Iranians walk down a street in the capital Tehran on Dec 28, 2021. (ATTA KENARE / AFP) TEHRAN – Iran has regained its right to vote at the UN General Assembly after its membership dues to the organization were paid by South Korea with frozen Iranian funds, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations announced. Majid […]
A civil authority worker sprays disinfectant inside a classroom ahead of the reopening of schools closed as a preventive measure to curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Mumbai on Jan 22, 2022. (PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP) SYDNEY / JAKARTA / NEW DELHI – India's COVID-19 tally rose to 39,237,264 on Sunday, as 333,533 […]
This aerial photo shows the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Feb 14, 2021, a day after a strong earthquake. (HIRONORI ASAKAWA / KYODO NEWS VIA AP) TOKYO – The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has found that […]
This file photo dated Sep 17, 2021 shows a leopard laying inside a cage in one of the facilities of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, in the city of Hargeisa, Somaliland. (EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP) A male leopard cub found dead in the wild in mid-October in India was infected with the novel coronavirus, marking the […]
Kurdish security forces deploy in Syria's northern city of Hasakah on Jan 22, 2022, amid ongoing fighting for a third day with the Islamic State group. (PHOTO/ AFP) DAMASCUS – The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused the US forces and its allied Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of committing acts that left civilians killed […]
This file handout picture released by Turkish presidential office on Nov 28, 2021 shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) posing with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (left) as they attend the 15th Summit of Economic Cooperation Organization in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. (MURAT CETIN MUHURDAR / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) TEHRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim […]
Taliban fighters stand guard along a street during a demonstration by people to condemn the recent protest by the Afghan women's rights activists, in Kabul on Jan 21, 2022. (MOHD RASFAN / AFP) HERAT, Afghanistan – At least seven civilians, including four women, were killed and nine others wounded when a bomb blast hit a […]
People wearing face masks walk at Shibuya district in Tokyo on Jan 19, 2022, as Japan's government approved new coronavirus restrictions on a large part of the country, including the capital to battle record infections fuelled by the Omicron variant. (BEHROUZ MEHRI / AFP) TOKYO – Japan on Friday acted to contain a record surge […]
A man walks next to a sidewalk covered by rubble in Mashiki, Kumamoto prefecture on April 15, 2016, after a 6.5-magnitude quake struck the southwestern island of Kyushu. (KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP) MANILA / TOKYO – An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 jolted southwestern Japan early on Saturday morning, injuring 13 people, the authorities […]
People inspect the wreckage of buildings that were damaged by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan 18, 2022. (HANI MOHAMMED/AP) SAADA/NEW YORK, Yemen – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen on Friday that reportedly killed at least 60 people in a detention center in the Houthi-held […]
Students arrive to attend their classes at the Rajuk Uttara Model College in Dhaka on Sept 12, 2021, as Bangladesh schools reopened after 18 months in one of the world's longest shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (MUNIR UZAMAN / AFP) DHAKA / PHNOM PENH / SUVA – Bangladesh on Friday closed all schools and colleges […]
This image grab from a handout video made available by the Ansarullah Media center on Jan 21, 2022 shows destruction at a prison in the Houthi rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen after it was hit in an airstrike leaving many dead or wounded. (ANSARULLAH MEDIA CENTER / AFP) SAADA – Three children and more […]
A Pakistani lab technician takes a sample with a swab to test for the coronavirus at the PIMS Hospital, in Islamabad, Pakistan on Jan 3, 2022. (RAHMAT GUL / AP) TOKYO / SINGAPORE / JERUSALEM / ANKARA / KUALA LUMPUR / SYDNEY / NEW DELHI / ISLAMABAD – Pakistan reported 7,678 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the […]
In this photo provided by the New Zealand Defense Force, volcanic ash covers roof tops and vegetation in an area of Tonga on Jan 17, 2022. (CPL VANESSA PARKER / NZDF VIA AP) WELLINGTON / SYDNEY – As aid trickles into the South Pacific nation of Tonga, devastated by a volcanic eruption and tsunami, an […]
DAMASCUS – The Islamic State on Thursday attacked a Kurdish-run prison in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah in an attempt to free IS inmates, a war monitor reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the IS militants blew off the gate of the Sina'a prison in Hasakah with a booby-trapped car and an […]
A logo adorns a wall on a branch of the Israeli NSO Group company, near the southern Israeli town of Sapir, Aug 24, 2021. (SEBASTIAN SCHEINER / FILE / AP) JERUSALEM – Israel's police announced Thursday the launch of an internal investigation into a media report claiming that the police used the controversial spyware against […]
A health worker conducts a PCR test at the St Vincent's Bondi Beach COVID-19 drive through testing clinic on Dec 22, 2021 in Sydney. (MUHAMMAD FAROOQ / AFP) NEW DELHI / JERUSALEM / BANGKOK / CANBERRA / MANILA – Australia's medical regulator has approved the Novavax vaccine and two oral treatments for COVID-19. The Therapeutic […]
Owen Dixon Commonwealth Law Courts building, where the hearing of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic is held at the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, is seen in Melbourne, Australia, Jan 14, 2022. (MARK BAKER / AP) MELBOURNE – An Australian court said on Thursday it dismissed tennis superstar Novak Djokovic's challenge to his […]
DPRK and US flags stand side by side at the location where DPRK leader Kim Jong-un will meet with then US president Donald Trump for a summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018. (PHOTO / VCG) PYONGYANG – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea decided to make more […]
A handout photo taken and released on Jan 20, 2022 by the Royal Australian Air Force shows Australian High Commissioner to Tonga Rachael Moore (left) and Tongan Foreign Minister Fekitamoeloa 'Utoikamanu watching the arrival of the first Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster III aircraft from Australia delivering humanitarian assistance. (HANDOUT / AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE […]