Hundreds of thousands of homes in Texas are coping without heat for a fourth day yesterday after utilities made some progress restoring electricity, as criticism mounted over how the state’s political leaders have handled the brutal winter storm.

Foreign ministers from European powers and the United States were holding talks yesterday exploring ways to revive the 2015 deal on Iran’s nuclear drive, days ahead of a deadline set by Tehran that could pose a new obstacle.

The World Health Organization yesterday urged Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers to make good on their commitments as the planet’s poorest countries await their first doses.

Seven months in space, a mission that was decades in the making and cost billions of dollars, all to answer the question: was there ever life on Mars?

Serious pollution caused around 160,000 premature deaths in the world’s five most populous cities last year, even as air quality improved in some places due to coronavirus lockdowns, an environmental group said yesterday.

Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s ruling generals yesterday for toppling the civilian-led government while Japan said it had agreed with the United States, India and Australia that democracy must be restored there quickly.

Police in Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom famed for its happiness index, have detained a top general and two judges over an alleged plot to overthrow the country’s top military officer and chief justice.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg yesterday said the alliance had made “no final decision” on the future of its Afghanistan mission, as new US President Joe Biden weighs pulling out troops.

Millions were left without power as a winter storm gripped the southern and central United States with record-low temperatures in ill-prepared areas, and a tornado claiming three lives.

Gunmen have abducted 42 people, including 27 students, from a school in central Nigeria, a local government official said yesterday, downplaying initial reports that hundreds had been taken.

Donald Trump urged Republican senators Tuesday to dump Mitch McConnell as their leader in the Senate following his withering criticism of the former US president after his impeachment trial.

Hong Kong may be in its worst recession in years but its luxury property market is still thriving after a five-bedroom apartment broke records with its $59 million price tag.

The number of new cases of Covid-19 reported worldwide fell by 16 percent last week to 2.7 million, the World Health Organization said.

Myanmar’s anti-coup protesters returned to the streets in force yesterday, staging the biggest demonstrations since troops fanned out around the country to quell opposition to the new military junta.

India will provide two lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine to UN peacekeepers as gifts, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has announced.

A Spanish chess board maker discovered by chance that its products played a cameo role in hit Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit”, and its sales have since soared.

Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s 99-year-old husband, has been admitted to hospital as a precautionary measure with an ailment that is not Covid-19 related.

Pfizer has not yet delivered to the European Union about 10 million Covid-19 vaccine doses that were due in December, EU officials said, leaving it about one-third short of the supplies it had expected by now from the US company.

Four weeks into his presidency, Joe Biden says he’s still getting used to the trappings of the office.

Students chanted slogans outside the Delhi police headquarters yesterday demanding the release of a 22-year-old environmentalist accused of sedition for an online document in support of farmers’ protests.