As New Zealand began easing month-long lockdown restrictions, burger and coffee takeaway joints in the country witnessed a massive rush.
Long queues of cars were seen outside McDonald's outlets in Auckland and Wellington from the early hours of Tuesday, with many spotted heading to the beaches.
Around 400,000 people returned to work after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the easing of lockdown restrictions from "Level 4" to "Level 3".
She said the shutdown had effectively eliminated the coronavirus in the country, but stressed it would be weeks before all movement restrictions were lifted.
"It's an ongoing battle," Ardern said at a televised news conference. "There is no one point in time that this mission ends. We are in the next phase of the battle and we are not done."
"No one wants a second wave in New Zealand and we must guard against that," she added.
So far, the country has recorded 1,472 cases and 19 deaths.
Israeli troops and tanks pushed on Saturday into parts of a congested northern Gaza Strip district that they had previously skirted in the more than seven-month-old war, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, medics and residents said.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is no longer in immediate danger but still in a serious condition, his deputy said on Sunday, four days after an assassination attempt that sent shockwaves through Europe.
At least 47 people have died after continued heavy rain and flooding in northern Afghanistan, an official said on Sunday, a day after a similar number were killed in a central province.
Russian airstrikes killed at least ten people and injured many others in a recreation area just outside Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday, local officials said.
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that Dubai Metro has resumed services at Onpassive, Equiti, and Mashreq stations as of Sunday May 19.
The UAE has sent a plane carrying 100 tonnes of food, medical and relief aid to help the victims of the floods and heavy rains that have recently swept Brazil.
Saif Hassan Ibrahim Karam from Sharjah Model Secondary School won third place in chemistry worldwide at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles, USA.