International News

A teenage gunman murdered at least 19 children and two teachers after storming into a Texas elementary school on Tuesday, the latest bout of gun-fuelled mass killings in the United States.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) members re-elected Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as Director General by a strong majority for another five years.

Eleven people were shot dead in a slum on the north side of Rio de Janeiro early on Tuesday during a police raid to capture heads of a drug-trafficking organisation.

Pakistan's government on Tuesday banned a planned protest march by ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is demanding fresh elections.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday that Kyiv was ready for an exchange of prisoners with Russia "even tomorrow" and called on his allies to put pressure on Moscow.

Flash floods and landslides in India's northeast Assam state killed at least 25 people and displaced over 650,000 from their homes in the past 10 days, officials said on Tuesday.

North Korea said on Tuesday there were no new deaths among fever patients in the country, the first time since it flagged a COVID-19 outbreak nearly two weeks ago, adding that it was seeing a "stable" downward trend in pandemic-related cases.

Flights have been temporarily suspended at Kuwait International Airport due to a severe dust storm, which has blanketed the country.

'COVID-19 is not over anywhere until it’s over everywhere', Tedros warns World Health Assembly

Oman announced on Sunday the lifting of all measures that had been taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region.

Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese said he wanted to bring Australians together as he made his first comments after leading his party to an election victory on Saturday after nine years in opposition.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded defeat after an election on Saturday and the opposition Labor Party was set to end almost a decade of conservative rule, possibly with the support of pro-environment independents.

Australia's ruling conservative coalition cannot win enough seats to form a government, two television stations projected on Saturday after the government lost ground to climate-focused independents and smaller parties.

The virus is endemic in some animal populations in several countries, leading to occasional outbreaks among local people and travellers.

Representatives of the United States and several other nations walked out of an Asia-Pacific trade ministers meeting in Bangkok on Saturday to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that almost 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers holed up in Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks have surrendered so far, TASS news agency reported on Friday.

Sri Lanka's prime minister has warned of a food shortage as the island nation battles a devastating economic crisis and vowed the government will buy enough fertiliser for the next planting season to boost harvests.

U.S. health officials are investigating a case of monkeypox in Massachusetts, carrying out contact tracing as the CDC tracks multiple cases in several countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday issued an emergency use listing for the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine from China-based CanSino Biologics.

British police ended their investigation on Thursday into COVID-19 lockdown parties held at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street office, having handed out 126 fines in a scandal that had called into question his leadership.

Moscow said nearly 700 more Ukrainian fighters had surrendered in Russian-held Mariupol as it shored up a key gain in the south, while the United States became the latest Western country to reopen its embassy in Kyiv.

Any major North Korea weapons test over the next five days could overshadow US President Joe Biden's broader trip focus on bolstering Asian allies against China, analysts say.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that he is in "intense contact" with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union in an effort to restore Ukrainian grain export as a global food crisis worsens.

Greece said it would end the mandatory wearing of face masks in airplanes and indoor public venues from June 1, as it lifts restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 ahead of its peak tourism season.

More Shanghai residents were given the freedom to go out to shop for groceries for the first time in nearly two months on Thursday as authorities set out more plans for exiting the city-wide COVID-19 lockdown more fully.

Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, will be boarding Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity and blasting off to space on Sunday.

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.