Russian cosmonauts have discovered new cracks in a segment of the International Space Station that could widen, a senior space official said yesterday, the latest in a series of setbacks.

Security forces patrolled South Sudan’s capital Juba yesterday and many shops were shut as the authorities warned of a tough crackdown against anyone joining a planned anti-government protest.

The use of leaded petrol has been eradicated from the globe, a milestone that will prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths and save world economies over $2.4 trillion annually, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said yesterday.

Teachers and school staff should be among the groups prioritised for Covid-19 vaccinations so that schools in Europe and Central Asia can stay open, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef said yesterday.

Russia yesterday called on the United States to release Afghan central bank reserves that Washington blocked after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul earlier this month.

1907 - The Anglo-Russian Convention was signed in St Petersburg, settling differences between Britain and Russia over Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett yesterday sought to play down any notion of a move towards renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinians after the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian meeting in years.

Two Japanese regions yesterday suspended use of some Moderna Covid-19 shots after more cases of contamination were spotted, the local governments said.

Hurricane Ida was upgraded to a Category 4 storm as it stayed on course to hit New Orleans with maximum sustained winds

Singapore has fully inoculated 80 percent of its 5.7 million people against COVID-19, according to officials, becoming the world’s most vaccinated country and setting the stage for further easing of curbs.

Strikes on Yemen’s largest airbase yesterday killed at least 30 pro-government troops and wounded t least 56 more, said medical and loyalist sources who blamed Iran-backed Huthi rebels for the attack.

The risk now, as we have seen in Afghanistan, is that the impression is given that the west has conditional allies that they are abandoning when their agenda changes. This is not our case. France does not abandon those who fought alongside it.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended Britain’s airlift from Kabul yesterday following growing criticism that ministers had been “asleep on watch”, potentially leaving thousands of eligible Afghans behind in the country.

France and Britain will submit a resolution to an emergency United Nations meeting due today proposing a safe zone in Kabul to try and protect people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday.

Japanese oil company Inpex Corp sold two Venezuelan oil and gas assets to Caracas-based Sucre Energy Group, three people familiar with the transaction said, as multinational firms retreat from the crisis-stricken OPEC nation. 

At least 10,000 children in South Africa have dropped out of school since the pandemic started, with students learning half or less than average in 2020 due to coronavirus, the education ministry said yesterday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party appears to be ceding popularity to its Conservative rivals, according to polls published Saturday, with early elections only weeks away.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Washington, Houston, Atlanta and other US cities to protest against laws in several Republican-led states that critics say will make it harder for minorities to vote.

The Delta variant of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 doubles the risk of hospitalisation compared with the Alpha variant it has supplanted as the dominant strain worldwide, researchers reported in The Lancet on Saturday.

The pistol used to kill the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid in the days of the American Wild West has been auctioned for $6.03 million, a world record for a firearm.