Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to commit to phasing out fossil fuels as a major climate conference approaches, while his deputy doubled down on opposing targets for net zero emissions of greenhouse gases.

Germans went to the polls on Sunday in a national election too close to call, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) mounting a strong challenge to retiring Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.

At least three people were killed Saturday afternoon when an Amtrak train that runs between Seattle and Chicago derailed in north-central Montana, toppling several cars onto their sides, authorities said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday urged Germans to give her would-be successor Armin Laschet the vote to shape Germany’s

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas gave Israel one year to withdraw from occupied territory Friday or he said he would no long recognize the Jewish state based on pre-1967 borders.

Leaders of the United States, Japan, India and Australia vowed on Friday to pursue a free and open Indo-Pacific region “undaunted by coercion” at their first in-person summit, which presented a united front amid shared concerns about China.

Hundreds of people gathered in southeast London on Friday night at a vigil for Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old British-Bangladeshi teacher who was found dead in a park, the latest case to spark public concern about women’s safety.

“Are we related?” US President Joe Biden asked India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the White House on Friday. “Yes!” Modi joked in reply.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday backed a booster shot of the Pfizer /BioNTech Covid-19

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday urged Germans to give her would-be successor Armin Laschet the vote to shape Germany's future, in a last-ditch push to shore up his beleaguered campaign 24 hours before Germans vote. All throughout his campaign, the conservative candidate had to build up popularity to face his left-wing opponent Olaf Scholz.

A suicide car bomb killed at least seven people in the Somali capital on Saturday at a street junction near the president's residence, an official said.

Five climbers died after a blizzard on Mount Elbrus, Russia’s emergencies ministry said yesterday, in one of the worst tragedies in recent years on Europe’s highest peak.

Britain yesterday sought to turn a page with France after a cross-continental diplomatic crisis centred on alleged perfidy over a submarine contract with Australia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday recommended the synthetic antibody treatment Regeneron for Covid-19, but only in patients with specific health profiles.

The United States said Thursday that Iran has given no hint that it wants to return to stalled talks over reviving the Iranian nuclear deal.

The United Nations chief yesterday called for the world to redouble its renewable energy efforts to avert a climate emergency and address global energy poverty.

Faced with what they see as an existential threat, leaders from low-lying and island nations implored rich countries at the United Nations General Assembly this week to act more forcefully against a warming planet.

Some EU Member States have observed malicious cyber activities, collectively designated as ‘Ghostwriter’, and associated these with the Russian state.” 

The first eight months of the year saw 785 migrants die trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, more than double than in the same period of 2020, a UN agency said yesterday.

President Joe Biden yesterday deepened his bid to cement US leadership of the Indo-Pacific against a rising China with the first in-person summit of the regional Quad group.