Britain said it would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters after its Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and escort ships sail to Japan in September through seas where China is vying for influence with the United States and Japan. 

Muslims around the world were observing Tuesday yet another major Islamic holiday in the shadow of the pandemic and amid growing concerns about the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.

Renowned British journalist and former Ekushey TV Managing Director Simon Dring died on Friday while undergoing an abdominal surgery at a London hospital.

American ice-cream brand Ben & Jerry's on Monday said it would stop marketing its products in the occupied Palestinian territories, bowing to Palestinian pressure campaigns and saying that selling there was "inconsistent" with company values.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was not prepared to impose lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of Covid-19 to save the elderly and denied the National Health Service would be overwhelmed, his former top adviser said in an interview aired on Monday.

A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded dozens in a crowded market in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad on Monday, the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival, security and hospital sources said.

Spyware Pegasus, which is sold by the NSO Group of Israel, may have been used to conduct surveillance on about 300 Indians, including two serving Cabinet ministers at the Centre, three opposition leaders, a Constitutional authority, government officials, scientists and about 40 journalists, according to French media nonprofit, Forbidden Stories, and Amnesty International.

Taiwan’s government yesterday said it had granted emergency-use approval to a coronavirus vaccine made locally by Medigen, with experts saying early data suggested it was similarly effective to AstraZeneca’s jabs. 

The death toll from Germany’s worst floods in living memory rose to 165 yesterday as emergency services continued to comb through decimated towns in search of dozens of people still missing.

1944 - German officers made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler by planting a bomb under a table in the Nazi leader’s “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters in East Prussia.

“This has to be verified, but if it is the case, it is completely unacceptable.... Free press is one of the core values of the European Union.”

Researchers believe that early versions of the hacking software, first detected in 2016, used booby-trapped text messages to install itself onto the phones of targets.  The recipient would have to click on a link in the message in order for the spyware to download.

Fifteen diplomatic missions and the Nato representative in Afghanistan urged the Taliban yesterday to halt their military offensives just hours after the rival Afghan sides failed to agree on a ceasefire at a peace meeting in Doha.

Russia said yesterday it had carried out another successful test of its Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, a new addition to an arsenal of weapons called “invincible” by President Vladimir Putin.

The United States yesterday led allies in a fierce condemnation of China over allegedly “malicious” cyber activity, accusing it of criminal extortion, issuing ransom demands to private firms and threatening national security.

South Africa's ex-president Jacob Zuma turned himself in late Wednesday to begin serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court, his foundation and the police said.

An Israeli firm accused of supplying spyware to governments has been linked to a list of 50,000 smartphone numbers, including those of activists, journalists, business executives and politicians around the world, according to reports Sunday.

1947 - Burma’s effective prime minister and independence leader U Aung San was assassinated along with six other ministers.

A top Chinese official said yesterday that political tensions between Beijing and Australia were not behind a Unesco recommendation to place the Great Barrier Reef on its endangered list.

Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday said there is no ban on the sacrifice of animals during the upcoming Islamic Eid al-Adha holiday, a day after the government asked law enforcers to stop the sacrifice of cows, calves, camels and other animals.