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As omicron covid variant cases increase across the world, the Netherlands has imposed a lockdown until at least mid-January. Germany has banned most travellers from the UK - where over 90,000 new covid cases were reported on Saturday. In the US, President Joe Biden has announced a plan that would see companies with more than a hundred employees obliged to see their workers get the jab, or have a covid test every week. But several business groups representing companies in retail, transportation and travel want the US Supreme Court to intervene to block it, as we hear from Dorit Reis, professor of Law at the University of California in San Francisco.

The Australian government is forecasting that earnings from exports of commodities like coal and gas will jump to a record for the current fiscal year. This based on increased demand from China and India, as we hear from independent economist Michael Hughes. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in Lebanon, trying to encourage its politicians to agree to economic reforms, required by the IMF as a condition of receiving funds to fix its broken economy. James Swanston of Capital Economics analyses the challenges that Lebanon faces.

A rocket built by Mitsubishi will blast off from a launch pad in Japan later this week, taking one of the biggest and most complex satellites ever built into orbit. Edwina Paisley, senior director of spacecraft programmes at Inmarsat explains how it, by broadcasting on two different frequencies, its use will extend beyond relaying emergencies for ships at sea.

(Photo: a small protest against lockdown in The Hague, The Netherlands. Credit: Getty Images.)