Russia has recorded its first cases of the COVID-19 variant first found in India.
According to the country's local reports, the regional branch of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said it had recorded 16 cases of the variant among Indian students at Ulyanovsk State University, around 700 kilometres east of Moscow.
The students have been reportedly put in self-isolation and are under medical observation.
More details to follow.
Trump says Iran war goals nearly accomplished in televised address
The United States will carry out aggressive strikes on Iran over the next two to three weeks and is nearing completion of its main strategic objectives in the war, President Donald Trump said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday.
One killed as Indonesia earthquake damages buildings
An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 has struck in Indonesia's Northern Molucca Sea on Thursday, killing one person, damaging some buildings, and triggering tsunami waves, authorities and witnesses said.
Florida vice mayor shot dead, husband jailed as suspect
The vice mayor of Coral Springs, Florida, has been shot and killed on Wednesday, with her husband taken into custody as the lone suspect in what police called a case of domestic violence, officials said. Nancy Metayer Bowen, 38, was the first Black woman and first Haitian American woman to serve as commissioner in Coral Springs, a town of about 134,000 people, some 72 km north of Miami. She was elected to the commission in 2020, re-elected in 2024, and named vice mayor by her fellow commissioners, according to the city's website. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris named her as
NASA launches first crewed lunar mission in half a century
Four astronauts have blasted off from Florida on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high‑stakes 10-day trip around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet towards returning humans to the lunar surface this decade before China's first crewed landing.
Tsunami warning issued after powerful Indonesia earthquake
An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck the Northern Molucca Sea off Indonesia's historic spice island of Ternate on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, triggering a tsunami warning for neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.
Authorities have responded to an incident in the vicinity of Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD) that occurred due to a successful missile interception.
Authorities are urging the public to stay in a safe location as UAE defence systems respond to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has affirmed that the UAE is home to a respected and valued Iranian community, describing it as an integral part of the country’s social fabric.
