Xinhua world news summary at 0100 GMT, Dec. 30

BUENOS AIRES — At least two people were killed on Wednesday when a helicopter fighting a forest fire crashed in the town of Alumine, in western Argentina’s Neuquen province, emergency brigades confirmed.

According to the report, the aircraft’s pilot and mechanic, who worked for the Chilean company Helicopteros del Pacifico, died in the accident, which occurred in the vicinity of Lake Quillen on the border with Chile. (Argentina-Crash)

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MOSCOW — Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline is ready for operation amid an energy crunch in Europe, Alexei Miller, the CEO of Russia’s gas industry giant Gazprom, reported to President Vladimir Putin during a meeting on Wednesday.

Gazprom has completed filling the second string of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline with gas, and both strings with sufficient pressure are fully ready for use, Miller said. (Russia-Nord Stream 2)

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GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned on Wednesday that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to “a tsunami of cases,” putting immense pressure on national health systems.

Recapping WHO’s response since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing that he’s “highly concerned that Omicron being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta — is leading to a tsunami of cases.” (WHO-Omicron-Tsunami)

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JAKARTA — A 7.4-magnitude earthquake jolted off the southern coast of east Indonesia’s Maluku province early Thursday morning, the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency said.

No casualties or damage have been reported from Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency so far. (Indonesia-Earthquake)