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A girl waits while her father undergoes a COVID-19 test in central Seoul, South Korea, Dec 1, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Kim Hong-ji) - 

South Korea reported a record daily 5,352 new COVID-19 infections and 70 deaths, while a nationwide total of nine cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Saturday (Dec 4).

The government on Friday announced that people visiting restaurants, cinemas and other public spaces will have to show vaccine passes. It is also reducing the limit on private gatherings to six people in the greater Seoul area, from 10 currently, and to eight from 12 for those residing outside of the capital, starting next Monday.

The hospitalisation rate was rising rapidly led by severe cases of COVID-19, with the number of serious and critical patients at 752 as of Friday, KDCA said.

South Korea has also confirmed three additional Omicron cases, bringing the total to nine after a fully vaccinated couple tested positive for the variant after travelling from Nigeria last week.

To fend off the new variant, authorities on Friday announced a 10-day mandatory quarantine requirement for all inbound travellers for two weeks, halting exemptions given earlier to fully vaccinated people.

South Korea has been battling the worst wave of infections since July, when the daily cases stood below 2,000 until the government switched to "living with COVID-19". The cases hit 5,000s for the first time this week, putting a strain on the healthcare system.

The country, which has fully inoculated 91.7 per cent of its adult population, has so far reported a total of 467,907 COVID-19 infections, with 3,809 deaths since the start of the pandemic//CNA

FILE PHOTO: Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman speaks at the State Department in Washington, DC, U.S. August 18, 2021. Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo - 

The approach of the United States and Europe toward China is "increasingly convergent," US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Friday (Dec 3), following meetings with the chief of the European Union's diplomatic service.

US President Joe Biden has stressed as a hallmark of his foreign policy the importance of working closely with allies in pushing back against what his administration sees as China's increasingly assertive behavior worldwide.

The EU and United States on Thursday expressed concern over China's actions in the South and East China Seas and the Taiwan Strait, which they said had a "direct impact" on their respective security and prosperity.

Sherman, speaking at a briefing hosted by the Brookings Institution with Stefano Sannino, the Secretary General of the European External Action Service, said Washington was committed to standing "shoulder to shoulder" with European partners to engage China with "collective strength."

"We see our approach and the EU's approach to the PRC as complementary and increasingly convergent and aligned," she said, referring to the People's Republic of China.

Sannino, speaking after two days of talks with Sherman in Washington, said the EU recognized China's importance, but was not shying away when Beijing actions were not according to the rules. He called recent Chinese moves against EU member Lithuania "extremely worrying" and "not acceptable."

"When I see the way ... the Biden-Harris administration are defining their relations with China, when I see how they are defining their interests in the Indo-Pacific region, I think we are going really in the same direction," Sannino said.

Sannino said Europe was working to create an environment in the Indo-Pacific conducive to cooperation, but where the cost of confrontation was "extremely high," including by enhancing its security presence.

He said the EU wanted to strengthen its economic and cultural ties with democratic Taiwan, an exporter of key components for European industry which Beijing claims as its own.

China downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania after the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania opened on Nov 18.

Since then, Lithuanian officials have said China has imposed a customs block on Lithuanian exports, and is pressuring companies in third countries to not do business with the small Baltic state.

While both Sherman and Sannino stressed shared concerns and approaches, EU-US relations are still recovering from the shock of a deal by the United States and former EU member Britain to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, which torpedoed a major French contract with Canberra.

Sannino said it was not just a commercial issue, but one of trust.

"We cannot say that this is not left scars, but all scars case can be healed," he said. "So it depends a little bit on the effort that is being done, on the medicine that you apply."

He said Australia was an important and like-minded regional partner.

"So I hope that this can be done and it can go back to a more normal situation. And I hope that this can happen sooner rather than later."//CNA

Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria November 29, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY - 

Indirect US-Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal broke off until next week as European officials voiced dismay on Friday (Dec 3) at the demands of Iran's new, hardline administration.

The seventh round of talks in Vienna is the first with delegates sent by Iran's anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi on how to resuscitate the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

Raisi's election in June caused a five-month hiatus in the talks, heightening suspicions among US and European officials that Iran is playing for time while advancing its nuclear program.

Diplomats said the Iranian delegation had proposed sweeping changes to a text that was painstakingly negotiated in previous rounds and that European officials had said was 70 to 80 per cent finished.

"Over five months ago, Iran interrupted negotiations. Since then, Iran has fast-forwarded its nuclear program. This week, it has back-tracked on diplomatic progress made," senior officials from France, Britain and Germany said in a statement, adding that Iran was demanding "major changes" to the text.

It is "unclear how these new gaps can be closed in a realistic time frame", they added.

The three European powers expressed "disappointment and concern" at Iran's demands, some of which they said were incompatible with the deal's terms or went beyond them.

The 2015 agreement imposed strict limits on Iran's uranium enrichment activities, extending the time it would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb, if it chose to, to at least a year from around two to three months. Most experts say that period is now shorter than before the deal.

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

In exchange for the nuclear restrictions, the deal lifted US, European Union and UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

After more than two years of Iranian adherence to the core curbs, however, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, calling it too soft on Tehran, and reimposed painful US economic sanctions on Tehran.

Tehran retaliated from 2019 by breaching many of the deal's limits on enrichment and other restrictions, and advancing well beyond them. With the deal's nuclear benefits now badly eroded, some Western officials say there is little time left before the foundation of the deal is damaged beyond repair.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he thought it likely the current round of talks would not succeed and appeared to look beyond them, hinting at involving more nations, such as Gulf Arab states, in a wider discussion if the Vienna talks fail.

"I think it's very difficult to find an agreement if the Gulf countries, Israel, all those whose security is directly affected, don't take part," he told reporters in Dubai.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani's uncompromising stance is that since Washington left the deal, it should make the first move by lifting all sanctions imposed on Tehran since then, even those unrelated to Tehran's nuclear activities.

Bagheri Kani told Reuters on Monday the United States and its Western allies also should offer guarantees to Iran that no new sanctions would be imposed on it in future.

However, he left the door ajar for more talks by saying European nations could propose their own drafts for discussion, Iranian state media reported.

Western negotiators take a return to the original deal as their base line, meaning if Iran wants sanctions relief beyond it, Tehran should accept more nuclear restrictions.

This week's talks ended with a meeting of the remaining parties to the deal: Iran, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. Officials said the talks, in which others shuttle between US and Iranian diplomats because Iran refuses to meet directly with US officials, will resume mid-week//CNA

Shoppers in the city centre wear face masks, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Dublin, Ireland, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne - 

The Irish government on Friday (Dec 3) announced strict new limits on the hospitality sector and home visits to try to push down COVID-19 infection rates after officials said the new Omicron variant was likely to add to pressure on the health service.

Ireland has been reporting COVID-19 case numbers near record highs since early November, even though 91per cent of eligible people over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated.

The death rate has been far lower than during earlier waves and case numbers have stabilised. But health officials are concerned that even if Omicron does not evade vaccines, it could significantly increase already high infection numbers.

"If Omicron takes hold and if it is more transmissible, the potential for a very serious crisis is obvious," Prime Minister Micheal Martin said in a televised address, saying that he had received "very stark" advice from health officials.

"The risk associated with proceeding into the Christmas period without some restrictions ... is just too high," Martin said.

Under the measures that will be in place from Tuesday until Jan. 9, indoor events will have to operate at 50per cent capacity, a measure promoters say will make concerts unprofitable.

Bars and restaurants, which have been subject to various levels of restrictions since the start of the pandemic, must not accept bookings for more than six people and must only offer table service, the government said.

People should only welcome visitors from a maximum of three other households to their home, it said.

Nightclubs, which opened for the first time in over 18 months in October, will have to close under the new rules.

"It is utterly devastating," said Angela Dorgan, Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts lobby group, which has said restrictions during the pandemic have been unfair to the arts and nightlife.

Martin said the government would ensure that the entertainment sector had the necessary financial support//CNA