The United States and Japan on Friday voiced strong concern about China’s growing might in unambiguous terms and pledged to work together against attempts to destabilise the region.

Russia sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan on Thursday to help put down a countrywide uprising after deadly violence spread across the tightly controlled former Soviet state.

Britain warned Moscow on Thursday that it was working with Western partners on high-impact sanctions targetting Russia’s financial sector should it invade Ukraine.

Indian megacities Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, although without a corresponding rise in hospitalisations, but fears are growing about a spread to rural areas in coming days.

Taiwan air force jets screamed into the sky on Wednesday in a drill simulating a war scenario, showing its combat readiness amid heightened military tensions with China, which claims the island as its own.

A diabetic man who died in the western state of Rajasthan was India’s first fatality from the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the health ministry said on Wednesday, adding that overall infections had doubled to 58,097 over the past four days.

The government on Wednesday defended President Emmanuel Macron’s use of a coarse insult in a stepped-up campaign against France’s unvaccinated, after the phrase drew condemnation from the opposition and mixed reactions from voters.

The authorities in Germany’s south-western state of Baden-Württemberg are warning coronavirus protesters against going out onto the streets unless their rallies are authorized, after over 50,000 people on Monday demonstrated their opposition to an

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has scheduled a special meeting of allied ambassadors and top Russian officials for next week as both sides seek dialogue to prevent open conflict over Ukraine, a NATO official said on Tuesday.

The US has recorded more than one million Covid-19 cases in a single day, as the Omicron variant continues to spread rapidly. The figure is the highest recorded anywhere in the world since the pandemic began in 2019.

Global COVID-19 infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period, Reuters data showed on Wednesday, as the new Omicron variant raced out of control, keeping workers at home and overwhelming testing centres.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has announced plans to push ahead with rural development at a meeting of the Worker’s Party of Korea, state media reported on Wednesday.

Indonesia has lifted a ban on the Boeing 737 MAX, its transport ministry said on Tuesday, three years after the crash of one of the aircraft operated by domestic carrier Lion Air with the loss of all 189 people on board.

Dozens of Rohingya refugees intercepted after their boat ran into trouble off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province were being sent into Malaysian waters, authorities said on Tuesday.

The Indian government on Monday “refused” to renew a permission for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (MoC) to be able to secure foreign funds, cutting off a key source the charity has depended on to run its programs for the impoverished.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will miss its target to vaccinate 40 per cent of the population in every country by the end of the year, with the shortfalls especially serious in Africa.

South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an anti-apartheid icon described as a “champion of universal human rights,” died on Sunday. He was 90.

U.S. airlines called off hundreds of flights for a third day in a row on Sunday as surging COVID-19 infections due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant grounded crews and forced tens of thousands of Christmas weekend travellers to change their

Protesters opposed to military rule reached near the presidential palace in the Sudanese capital on Saturday for the second time in a week, television images showed, despite heavy tear gas and a communications blackout.

At least 38 people have died in Bangladesh after a deadly fire swept through a launch on the Sugandha River in Bangladesh, an official said on Friday.

One in 20 Londoners had COVID-19 last week and that could have risen to 1 in 10 by the start of this week, according to early modelled estimates that underlined the relentless advance of the Omicron variant.

Top government officials will not attend the Olympic Games, with the exception of Seiko Hashimoto – a member of the House of Councilors and the former Minister of State for Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A three-dose course of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the rapidly-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, the pharmaceutical company said on Thursday, citing data from an Oxford University lab study.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday accused NATO of massive expansion to the east with no regards for his country’s security interests.

A South African study offered pre-Christmas good tidings about the severity of Omicron on Wednesday as the fast-spreading coronavirus variant forces countries across the world to impose new curbs.

U.S. authorities have taken issue with Turkey over its sales of armed drones to Ethiopia, where two sources familiar with the matter said there was mounting evidence the government had used the weapons against rebel fighters.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday it will reduce food rations for 8 million people in Yemen from January due to a lack of funding from donors, warning the cuts will push more people into starvation.

Belarus and Poland are pushing refugees back and forth across their border and leaving them with little if any food, clean water or shelter, the U.N. Human Rights office said on Tuesday, urging both countries to address “this appalling situation”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed the West for escalating tensions in Europe, saying it had incorrectly assessed the outcome of the Cold War.

Countries across Europe were considering new curbs on movement on Tuesday, with German scientists urging maximum and immediate restrictions on social contacts as the Omicron variant swept the world days before the second Christmas of the pandemic.