults, while 11% have received a booster shot. But inoculation rate for the 12-17 age group remains at 34%.

The country has said it will recognise overseas vaccinations of foreigners who have entered the country with no quarantine exemption and that they will be eligible to receive a booster shot and a vaccine pass, effective Dec 9.

Previously, South Korea recognised overseas vaccinations for only its citizens and foreigners who entered the country under a quarantine exemption. read more

It reported 7,102 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, slightly below the record high 7,175 a day earlier. Hospitals are treating a record number of 857 severe COVID-19 cases. (Reuters)