A number of people demonstrated in the centre of the Iranian capital Tehran yesterday against power cuts, the state television website reported, with some demonstrators chanting “political” slogans.

A lagoon in Argentina’s southern Patagonia region has turned bright pink in a striking, but frightful phenomenon experts and activists blame on pollution by a chemical used to preserve prawns for export.

TUNISIAN DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

Firefighting aircraft from France and Greece arrived in Italy on Sunday following an appeal for help in taming fires raging across parts of Sardinia that have forced hundreds of people from their homes.

Lebanese lawmakers yesterday tasked ex-premier and billionaire Najib Mikati with forming a government and ending one year of political deadlock that has crippled the economy.

Britain and France yesterday signed a new security deal aimed at protecting the public in the event of a terror attack in the Channel against a large vessel such as a passenger ferry, the British government said.

Thousands of US firefighters were battling a blaze in California yesterday that has grown so big it is generating its own weather system, with authorities warning conditions could worsen.

Wildfires burned in regions across southern Europe on Monday, fuelled by hot weather and strong winds, as some northern countries cleaned up after a weekend of torrential rain and flooding.

London's Heathrow Airport urged Britain to open up travel to vaccinated passengers after its recovery fell behind hubs elsewhere in Europe, pushing its cumulative pandemic losses to $4 billion.

A man accused of attempting to stab Mali's interim President Assimi Goita last week has died in hospital while in the custody of security services, the government said in a statement on Sunday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday she has agreed to a request from Turkish authorities to accept the return of a New Zealand citizen accused of having links to the Islamic State, and her two young children.

Tunisia's president dismissed the government and froze parliament on Sunday in a dramatic escalation of a political crisis that his opponents labelled a coup, calling their own supporters to come onto the streets in protest.

Saudi Arabia today announced worldwide resumption of Umrah for pilgrims from 1st Muharram 1443, likely to fall on August 10 following a successful Hajj season.

Nine people were killed by a landslide in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradeshin yesterday as boulders fell and hit the vehicle they were travelling in, news agency ANI reported.

Another presidential candidate was arrested in Nicaragua on Saturday, police said -- the seventh potential contender detained by Daniel Ortega’s government in the lead-up to elections on November 7.

About 60 Cubans have been prosecuted so far for participating in unprecedented demonstrations against the government earlier this month, a senior official said Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron faced pressure to apologise for the devastating impact of decades of nuclear testing as he kicked off his first official trip to French Polynesia. 

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has suggested that the Afghan security forces’ first job was to make sure they could slow the Taliban’s momentum before attempting to retake territory, as Afghan forces plan to consolidate forces around strategically important parts of the country. 

Ahead of a key climate meet in London, scientists have warned that only four leading G20 nations’ climate targets would lead to disastrous global warming. 

1945 - Britain, China and the United States issued the Potsdam Declaration threatening Japan with “prompt and utter destruction” if it did not surrender unconditionally to end World War Two.