International news

Saudi Arabia will reopen its borders to fully vaccinated foreign tourists without having to quarantine from August 1.

Sydney's poorest neighbourhoods on Friday braced for military enforcement of the city's toughest and longest lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic as the infection numbers held persistently high, five weeks since restrictions began.

India reported 44,230 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the most in three weeks, the latest evidence of a worrying trend of rising cases that has forced one state to lock down amid fears of another wave of infections.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday approved the imposition of lockdown measures in the capital region, in a bid to contain the spread of the Delta variant and to shield the country's medical system.

Pakistan has set August 31 as the deadline for all public sector workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The vessel that blocked the Suez Canal earlier this year has arrived in Rotterdam, months later than scheduled.

Nearly a year after a massive explosion ripped through Beirut, killing more than 200 people, politicians and senior security officials have yet to be questioned in a formal investigation.

An Iraqi army helicopter crashed during a combat operation in northern Iraq on Thursday, killing all five crew members, the Iraqi military said in a statement.

A strong and shallow earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck the Alaskan peninsula late on Wednesday, prompting tsunami warnings in the U.S. state and heightened surveillance across the pacific.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered his government to open the coronavirus vaccination campaign to anyone who wants a shot as his country scrambles to protect the population from more transmissible variants.

England will allow fully vaccinated travellers from the United States and European Union to arrive without needing to quarantine from August 2.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants US citizens to come to England "freely" and is discussing a travel corridor with the country, LBC radio said on Wednesday, before an expected easing of COVID-19 restrictions for visitors from abroad.

Saudi Arabia will impose a three-year international travel ban on citizens who visit countries on the Red List under efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus variants.

Australia's Sydney extended a lockdown by four weeks on Wednesday after an already protracted stay-at-home order failed to douse a COVID-19 outbreak, with authorities warning of tougher policing to stamp out non-compliance.

An explosion in a German industrial park on Tuesday killed one person and left four others missing.

The first person charged under Hong Kong's national security law was found guilty on Tuesday of terrorism and inciting secession in a landmark case that carries long-term implications for how the legislation will reshape the city's common law traditions.

The restoration of power supplies in flood-stricken parts of western Germany has continued but an estimated 5,800 households are still without electricity, the country's biggest local grid company Westnetz said on Tuesday.

Olympic host city Tokyo has asked hospitals to prepare more beds for COVID-19 patients as the Japanese capital grapples with a rise in infections, broadcaster TBS said on Tuesday.

Fresh off his trip to space, billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos on Monday offered to cover up to $2 billion in NASA costs if the US space agency awards his company Blue Origin a contract to make a spacecraft designed to land astronauts back on the moon.

Remains of the last person still listed as missing in the collapse of a Florida condominium tower on June 24 have been recovered and identified, bringing the final confirmed death toll to 98, Miami-Dade County officials said on Monday.

A mixed vaccination of first AstraZeneca and then a Pfizer COVID-19 shot boosted neutralising antibody levels by six times compared with two AstraZeneca doses, a study from South Korea showed.

India will miss a target to administer over a half billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of the month as Bharat Biotech - maker of its only approved homegrown shot - struggles to boost output, an analysis of government data showed on Monday.

Singapore is looking to allow quarantine-free travel for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 from September, when 80 per cent of the city-state's population should be inoculated, the government said on Monday.

The French parliament has approved a bill that will make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for health workers as well as require a bolstered health pass in a wide array of social venues as France battles with a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

Tunisia's president dismissed the government and froze parliament on Sunday in a dramatic escalation of a political crisis that his opponents labelled a coup, calling their own supporters to come onto the streets in protest.

Australia's New South Wales logged its second-highest daily increase of the year in locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Sunday amid fears of a wave of new infections after thousands of people joined an anti-lockdown protest.

South Korea said on Sunday it will tighten social distancing rules across most of the country this week, warning that its worst-ever COVID-19 wave might spread further in the summer holiday season.

Chinese commercial hub Shanghai and neighbouring coastal regions cancelled all flights, slowed or suspended subway trains and shuttered businesses as Typhoon In-fa made landfall on Sunday.

Indonesia is preparing more intensive care units after logging several days of record-high COVID-19 deaths last week.

Philippine authorities moved thousands of residents in the capital, Manila, out of low-lying communities on Saturday as heavy monsoon rains, compounded by a tropical storm, flooded the city and nearby provinces.

The Indonesian island of Bali is running out of oxygen for its COVID-19 patients as infections surge, the chief of its health agency said, as Southeast Asia's biggest country struggles with the region's worst COVID epidemic.

Russia on Saturday reported nearly 24,000 new COVID-19 cases and a repeat all-time high in the number of daily deaths, at 799.

Rescue teams in India struggled through thick sludge and debris on Saturday to reach dozens of submerged homes as the death toll from landslides and accidents caused by torrential monsoon rain rose to 125.

Europe's medicines regulator on Friday recommended approving the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in 12 to 17-year olds, paving the way for it to become the second shot okayed for adolescent use in the bloc.

At least 18 people have died in the western Indian state of Maharashtra after torrential rainfall caused landslides and flooding that submerged low lying areas and cut off hundreds of villages.

Australia's New South Wales state on Friday reported its biggest daily rise in new COVID-19 cases this year, prompting a tighter lockdown in Sydney in what state officials called a "national emergency".

Websites of several airlines, banks and technology companies, including Amazon's AWS, British Airways, Delta Air Lines and American Express, faced outages on Thursday.

Two shots of the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective against the new and rapidly spreading delta variant of COVID-19.

China rejected on Thursday a World Health Organisation plan for a second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health official said.

On the eve of the Tokyo Games, organisers fired the director of the opening ceremony over a joke he made about the Holocaust.

Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who memorably dressed up as video game character Super Mario to promote the Tokyo Olympics in Rio, will not attend the Olympics opening ceremony.

The Chinese government ordered local authorities immediately improve urban transit flood controls and emergency responses on Thursday after a dozen people were killed in a submerged subway amid torrential rains that continue to lash central China.

Peruvian police have dismantled an alleged criminal ring that had charged as much $21,000 (around AED 77,137) per bed for seriously ill COVID-19 patients in a state-run hospital.

The Delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is now the majority variant of the virus circulating in France, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Wednesday.

India reported its highest death toll in a month on Wednesday - at nearly 4,000 - after the state of Maharastra reconciled its death count with 3,509 previously unreported fatalities, the health ministry said.

South Korea reported a daily record of 1,784 coronavirus cases for Tuesday, breaking a mark set last week, as the authorities struggled to get on top of a surge in outbreaks linked to the Delta variant.

The US State Department has lowered its COVID 19-related travel advisory for India to "Level 3 – Reconsider Travel," the department said in a statement on Tuesday.

A dozen people died in a flooded subway line in Zhengzhou, the capital of China's central Henan province, after the city was drenched by what weather watchers said were the heaviest rains for 1,000 years.

Australia's two largest states reported sharp increases in new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a blow to hopes that lockdown restrictions would be lifted with more than half the country's population under stay-at-home orders.

Jeff Bezos and three crewmates soared high above the Texas desert aboard his space venture Blue Origin's New Shepard launch vehicle on Tuesday and returned safely to Earth, a historic suborbital flight that helps to inaugurate a new era of private commercial space tourism.

Rockets hit the Afghan capital on Tuesday, landing near the presidential palace during prayers for Eid Al Adha, officials and media said.

Three of 14 workers who have been trapped in a flooded highway tunnel for six days so far in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai were found dead, the local government said.

A man in the Australian city of Perth escaped mandatory hotel quarantine by scaling down four floors by crafting a rope out of bedsheets.

Europe became the first region worldwide to cross 50 million coronavirus cases on Monday as the more contagious Delta variant spurred a record surge in daily new infections.

Citizens of Saudi Arabia will need two COVID-19 vaccine doses before they can travel outside the kingdom from August 9.

India's capital New Delhi and the main financial centre of Mumbai were drenched with heavy rain on Monday, a day after at least 35 people were killed across the country in landslides and house collapses triggered by downpours.

Two dams in China's northwestern region of Inner Mongolia have collapsed after torrential rain, the water ministry said on Monday, highlighting the safety risks posed by ageing infrastructure during the summer flood season.

Wearing a mask is not a legal requirement, though ministers are still advising their use in enclosed spaces.

There was no music and no dancing on Greece's famed party island Mykonos on Sunday as new rules to contain the spread of COVID-19 pushed tourists to cancel holidays and left business owners fuming.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and finance minister Rishi Sunak will both self-isolate in line with national guidance, abandoning heavily criticised plans to take part in a pilot scheme that would have allowed them to continue working.

At least 25 people died in three Mumbai suburbs when several houses collapsed after landslides triggered by heavy rain, local officials said on Sunday.

The death toll in devastating flooding in western Germany and Belgium rose to at least 170 after burst rivers and flash floods this week collapsed houses and ripped up roads and power lines.

London police has released images of people sought in connection with violence and disorder at the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy.

The daughter of Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan was briefly kidnapped by unknown assailants who left her with injuries and rope marks.

British health minister Sajid Javid on Saturday said he had tested positive for COVID-19, but added that his symptoms were mild and he was thankful to have had had two doses of vaccine against the disease.

Thailand is looking to introduce more restrictions on movement as authorities on Saturday reported record numbers of new cases and deaths, despite partial lockdowns in Bangkok and nine other provinces this week.

At least 133 people have died in the devastating floods across western Germany.

Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui was killed on Friday while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters near a border crossing with Pakistan, an Afghan commander said.

All 19 people on board a Russian Antonov An-28 passenger plane that vanished from radars in Siberia survived after the aircraft made a hard landing on Friday, the emergencies ministry said.

Over a dozen workers were trapped in a flooded highway tunnel in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai for a second day as rescuers made slow but steady progress in trying to reach them.

The Eiffel Tower reopened on Friday after an eight-month shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, its longest closure since World War II.

Vietnam jailed a man for 18 months on Friday for breaking strict COVID-19 quarantine rules, spreading the virus to others and causing financial damage to authorities, state media reported.

The number of people who lost their lives in the heavy floods in the western part of Germany increased to at least 81 on Friday, in what is the country's worst mass loss of life in years.

The Philippines has recorded the country's first locally acquired cases of the more infectious Delta variant, prompting authorities to reimpose stricter coronavirus measures in some areas as health experts sought bans on social gatherings.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) Emergency Committee on Thursday maintained its stance that proof of COVID-19 vaccination should not be required for international travel.

Celebrity Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries has died just over a week after being shot in a busy Amsterdam street, his family and his employer RTL Netherlands said on Thursday.

Four people have been arrested over online racist abuse aimed at members of the England football team after Sunday's Euro 2020 final, British police said on Thursday.

Two Pakistani military officials were killed and three wounded when a bomb blew up their vehicle in an area of southwestern Pakistan where separatist insurgents operate, officials said on Thursday.

Singapore reported its highest number of local coronavirus cases in 10 months on Wednesday, after the discovery of a cluster among hostesses and customers of KTV karaoke lounges.

At least 11 people have died and dozens were reported missing on Thursday as record rainfall in western Germany caused rivers to burst their banks, swept away homes and inundated cellars.

The Australian state of Victoria was ordered into a five-day lockdown on Thursday, joining Sydney as the country's two main population hubs battle an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Travellers returning to England from the Balearic Islands from next week will have to quarantine at home unless they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Crowds looted shops and businesses in South Africa on Wednesday, defying government calls to end a week of violence that has killed more than 70 people, wrecked hundreds of businesses and disrupted hospital operations during the third wave of COVID-19.

Belarusian security police searched homes of lawyers and human rights activists on Wednesday in a new crackdown on opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko, two rights groups said.

Cuba has restricted access to social media and messaging platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp, global internet monitoring firm NetBlocks said.

At least 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals and two Pakistani soldiers, were killed in a blast targetting a bus in a remote region of northern Pakistan on Wednesday.

The death toll in the partial collapse of a budget hotel in China's eastern city of Suzhou on Monday has risen to 17, state media said on Wednesday.

Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or set ablaze shopping malls in cities across South Africa on Tuesday, with dozens of people reported killed.

The Kuwaiti Cabinet has decided to close down all activities for children, including summer clubs, from July 25 until further notice, as a precautionary measure to combat the spread of coronavirus.

More than 900,000 people in France rushed to set up appointments to get vaccinated on Monday night after the president warned that people would see curbs imposed on them if they did not have a health pass that covered a vaccine or negative COVID test.

The World Health Organisation's chief scientist has advised people not to mix and match COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a "dangerous trend" as there's little data about the health impact.

The death toll in a fire that spread through a coronavirus hospital in southern Iraq rose to 92, health officials said on Tuesday, as an angry crowd blaming local authorities for negligence gathered near the city's morgue.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday condemned racist abuse on social media aimed at players of the England football team after their narrow defeat in the final of Euro 2020.

Thailand said on Monday it will use AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine as a second dose for those who received Sinovac's shot as their first dose to increase protection against the disease.

At least 18 people were killed and 16 others injured by lightning strikes in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan late on Sunday, local officials said.

A Jordanian court on Monday sentenced a former royal confidant, Bassem Awadallah, and a minor royal to 15 years in jail on charges of attempting to destabilise the monarchy.

Haitian police have arrested one of the suspected masterminds in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson on Sunday soared more than 80 km above the New Mexico desert aboard his Virgin Galactic rocket plane and safely returned in the vehicle's first fully crewed test flight to space.

Israel said on Sunday it will begin offering a booster shot of Pfizer Inc's vaccine to adults with weak immune systems but it was still weighing whether a third round of shots should be given to the general public.

British billionaire Richard Branson prepared on Sunday to climb into his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane and soar more than 50 miles (80 km) above the New Mexico desert in the vehicle's first fully crewed test flight to the edge of space.

India said on Sunday it had temporarily brought back officials from its consulate in Kandahar, a major city in southern Afghanistan, as Taliban fighters continue to gain control amid the withdrawal of international forces.

Pope Francis, seeming in good overall condition, appeared in public on Sunday for the first time since undergoing intestinal surgery a week ago, stepping out on a hospital balcony to lead his weekly prayer before hundreds of people.

A bus carrying Afghan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants crashed in eastern Turkey early on Sunday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 26 others, local authorities said.

Australia reported its first coronavirus-related death of the year on Sunday and a 2021 record 77 new cases of the virus in the state of New South Wales, which is battling an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck Tajikistan on Saturday, killing five people.

The benefits of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the small risk that they may cause heart inflammation, as the jabs reduce hospitalisations and deaths, an advisory panel of the World Health Organisation said.

Saudi Arabia's Food and Drug Authority has approved Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for use in the kingdom, the state news agency (SPA) said.

Taliban officials said on Friday the insurgent group had taken control of 85% of territory in Afghanistan, as international concern mounted over problems getting medicines and supplies into the country.

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.