Britain recorded no new deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, a big sign of improvement in one of the worst-hit countries, as the World Health Organization voiced deep concern at the situation in South America, warning that outbreaks in the already hard-hit region were once again worsening.

A Russian court on Wednesday ruled to keep opposition activist Andrei Pivovarov, who was seized off a flight that was about to take off for Poland, in custody for two months pending a trial.

The African Union has suspended Mali's membership in response to last week's military coup and threatened sanctions if a civilian-led government is not restored, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Turkey hopes to maximize its cooperation with Egypt and Gulf nations "on a win-win basis", President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, as Ankara works to repair its strained ties with Cairo and some Gulf Arab nations after years of tensions.

Indigenous groups in Canada are calling for a nationwide search for mass graves at residential school sites after the discovery of the remains of 215 children at one former school last week shocked the country.

Israeli politicians battling to unseat veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were racing against the clock yesterday in talks to build a “change” coalition spanning the political spectrum.

Prominent Pakistani political TV talk-show host Hamid Mir was suspended from his regular program on Monday, his media group Geo News network said, following comments he made last week against the powerful military for its role in media censorship.

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday said it has approved a Covid-19 vaccine made by drugmaker Sinovac Biotech for emergency use listing, paving the way for a second Chinese shot to be used in poor countries.

China reported the world’s first human infection of the H10N3 bird flu strain yesterday but said the risk of it spreading widely among people was low.

Veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa has had a cyber libel charge against her dismissed, lawyers involved in the case said yesterday, in a rare legal win for the key critic of the country’s President Rodrigo Duterte.

A fire aboard a cargo ship off Sri Lanka carrying hundreds of tonnes of chemicals, plastics and cosmetics was finally extinguished yesterday after a 13-day international operation, the navy said.

A decade of war in Syria has left nearly half a million people dead, a war monitor said yesterday, in a new toll that includes 100,000 recently confirmed deaths.

The US military will hand over its main Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces in about 20 days, an official said yesterday, as Washington presses on with withdrawing the last of its troops from the country.

The chair and secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) plan to travel to Myanmar this week even as the 10-nation bloc remains divided on how to respond to the military coup there, four diplomatic sources said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it has approved a Covid-19 vaccine made by drugmaker Sinovac Biotech for emergency use listing, paving the way for a second Chinese shot to be used in poor countries.

China will allow couples to have three children after a census showed its population is rapidly ageing, state media said yesterday, further unwinding four decades of strict family planning controls in the world’s most populous nation.

Gunmen kidnapped scores of children from an Islamic seminary in central Nigeria, officials said, the latest mass abduction to hit Africa’s most populous nation.

Hong Kong police have arrested an elderly democracy activist as she made a solo demonstration over China’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown in a vivid illustration of the zero protest tolerance now wielded by authorities in the financial hub.

The employers of an American journalist detained by Myanmar authorities said yesterday they were yet to receive any information on his whereabouts or wellbeing, a week after he was detained. Managing editor of news outlet Frontier Myanmar Danny Fenster, a US citizen, was detained on May 24 as he attempted to board a plane to leave military-ruled Myanmar.

Amid an ongoing tussle between the Centre and West Bengal government, state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay yesterday retired from his post and joined chief minister Mamata Banerjee as her chief adviser.