International

Indian authorities on Monday moved over 200,000 people from their homes in the state of Gujarat to safety as the most powerful cyclone in more than two decades roared up the west coast.

India on Monday reported a further decline in new coronavirus cases though daily deaths remained above 4,000 and experts warned that the count was unreliable due to a lack of testing in rural areas.

There was excitement but no crowds early on Monday morning at Riyadh's international airport as Saudi Arabia lifted a ban on citizens travelling out of the Gulf state without prior permission from authorities.

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that foreign visitors arriving by air from most countries will no longer need to quarantine if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will visit New Zealand later this month, his first trip since the COVID-19 pandemic forced both countries to shut their borders.

Singapore will shut most schools from Wednesday after the city-state reported the highest number of local COVID-19 infections in months, including several that were unlinked.

Taiwan appealed to people to avoid panic buying of items such as instant noodles and toilet paper as new curbs on gatherings and movement took effect to rein in the spread of COVID-19 during a spike in domestic infections.

India reported a smaller rise in daily coronavirus infections for a third straight day on Sunday, as the government said it was working to boost vaccine supplies to avert deaths beyond the pandemic toll of more than 270,000.

Myanmar's army battled local militia fighters in the northwestern town of Mindat on Saturday, residents said, to try to quell a rebellion that has sprung up to oppose the junta which seized power in the Southeast Asian country in February.

Firefighters put out a blaze early on Sunday at one of the Philippines' largest hospitals that had prompted the evacuation of dozens of patients from the facility, which also treats coronavirus sufferers.

Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level on Saturday in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city, bringing curbs for a period of two weeks that will shut many venues and restrict gatherings in the wake of 180 new domestic infections.

India reported a smaller rise in daily coronavirus infections on Saturday, but deaths stayed near the 4,000 mark, with the World Health Organisation warning that the second year of the pandemic could be worse than the first.

Australia carried out its first repatriation flight from India after temporarily banning all travel from the COVID-ravaged country last month, the government said, with 80 passengers arriving in Darwin on Saturday from New Delhi.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged rich countries on Friday to reconsider plans to vaccinate children and instead donate COVID-19 shots to the COVAX scheme for poorer countries.

At least 12 people were killed in an explosion inside a mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul during Friday prayers as worshippers gathered for the second day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, officials said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of the coronavirus through India's vast countryside on Friday, as the official tally of infections crossed 24 million, and 4,000 people died for the third straight day.

France has added UK, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay to its list of countries deemed as COVID-19 high-risk.

Nearly half the 150 passengers booked on Australia's first repatriation flight from India were barred from boarding on Friday, after they or their close contacts tested positive for the coronavirus, an Australian government source said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck off the northwest coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Friday, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said.

There is a "small possibility" that the remainder of the suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) season can be played in the United Kingdom or the Middle East later this year, Rajasthan Royals owner Manoj Badale said.

Indian state of Uttar Pradesh will spend up to $1 billion to buy COVID-19 shots and held early talks this week with companies such as Pfizer and the local distributor of Russia's Sputnik V, a state official said on Thursday.

Singapore's health ministry on Thursday reported 24 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the highest daily number since mid-September, with 17 of the fresh cases linked to a cluster at Changi Airport.

Russia has recorded its first cases of the COVID-19 variant first found in India.

An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale has struck south of the Philippine capital early Wednesday.

India's coronavirus deaths crossed a quarter million on Wednesday in the deadliest 24 hours since the pandemic began, as the disease rampaged through the countryside.

A group of around 70 migrants, all men, landed in Malta on Tuesday after they were rescued in the Mediterranean.

At least 11 people have been killed and many more wounded after one or more gunmen opened fire in a school in the Russian city of Kazan, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Starting May 20, unvaccinated international travellers flying into Saudi Arabia must quarantine for a week in government-approved accommodation.

The Philippines has detected its first two cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India, its health ministry said on Tuesday.

US regulators have authorised Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12 and said they could begin receiving shots as soon as Thursday.

At least 11 people were killed and dozens injured in the bombing of a bus in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province, officials said on Monday.

India will recruit hundreds of former army medics to support its overwhelmed healthcare system, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

India on Saturday reported a record one-day rise in COVID-19 deaths as cases surged by more than 400,000 for the third consecutive day.

New Zealand will lift its partial suspension of a "travel bubble" with Australia from midnight on Sunday as fears of a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney eased.

The UAE remains on the list of countries that are classified under the UK’s “red list”.

The World Health Organization announced on Friday it had approved a COVID-19 vaccine from China's state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm for emergency use.

Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SA have filed for full approval for their COVID-19 vaccine, which is now authorized only for emergency use, the drugmakers said on Friday.

Australia will lift a ban on its citizens returning from COVID-ravaged India next week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, as state officials reported that an outbreak in Sydney appeared to be contained.

Britain's panel of vaccine advisers on Friday said that people under 40 should be offered an alternative to Oxford/AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot where possible, due to a small risk from rare blood clots.

All public and private sector workers wishing to attend a workplace in Saudi Arabia will be required to have taken a COVID-19 vaccination, the human resources ministry said on Friday.

Most debris from a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend will be burned up on reentry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday.

Japan's government is set to extend on Friday a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas until the end of May to curb a surge in novel coronavirus cases, just months before the start of the Tokyo Olympics.

The European Union is willing to discuss a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.

At least 25 people, including one police officer, were killed in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday in a shootout during a police raid targeting drug traffickers in the city's Jacarezinho neighborhood.

Qatar Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al-Emadi was arrested for questioning over allegations of embezzlement, abuse of power and crimes related to the public sector, a statement carried by state news agency QNA said on Thursday.

Dozens of people gathered at a major mall in Belgrade on Thursday hoping to be among the first to get a COVID-19 vaccine and with it a shopping voucher, in the latest initiative by authorities to encourage more Serbians to get inoculated.

Maldives will begin a night-time curfew from Thursday to control a doubling of daily coronavirus infections that was fuelled by crowds at a local election and family gatherings during Ramadan.

Australian officials reinstated social distancing measures in Sydney as New Zealand partially suspended the pair's "travel bubble" on Thursday, amid fears an Indian variant case of COVID-19 could spur a significant outbreak.

India reported a record 412,262 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and a record 3,980 daily death toll, as a second wave of infections swamps the health system and spreads from cities into the vast countryside.

Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong will face an additional 10 months in jail for participating in an unauthorised assembly on June 4 last year to commemorate the 1989 crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Canada is authorising the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for use in children aged 12 to 15.

The Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting in London was hit by a COVID-19 scare on Wednesday when India's foreign minister and his entire team said they were self-isolating after two delegation members tested positive.

India accounted for 46 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide last week and one in four of deaths, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.

One dose of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer was 86.6 per cent effective in preventing infections among people aged 60 and older, data released by South Korea showed on Wednesday.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi called for a nationwide lockdown as the country's tally of coronavirus infections surged past 20 million on Tuesday, becoming the second nation after the United States to pass the grim milestone.

Nepal urgently needs at least 1.6 million AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine doses to administer second shots as the Himalayan country is recording a surge in new coronavirus cases.

Blasts from at least one parcel bomb in Myanmar have killed five people, including an ousted lawmaker and three police officers who had joined a civil disobedience movement opposing military rule, media reported on Tuesday.

At least 23 people were killed and 65 were hospitalised when a railway overpass and train collapsed onto a busy road in Mexico City on Monday night, crushing cars under fallen carriages and rubble.

From May 22, Kuwaiti citizens who have not been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus will be barred from travelling abroad.

New cases of COVID-19 in the United States fell for a third week in a row, dropping 15 per cent from last week to 347,000.

Taliban insurgents attacked an army outpost in Afghanistan's southwestern Farah province killing at least seven soldiers, local officials said on Monday, as the country braces for violence after May 1, a previously agreed deadline for foreign troop withdrawal.

Pfizer is in discussions with the Indian government seeking an "expedited approval pathway" for its COVID-19 vaccine, its CEO Albert Bourla said on LinkedIn on Monday, announcing a donation of medicines worth more than $70 million.

Australia on Monday defended its decision to penalise its own citizens entering the country within two weeks of being in COVID-ravaged India, saying it had "strong, clear and absolute" belief the move was legal.

Saudi Arabia is reopening its land, sea and air borders from Monday, May 17, at midnight UAE time.

Oman is tightening restrictions from Saturday, May 8, as part of the ongoing efforts reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

At least 26 people died and several were missing after an overcrowded speedboat collided with a sand-laden bulk carrier and sank on Bangladesh's giant Padma River on Monday, police said.

Jordan has detected three cases of the Indian COVID-19 variant in people who had not travelled, the health minister told state-owned Al Mamlaka TV.

Myanmar security forces opened fire on some of the biggest protests against military rule in days on Sunday killing seven people, media reported, three months after a coup plunged the country into crisis.

Four astronauts returned safely to Earth from the International Space Station early on Sunday in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, parachuting to splash-down in the Gulf of Mexico, NASA said.

India's new coronavirus cases dipped marginally on Sunday but deaths due to the infection jumped by a record 3,689, with one more state going into lockdown as the nation's creaky healthcare system is unable to cope with a massive caseload.

India's election officials have started counting votes in five states from elections held in March and early April at the start of a surge in COVID-19 cases that has overwhelmed the country's healthcare system.

Australia's fourth-largest city faces prospects of its second snap lockdown in less than a month, officials warned on Sunday, after a hotel quarantine security guard in Perth and two of his housemates tested positive for COVID-19.

Australian residents and citizens who have been in India within 14 days of the date they plan to return home will be banned from entering Australia as of Monday, and those who disobey will face fines and jail.

India's rampant second wave of COVID-19 topped 400,000 new daily cases for the first time on Saturday, as the country opened up its massive vaccination drive to all adults, although several states warned of acute shortages.

Following a record increase in COVID-19 infections, India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation has extended the ban on regular, scheduled international flights into and out of the country until midnight on May 31.

The World Health Organization has listed Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

All vaccination centres in India's financial capital of Mumbai were shut for three days starting Friday due to a shortage of vaccines, as the country posted another record daily rise in coronavirus cases.

Uganda has detected the Indian variant of the novel coronavirus, igniting fears the East African nation could suffer a resurgence of cases just when its outbreak has waned, a senior health official said on Friday.

Singapore urged its people to reduce social interactions and warned of tougher action on Friday if coronavirus infections rise further, a day after reporting its highest number of domestically transmitted cases in about seven months.

Russia has produced the world's first batch - 17,000 doses - of COVID-19 vaccines for animals, its agricultural regulator said on Friday.

At least 44 people were crushed to death at an over-crowded religious bonfire festival in Israel on Friday, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a "heavy disaster".

South Africa's Zulu regent Queen Shiyiwe Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu has died at 65, officials said, just over a month after she took the role following the death of her husband, King Goodwill Zwelithini.

There is no evidence linking the deaths of two Australians to coronavirus vaccine doses they received, the chief of the country's medicines regulator said on Thursday.

BioNTech expects results by September from trials testing the COVID-19 vaccine that it and Pfizer have developed in babies as young as six months old, German magazine Spiegel cited the company's CEO as saying.

President Joe Biden's address to Congress broke a historic glass ceiling on Wednesday, as two women - Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - sat behind the president for the first time in US history.

India's total COVID-19 cases passed 18 million on Thursday after another world record daily infection and death tally and as the government rejected reports of problems with its vaccine campaign.

American astronaut Michael Collins, who as pilot of the Apollo 11 command module stayed behind as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the historic 1969 moon landing, has died at age 90.

Britain plans to use a National Health Service phone app as its COVID-19 'vaccine passport' certificate that will allow its population to travel internationally this summer.

India's COVID-19 death toll surged past 200,000 on Wednesday as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new cases of the virus.

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck India's northeastern state of Assam on Wednesday, causing cracks in the walls and floors of some structures.

South Korea said on Wednesday it will offer some exemptions to mandatory quarantine measures for people who have been fully inoculated against COVID-19, in an effort to encourage more vaccinations.

The province of Quebec has reported Canada's first death of a patient from a rare blood clot condition after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The Philippines will ban travellers coming from India to prevent the spread of a new variant blamed for a huge surge in cases in the South Asian nation, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Australia will suspend all direct passenger flights from India until May 15, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday, following a surge in COVID-19 infections in the world's second-most populous country.

Much needed medical supplies are pouring into India as overrun hospitals turned away patients due to a shortage of beds and oxygen supplies and a surge of infections pushed the death toll towards 200,000.

The Brazilian health regulator Anvisa on Monday rejected importing the Russian-made Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine requested by state governors battling a deadly second wave of the virus.

Four people including two Spanish citizens and an Irish national are missing after an armed ambush on an anti-poaching patrol in eastern Burkina Faso on Monday.

Singapore is reviewing penalties for violent offences following an outcry over a 12-day prison sentence for a student who strangled his girlfriend until she blacked out.