International news

Portugal's government is set to shut down all schools across the country to tackle a steep worsening of the pandemic, Lusa news agency and Public newspaper said on Thursday.

Two men blew themselves up in a crowded Baghdad market on Thursday, killing at least 32 people and injuring hundreds others.

California's health department said on Wednesday it was safe to continue to use a batch of COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc for inoculation after a pause on Sunday due to possible allergic reactions.

Germany may need to close borders to neighbouring countries if they do not act to curb coronavirus infections, Merkel's chief of staff said on Thursday.

At least three people have died after an explosion rocked the center of the Spanish capital, Madrid, and caused a building to partially collapse.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced America's return to the international Paris Agreement to fight climate change, the centerpiece of a raft of day-one executive orders aimed at restoring U.S. leadership in combating global warming.

Indonesia plans to start giving the general public COVID-19 vaccinations sometime between late April to May, health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Thursday.

China plans to impose strict COVID testing requirements during the Lunar New Year holiday season, when tens of millions of people are expected to travel, as it battles the worst wave of new infections since March 2020.

Rescuers in China were drilling new shafts on Thursday to reach miners trapped underground for 11 days following an explosion, including one they hope to use to bring the survivors back to safety.

Democrat Joe Biden has been sworn-in as the 46th President of the United States.

Kamala Harris made history on Wednesday when she was sworn in as Joe Biden's vice president.

Joe Biden arrived at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday for his presidential inauguration, ready to take over a country battered by the coronavirus pandemic and to put an end to a tumultuous four years under President Donald Trump.

Republican President Donald Trump left Washington on Wednesday ahead of Joe Biden's swearing in as the 46th president of the United States.

Russia's sovereign wealth fund has filed for registration of Sputnik V in the European Union and expects it to be reviewed in February, the official account promoting the COVID-19 vaccine tweeted on Wednesday.

The Dutch government is set to add the first nationwide curfew since World War II to its already broad lockdown on Wednesday in a bid to limit the spread of new coronavirus mutations in the Netherlands, broadcaster RTL said.

Mexico marked a grim milestone with 1,584 confirmed COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, the country's highest daily total to date as it struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Zimbabwe's foreign minister, Sibusiso Moyo, has died after contracting COVID-19, presidential spokesman George Charamba said on Wednesday.

Taiwan has cancelled or postponed more large-scale events after a rare outbreak of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases connected to a hospital, where the military has been sent to help with disinfection.

Japan's top government spokesman said on Wednesday that the timeline for vaccinating the broader population against the coronavirus would be decided and disclosed to the public after the approval of a vaccine.

China's capital Beijing said on Wednesday it will investigate all individuals who entered the city from abroad from Dec. 10 and shut down a subway station after reporting the biggest daily jump in new COVID-19 cases in more than three weeks.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a halt to removal of certain Venezuelans from the United States for 18 months, citing conditions in the South American country.

Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh said on Tuesday that all allegations about money transfers by him, his brother or his assistant are "fabrications and false news".

Japan's southernmost prefecture, Okinawa, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday over the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country grapples with a surge in infections six months before it is set to host the Summer Olympics.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he is self-isolating until Sunday after receiving a warning from the health service's COVID mobile phone app that he may have been in contact with someone who tested positive.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to agree with regional leaders on extending a lockdown for most shops and schools until mid-February as part of a package of steps to rein in the coronavirus, sources said before talks on Tuesday.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck west-central Argentina on Monday, followed by at least five aftershocks that shook buildings and sent products tumbling off supermarket shelves, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Colombia's capital Bogota will impose nightly curfews for almost two weeks, Mayor Claudia Lopez said on Monday, while the whole city will enter yet another full quarantine this weekend.

China is battling the worst outbreak of COVID-19 since March 2020, with one province posting a record daily rise in cases, as an independent panel reviewing the global pandemic said China could have acted more forcefully to curb the initial outbreak.

Mexico confirmed 8,074 new coronavirus cases and 544 more fatalities on Monday, according to health ministry data, bringing its official tally to 1,649,502 infections and 141,248 deaths.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to quickly extend travel restrictions barring travel by most people who have recently been in much of Europe and Brazil soon after President Donald Trump lifted those requirements effective January 26, a spokeswoman for Biden said.

Brazil kicked off a nationwide COVID-19 immunization program on Monday by distributing doses of a vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech following an emergency use authorization, although the pace of vaccination will depend on delayed imports.

Morocco’s health ministry confirmed on Monday its first imported case of the more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus first discovered in the UK.

The U.S. Capitol complex was shut down temporarily on Monday out of an abundance of caution after a small fire broke out nearby.

Germany's health minister said new measures would be needed to slow the spread of new, more infectious variants of the coronavirus, including more health checks for cross-border commuters and intensified gene sequencing of virus samples.

Health authorities quarantined two hotels and closed ski schools in the posh Swiss resort of St Moritz on Monday to try to curb an outbreak of the highly infectious new coronavirus variant.

Ukraine reported 3,034 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its lowest daily tally since the end of September, health minister Maksym Stepanov said.

Three people have been injured after an attack by Yemen’s Houthi militia on The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Jazan region.

A powerful earthquake that struck Indonesia's Sulawesi island last week has killed at least 81 people and displaced more than 19,000, the country's disaster mitigation agency said, as search and rescue efforts continued on Monday.

China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the northeast fuelling concerns of another national wave ahead of the country's biggest holiday.

Oman is to close its land borders for one week starting Monday to curb the spread of the coronavirus, state news agency ONA said on Sunday.

Austria will extend its COVID-19 lockdown until Feb. 8, the APA news agency reported, citing sources familiar with negotiations between the federal and regional governments on Saturday.

Protesters are expected to descend on statehouses across the United States on Sunday in support of baseless claims that electoral fraud robbed President Donald Trump of a second term, as law enforcement officials girded for possible violence.

Thailand reported 374 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking its total infections to 12,054.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said it is "deeply disappointed" by Mexico's decision to close its investigation of ex-Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos, after the Mexican attorney general decided not to press charges.

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is due to fly back to Russia on Sunday for the first time since he was poisoned last summer, despite the authorities' stated desire to arrest him and potentially jail him for years.

Russian authorities said on Saturday that flights between Moscow and the capitals of Finland, Vietnam, India and Qatar, suspended since the early weeks of the pandemic, would restart from January 27, after certain epidemiological criteria were met.

Astrazeneca's COVID-19 vaccine has been granted approval for emergency use in Pakistan, the country's health minister said on Saturday, the first vaccine against the disease to be given the green light in the South Asian country.

The Philippines on Friday extended by two weeks a ban on travellers from more than 30 territories and countries where a more transmissible COVID-19 variant has been detected, with the restriction also now covering Filipinos who want to come home.

The worldwide coronavirus death toll surpassed 2 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, as nations around the world are trying to procure multiple vaccines and detect new COVID-19 variants.

A powerful earthquake killed at least 42 people and injured hundreds on Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi on Friday, trapping several under rubble and unleashing dozens of aftershocks as authorities warned of more quakes that could trigger a tsunami.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “world’s largest” vaccination campaign on Saturday as the populous nation tries to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control starting with two locally-manufactured shots.

Britain is tightening border controls to block new variants of COVID-19, suspending all "travel corridor" arrangements that had meant arrivals from some countries did not require quarantine.

The Philippines has extended by two weeks a ban on travellers from more than 30 territories and countries where a more transmissible COVID-19 variant has been detected, with the restriction also now covering Filipinos who want to come home.

The Indian government will hold new talks with the leaders of tens of thousands of farmers camped on the outskirts of New Delhi for almost two months protesting for the repeal of new agricultural laws they say threaten their livelihoods.

Federal prosecutors offered an ominous new assessment of last week's siege of the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump's supporters on Thursday, saying in a court filing that rioters intended "to capture and assassinate elected officials."

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia's Sulawesi island killed at least 10 people and injured hundreds on Friday, with the country’s meteorological agency warning of the risk of more aftershocks, potentially strong enough to produce a tsunami.

Hungary's government said on Thursday it has reached a deal with China's Sinopharm to buy its coronavirus vaccine.

Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first president in US history to be impeached twice, as 10 of his fellow Republicans joined Democrats in the House of Representatives to charge him with inciting an insurrection in last week’s violent rampage in the Capitol.

The Japanese government has decided to suspend the entry of all non-resident foreign nationals into the country as part of a coordinated effort to curb the further spread of the COVID-19 virus.

An international team of scientists led by the World Health Organization arrived on Thursday in China's central city of Wuhan to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus that sparked the pandemic, state television said.

Indonesian divers prepared to resume a search on Thursday for the remains of 62 victims and the cockpit voice recorder from a Sriwijaya Air plane that plunged into the Java Sea soon after takeoff last weekend, officials said.

The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration has authorised the emergency use of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE's COVID-19 vaccine, its head said on Thursday.

A pre-departure COVID-19 test rule for passengers entering England will come into effect from Monday instead of this week, transport minister Grant Shapps said in a tweet late on Wednesday.

The U.S. House of Representatives held an emotional debate on Wednesday ahead of a vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

Italy will extend a state of emergency imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus until the end of April.

One of Italy's largest-ever mafia trials kicked off on Wednesday, with more than 320 suspected mobsters and their associates facing an array of charges, including extortion, drug trafficking and theft.

Indonesia launched one of the world's biggest COVID-19 vaccination campaigns on Wednesday with President Joko Widodo getting the first shot of a Chinese vaccine as his country fights one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia.

Indian farmers were due to burn copies of the government's new agricultural laws on Wednesday as they press on with their protest against the reforms despite the intervention of the Supreme Court, which said their grievances should be heard.

Nearly all air travellers will need to present a negative coronavirus test to enter the United States under expanded test testing requirements announced on Tuesday.

Alphabet Inc's YouTube has removed new content uploaded to President Donald Trump's channel as it violated policies for inciting violence, the company said late on Tuesday.

With at least five Republicans joining their push to impeach President Donald Trump over the storming of the US Capitol, Democrats in the House of Representatives stood poised for a history-making vote to try to remove the president from office.

Indonesia's transport ministry said on Tuesday a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the sea three days ago had passed an airworthiness inspection last month.

Authorities in China introduced new COVID-19 curbs in areas surrounding Beijing on Tuesday, putting 4.9 million residents under lockdown as new infections raised worries about a second wave.

The FBI has warned of armed protests being planned for Washington and all 50 US state capitals in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden's January 20 inauguration.

Eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are presumed to have contracted COVID-19 from a human handler after one of the animals tested positive, marking the first known transmission of the virus to apes.

New Zealand will ask international travellers from most countries to show negative COVID-19 test results before boarding flights to the country as new contagious variants of COVID-19 spread across globally.

Congressional Democrats began a push on Monday to force U.S. President Donald Trump from office.

India's Supreme Court on Monday criticised the government for failing to break a deadlock with farmers protesting against reforms of the agricultural sector.

Scotland has introduced a mandatory 10-day quarantine for all passengers arriving from Dubai.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) team of international experts tasked with investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic will arrive in China on Jan. 14, Chinese authorities said on Monday.

Bahrain will reopen its airspace to Qatar from Monday, January 11.

Indonesian divers on Monday will try to retrieve the data recorders of a Sriwijaya Air jet that plunged into the sea two days ago with 62 people on board minutes after take off from Jakarta's main airport.

The name of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister was missing from a new list of the ruling Workers' Party's powerful politburo, sending mixed signals about her status after years of increasing clout.

Indonesian authorities on Sunday located the black boxes of the Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the sea soon, as human body parts and suspected pieces of the plane were retrieved.

The Spanish government will send convoys carrying COVID-19 vaccine and food supplies to areas cut off by Storm Filomena.

Landslides caused by heavy rain in western Indonesia killed 11 and injured 18, the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) said on Sunday.

Democratic-led efforts to impeach US President Donald Trump for a historic second time gained momentum over the weekend, although it was unclear whether enough Republicans would back it.

A breakdown in Pakistan's national power grid plunged the country into darkness on Saturday night, officials said.

Rescuers looking for an Indonesian plane that lost contact after taking off from the capital Jakarta on Saturday have found suspected debris in waters north of the city, an official of the Basarnas search and rescue agency said.

India will start its COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16 with priority given to about 30 million healthcare and frontline workers, a government statement said on Saturday.

A Sriwijaya Air plane with more than 50 people on board lost contact after taking off from Indonesian capital Jakarta on Saturday en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province, local media reported.

Australia's health officials said on Saturday they are on high alert after cases of highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus, discovered in Britain and South Africa, have made it into the country.

China will provide COVID-19 vaccines free of charge once they become available to the general public, government authorities said on Saturday.

Twitter Inc on Friday deleted new tweets posted by US President Donald Trump on official government account @POTUS and suspended the account of his presidential campaign, after booting his personal account off the platform permanently.

Ten newborns were killed on Saturday in a massive fire at a hospital in Maharashtra, India's richest state, a doctor said, as leading politicians expressed grief at the loss of life.

Saudi Arabia will lift a ban on international flights from Wednesday, March 31, the state news agency SPA said on Friday.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared an effective emergency in the UK capital as hospitals struggle to cope with the rising coronavirus cases.

A Pakistan court on Friday sentenced Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, a senior official of militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), to five years in jail for terrorism financing.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine appeared to work against a key mutation in the new variants discovered in the UK and South Africa, a new study has found.

People entering England and Scotland will have to show a negative COVID-19 test result starting next week as authorities try to ramp up protection against the more infectious strain of the coronavirus.

Travellers to Australia will have to show a negative COVID-19 test before they can get on their plane, the prime minister said on Friday, as the city of Brisbane went into lockdown.

US Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died of injuries suffered when supporters of President Donald Trump assaulted the legislative building, bringing to five the number dead from the riot.

Facebook will become the first major social media platform to block U.S. President Donald Trump's accounts, silencing him for at least the next two weeks until the presidential transition is completed.

Hours after President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy, the Congress on Thursday formally certified Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday there will be an orderly transition when Joe Biden takes office as president in less than two weeks, after Congress certified the Democrat's victory in the election.

Four people have died on the US Capitol grounds and 52 people have been arrested during an evening of violence as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.

An advisory panel has approved the Japanese government's plan for a month-long state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures in a bid to contain a surge in new coronavirus cases.

China should give access to World Health Organisation (WHO) officials investigating the origins of COVID-19 "without delay", Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday.

World leaders have condemned the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Two top aides to the first lady Melania Trump have resigned in the wake of violence on Capitol Hill, and more White House officials are said to be considering standing down.

Teacher assessments will replace the UK's GCSE and A-level exams this summer.

Europe's drug regulator gave the green light to Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday as authorities accelerate inoculation efforts amid fears about more infectious variants of the coronavirus.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has welcomed the signing of Al Ula Communique by the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at their summit in Saudi Arabia.

Japan's COVID-19 cases reached a new daily record on Wednesday, as the government faced mounting pressure from health experts to impose a strict state of emergency.

Dozens of leading democratic activists have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of violating the city's controversial security law in the biggest crackdown since Beijing imposed the law in 2020.

Australia will bring forward its COVID-19 vaccine rollout plans by two weeks to early March, health authorities said on Wednesday as the country seeks to contain fresh cases in its two largest cities.

Kuwait's official news agency says the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has welcomed the announcement by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have reopened their borders.

US President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump held rallies in Georgia to persuade supporters to turn out for the runoff US Senate elections that will determine the balance of power in Washington.

Julian Assange is "free to return home" to Australia once legal challenges against him are dealt with, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday, after a UK court denied a request to extradite him to the US.

As a team from the World Health Organisation (WHO) prepares to visit China to investigate the origins of COVID-19, Beijing has stepped up efforts to contain the spread and shape the narrative around its origin.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered England into a new lockdown to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Scotland will go into a new lockdown with people ordered to stay at home for the rest of January to tackle the escalating COVID-19 crisis.

A British judge ruled on Monday that WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face charges of breaking a spying law and conspiring to obtain secret US documents by hacking government computers.

Britain began vaccinating its population with the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot on Monday, touting a scientific "triumph" that puts it at the vanguard of the West in inoculating against the virus.

Kuwait will suspend all commercial flights to and from the UK, from Wednesday, January 6, just days after lifting all restrictions.

Thailand's prime minister on Monday urged the public to stay home to help contain the country's biggest coronavirus outbreak yet and avoid a strict lockdown.

India is facing questions from industry experts and opposition lawmakers about granting emergency approval to a homegrown coronavirus vaccine without publishing the efficacy data.

Police in Florida's Miami-Dade County said late on Sunday that they were investigating two separate shootings in which 12 people were wounded.

India's drugs regulator on Sunday gave final approval for the emergency-use of two coronavirus vaccines, one developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and the other by local company Bharat Biotech and a state-run institute.

Saudi Arabia said entry to the kingdom by sea, land and air will resume starting Sunday, ending a two-week border closure amid fears of a new coronavirus variant.

At least 70 civilians were killed in simultaneous attacks on two villages by suspected militants in Niger, near the border zone with Mali, security sources said.

Australia's most-populous state of New South Wales (NSW) reported eight new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, while neighbouring Victoria's tally increased by three, as new measures to combat the disease kicked in.

A car bomb exploded in a vegetable market in the border town of Ras al Ain in northeast Syria with reports of several killed and wounded, the Syrian state news agency reported on Saturday.

A car bomb targeting workers of a Turkish company killed four people, including one Turkish citizen, on Saturday in Somalia, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said.

India has approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, paving the way for a huge immunisation campaign in the world's second most populous country.

Pakistan on Saturday arrested a leader of a militant group blamed by the United States and India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, a counter-terrorism official said.

French police shut down on Saturday a huge party in northwestern France that had been underway since New Year's Eve in defiance of a curfew and coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings.

The UK government has decided to close all primary schools in London for the next two weeks to counter the rapid spread of a more infectious variant of the COVID-19 virus.

An Afghan journalist was shot dead in a car ambush in the central province of Ghor, the fifth media professional to be killed in the country in two months, officials said on Saturday.

The Philippines will prohibit the entry of foreign travellers from the United States effective January 3, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said on Friday, after the more infectious new variant of the coronavirus was detected in Florida.

Norway is lifting its ban on flights from Britain, introduced to stop the spread of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday, with planes allowed to land from January 2 at 1600 GMT.

India's drug regulator is set to approve on Friday a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The Thai capital of Bangkok will close all schools for two weeks after the New Year holiday as it tightens measures to control a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the city said on Friday.

Singapore said on Friday it will stop allowing entry to visitors with a recent travel history to South Africa, citing reports of a potentially more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus circulating in the country.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine became the first vaccine to receive the World Health Organisation (WHO) validation for emergency use since the pandemic outbreak.

Canada will require air travellers aged 5 and up to test negative for COVID-19 before arrival, starting Jan. 7, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on Thursday, as the country tightens travel restrictions amid soaring cases of the novel coronavirus.

A more infections variant of COVID-19 that has swept through the United Kingdom has been identified in Florida, state health officials said on Thursday, marking the third known US state to identify such a case.

Indians living abroad will now be able to connect with Indian embassies and the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi via a new app.

Singapore is reviewing penalties for violent offences following an outcry over a 12-day prison sentence for a student who strangled his girlfriend until she blacked out.