Germany for the first time yesterday recognised it had committed genocide in Namibia during its colonial occupation, with Berlin promising financial support worth more than one billion euros to aid projects in the African nation.

Facing intensifying pressure for a new, more in-depth investigation of the Covid-19 pandemic origins, the World Health Organization yesterday said that it was still awaiting expert guidance.

A $20 billion plan to give Nato more flexibility in facing military threats, climate change and China’s rise has hit firm resistance from France, which fears the move could undermine its defence priorities, four diplomats and a French defence source said.

Nine Southeast Asian countries have urged the United Nations not to endorse a freeze on arms sales to Myanmar, according to a report from Benar News.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen yesterday warned Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko “it is time to change course” as her executive held out the promise of a three-billion-euro support package if he leaves power.

Republicans in the US Senate on Friday derailed a bipartisan inquiry into the deadly assault on the Capitol by former President Donald Trump's supporters, despite a torrent of criticism they were playing down the violence.

Spain’s postal service is feeling a backlash from its attempt to highlight racial inequality.

The Philippines has suspended the deployment of workers to Saudi Arabia after it received reports that their employers and recruiters were making them pay for COVID-19 testing, quarantine and insurance upon arrival in the kingdom.

Belarus’ authoritarian leader will discuss closer economic ties with Russia on Friday, as he seeks support from his main backer amid a bruising showdown with the European Union over the forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist.

Russia said on Friday a US decision not to rejoin the Open Skies arms control pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member states, is a "political mistake" ahead of a summit between the countries' presidents.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was set on Friday to inaugurate a landmark mosque in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, fulfilling a long-time ambition to build a Muslim house of worship at the city’s main public space that has become an emblem of the modern Turkish Republic.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced that process to lift the city’s month-long Covid-19 induced lockdown will start from May 31.

The Calcutta High Court today granted interim bail to two West Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC legislator Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation in Narada sting operation case relating to alleged graft.

Norway's largest pension company KLP said it had teamed up with Macquarie Asset Management to invest 200 million euros ($245 million) in a new fund targeting long-term loans in "dark green" infrastructure with zero or near-zero carbon emissions.

Japan was set on Friday to extend a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas by about three weeks to June 20 as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of easing less than two months before the Summer Olympics open.

Germany on Friday apologised for its role in slaughter of Herero and Nama tribespeople in Namibia more than a century ago and officially described the massacre as genocide for the first time, as it agreed to fund projects worth over a billion euros.

Teenagers suing to block expansion of an Australian coal mine scored a “landmark” victory yesterday, with a judge agreeing the project would cause them climate-related harm.

The world may temporarily breach the 1.5-Celsius warming mark within the next five years, according to an updated assessment of global climate trends released yesterday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday brushed aside allegations from his former chief aide that his failings had caused tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths from Covid-19, saying “some of the commentary” bore no relation to reality.

A public transit worker shot dead eight people at a California rail yard Wednesday before turning his gun on himself as police arrived, officials said after the latest mass shooting to hit the United States.