World

The United States said on Wednesday that Tanzania, whose president has advised citizens to shun coronavirus vaccines, is experiencing a surge in COVID19 cases and its healthcare facilities could be quickly overwhelmed.

Prominent women's rights activist Loujain alHathloul was released from a Saudi prison on Wednesday after nearly three years behind bars, her sister said in a Twitter post, in a case that has drawn international condemnation.

A plant in Belgium said to be the cause of big cuts in AstraZeneca's COVID19 vaccine supplies to the European Union said on Wednesday it had produced all doses required under a contract it has with the AngloSwedish firm.

The Southeast Asian archipelago experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

Iranians staged a sociallydistanced commemoration of their 1979 Islamic revolution on Wednesday, parading in vehicles to avoid infection rather than on foot and displaying ballistic missiles in defiance of Western efforts to curtail the programme.

British people should not book a holiday domestically or abroad until more is known about the success of Britain's COVID19 vaccination programme, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Wednesday.

Pakistan's Supreme Court commuted on Wednesday death sentences for two mentally ill people and sent them to health facilities and it directed the government to seek a pardon for a third mentally ill person on death row.

California surpassed New York on Tuesday as the U.S. state with the most coronavirus deaths, a grim reminder of the pandemic's toll even as the vaccine rollout and a sharp drop in new cases buoyed hopes of life eventually returning to normal.

The Covishield vaccine is essentially the same as the British developed AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine that previously received approval in late December.

Two allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny urged Western envoys to impose sanctions on senior Russian business and political figures, judges and security chiefs during a video call, Western diplomats said on Tuesday.

The number of cases found on Monday was just four compared with an average of 420 a day in the last week of January.

Sure, Sofia Kenin struggled in her first match as a defending champion at a Grand Slam tournament.

US President Joe Biden, who succeeded Trump on January 20, weighed in Monday but declined to address whether Trump should be found guilty or denied the right to hold political office in the future.

Former President Donald Trump stands trial before the Senate this week on an impeachment charge that accuses him of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Former President Donald Trumps historic second impeachment trial begins Tuesday, forcing the Senate to decide whether to convict him of incitement of insurrection after a violent mob of his supporters laid siege to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Austria on Monday opted against placing the whole Alpine province of Tyrol under quarantine to contain an outbreak of the socalled South African variant of the coronavirus, instead urging the public not to go there unless they have to.