A Russian court yesterday upheld a decision to detain top opposition leader Alexei Navalny for 30 days after he returned to Moscow this month following a near-fatal poisoning.

The “Doomsday Clock” illustrating the perils facing the planet and mankind will remain at 100 seconds to midnight this year amid the threats of the coronavirus pandemic, nuclear war and climate change.

Myanmar’s army chief has raised the prospect of scrapping the country’s constitution as fears swirl about a possible coup by the military over electoral fraud concerns.

The UN yesterday voiced alarm at increasingly frequent pushbacks and expulsions of refugees at Europe’s borders, warning that the very idea of asylum itself was under attack on the continent.

One week into the job, US President Joe Biden has sent a clear warning to Beijing against any expansionist intentions in East and Southeast Asia.

India’s health minister yesterday declared its Covid-19 epidemic contained as, with most of the country’s active patients concentrated in two states, a fifth of districts completed a week with no new cases.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a series of appeals against the acquittal of the British-born militant convicted of masterminding the kidnap and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, paving the way for his release along with three others.

Brazil’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been ranked the world’s worst, while New Zealand topped the class, according to research published by a leading Australian think tank yesterday.

A Russian court yesterday upheld a decision to detain top opposition leader Alexei Navalny for 30 days after he returned to Moscow this month following a near-fatal poisoning.

AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine should only be given to people aged between 18 and 64, Germany’s vaccine committee said in a draft recommendation, a day ahead of a decision by European regulators on whether to approve the drugmaker’s shot.

The United States should act first by returning to world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that it ditched in 2018, the Iranian foreign minister tweeted after Washington demanded Tehran reverse its breaches of the pact first.

A Russian court ordered Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to be kept in jail after rejecting an appeal against his detention, a decision that Navalny called predictable.

Europe’s fight to secure Covid-19 vaccine supplies sharpened when Britain demanded that it receive all the shots it paid for after the European Union asked AstraZeneca to divert supplies from the UK.

China toughened its language towards Taiwan, warning after recent stepped up military activities near the island that “independence means war” and that its armed forces were acting in response to provocation and foreign interference.

Schools that practice social distancing, mask-wearing and other precautions have not seen rapid spread of coronavirus, but indoor sports activities should be avoided, researchers said Tuesday.

US Democrats’ efforts to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial suffered a fresh blow Tuesday when almost all Republican senators backed dismissing the case, underlining the former president’s continuing hold over the party.

British police said yesterday they were called to an industrial estate, after a pharmaceutical company involved in coronavirus vaccine manufacturing received a suspicious package.

Antony Blinken said it is the honor of his life to serve as the top US diplomat after being sworn in as the newest secretary of state Tuesday.

Russia and the United States have struck a deal to extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, a move that preserves the last major pact of its kind between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.

Nearly two-thirds of 1.2 million people polled worldwide say humanity faces a climate emergency, according to a UN survey, the largest of its kind ever undertaken.