New Zealand reported two locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, just hours before authorities are due to announce whether a lockdown in Auckland will be extended.
Auckland's nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a snap three-day lockdown on Monday, after a family of three - two adults and a child - were diagnosed with COVID-19, with at least two determined to be the more transmissable UK variant.
The two latest cases are siblings studying at the same school as the child, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told members of a health select committee.
The Auckland lockdown is due to end at midnight on Wednesday and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to announce her decision at 1630 local time (0330 GMT). She is also expected to reveal whether the remainder of the country steps down a level on the country's COVID-response scale.
The Auckland lockdown was the first in the country for about six months, after a hard nationwide shutdown early in the pandemic appeared to have largely eliminated local transmission.
The fresh outbreak prompted neighbouring Australia to suspend an arrangement that allowed New Zealanders to enter Australia without serving a 14-day hotel quarantine period.
Australians voted on Saturday in a national election that polls show will likely favour Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor Party over the conservative opposition, as worries about Donald Trump's volatile policies overshadowed calls for change.
At least six people were killed and 55 were injured in a stampede at an Indian temple in the western coastal state of Goa where hundreds of devout Hindus had assembled, police official said on Saturday.
Prince Harry said on Friday that he wanted reconciliation with the British royal family but his father King Charles will not speak to him over a row over his security and he did not know how long the monarch, who has cancer, would live.
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Drake Passage between Cape Horn and Antarctica at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said.
President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent a congratulatory cable to Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, on the occasion of his country's Constitution Day.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) has approved a 2.35 per cent Education Cost Index (ECI) for Dubai's for-profit private schools for the 2025–26 academic year, allowing eligible schools to increase tuition fees within that limit.
A Dubai court has sentenced Indian businessman B.S.S., widely known as 'Abu Sabah', to five years in prison for his role in a large-scale money laundering operation.