The European Union’s top diplomat defended his controversial trip to Russia, adding that European diplomats had been in contact with lawyers of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken championed human rights and called for an end to the war in Yemen in his first phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, the State Department said Saturday.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday said that Tehran’s “final and irreversible” decision was to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal only if Washington lifts sanctions on the Islamic Republic, Iranian state TV reported.

The United Nations special envoy on Yemen is visiting Iran for the first time to discuss Yemen’s crisis, Iranian state TV reported, days after Washington announced an end to its support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca has said its vaccine developed with the University of Oxford appeared to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the South African variant of Covid-19, based on early data from a trial.

As communications blackout following the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, all recalled the darkest days of a succession of military juntas that ruled Myanmar during half a century of ruinous isolation - driving many people to mass protests in fear that such times could return.

Pope Francis has broken with Catholic tradition to appoint a woman as an undersecretary of the synod of bishops, the first to hold the post with voting rights in a body that studies major questions of doctrine.

Judges at the International Criminal Court on Friday found the court has jurisdiction over war crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, paving the way for a possible criminal investigation, despite Israeli objections.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Beijing on its treatment of Uighurs, Tibetans and Hong Kong while China defended its policies in the first conversation between top officials of the two powers since President Joe Biden took office.

Twitter Inc’s refusal to comply with an Indian government directive to block more than 250 accounts and posts has put the social media giant at the centre of a political firestorm in one of its key markets.

Thousands of farmers across India blocked roads yesterday with makeshift tents, tractors, trucks and boulders to pressure the government to roll back agricultural reforms that have triggered months-long protests.

The US has moved to delist Yemen’s Huthi rebels as a terrorist organization, removing a block that humanitarian groups said jeopardized crucial aid as the country’s warring sides cautiously welcomed a push for peace by President Joe Biden.

US President Joe Biden said Friday that his predecessor Donald Trump, who is awaiting a Senate impeachment trial on charges of inciting an attack on the US Capitol, should not receive classified intelligence briefings, as is customary for former presidents.

The leader of al-Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate has been under arrest for several months, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday, in what will be seen as a huge breakthrough in the fight against the global jihadist threat.

The BBC came under renewed fire from Chinese officials yesterday in a diplomatic dispute a day after Britain’s media regulator revoked the TV licence of Chinese state media outlet CGTN.

Egypt has released Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein after more than four years in detention on accusations of publishing false news, a security source said yesterday.

The European Union’s top diplomat yesterday7 said that the bloc’s ties with Russia had reached a new low following the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, but still raised hopes for cooperation.

World Health Organization Europe’s chief appealed for European nations and Big Pharma to unite in the struggle to accelerate coronavirus inoculations, as Johnson & Johnson applied for emergency authorisation of its single-shot vaccine in the United States.

Former president Donald Trump refused Thursday to testify in his looming impeachment trial after being called by House prosecutors to give evidence, branding the process “unconstitutional.”

Participants in talks on Libya’s political future were preparing for a ballot this morning to select a new interim government, part of a UN process aimed at resolving the country’s decade of chaos with elections in December.