The Scottish parliament has approved plans to make sanitary products freely available to all women, the first nation in the world to do so.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday rejected calls for a halt to a Russia-backed Syrian offensive in Idlib in northwest Syria.

Australia’s wildfires have destroyed more than a fifth of the country’s forests, making the blazes “globally unprecedented” following a years-long drought linked to climate change, researchers said Monday.

German authorities yesterday scrambled to determine the motives of a man who ploughed his car into a carnival procession, injuring dozens and further unsettling a country rocked by a fatal mass shooting last week.

Libya’s warring sides have proposed a draft ceasefire agreement that would see the United Nations monitor the safe return of civilians to their homes, the UN said yesterday.

The sharp rise in cases and the geographical spread of the coronavirus outside China confirm WHO fears over dealing with the crisis, experts warned Sunday as they appealed for ever greater vigilance.

UN chief Antonio Guterres yesterday launched a “call to action” against rising attacks on human rights, highlighting the persecution of minorities and “alarming levels of femicide”.

A lawyer for the United States yesterday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of risking the lives of intelligence sources by publishing classified US government documents, as his extradition hearing opened in a London court.

German interior minister Horst Seehofer yesterday said that the police presence would be increased across the country to counter the “very high” security threat from the far-right, after a gunman killed nine people in a racist attack late Wednesday.

British police on Thursday said they were not treating as terror related a London mosque stabbing in which an elderly worshipper suffered non life-threatening injuries.

Ukraine’s health minister said she will spend two weeks in quarantine with evacuees from coronavirus-hit China after protesters clashed with police and threw stones at returnees over infection fears.

Germany’s president took an indirect swipe at US President Donald Trump yesterday in accusing Washington, China and Russia of stoking global mistrust and insecurity with a “great powers” competition” that could threaten a new nuclear arms race.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday he wants greater federal powers during natural disasters, as authorities warned bushfires ravaging the country for months were sweeping through a national park near the capital.

Britain’s departure from the European Union was set in law yesterday as London returned a signed treaty and MEPs prepared to vote to ratify the divorce.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday urged Palestinians who rejected President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan to come up with a “counter-offer” that could win Israeli support, as he headed to Britain on a five-nation tour.

A German man who tested positive for the strain of coronavirus currently sweeping China was infected by a work colleague, officials say, in what is believed to be the first human transmission in Europe.

Harvey Weinstein was a “seasoned” sexual predator and rapist who abused his power as a movie-producing titan to prey on vulnerable aspiring actresses, prosecutors said Wednesday as his trial heard from its first witness.

Three American crew helping to battle Australia’s devastating bushfires were killed yesterday when their water-bombing plane crashed in mountainous terrain during a sortie to tackle another outbreak of the deadly blazes.

Russian lawmakers yesterday unanimously approved a sweeping constitutional reform bill put forward by President Vladimir Putin in its first reading.

Queen Elizabeth II gave her formal assent yesterday for Britain to end its decades-long involvement in the European Union and seek a more independent but uncertain future at the end of the month.