At least 20 African migrants died when their boat sank off Tunisia yesterday as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a Tunisian security official said.

The kidnap of 344 schoolboys in northwest Nigeria had the appearance of an Islamist militant attack. There was even a video purporting to show some of the boys with members of Boko Haram, the extremists behind the 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls in the northeast.

At least 20 migrants from Africa died when their boat sank off Tunisia on Thursday as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a Tunisian security official told Reuters.

Moderna Inc said on Wednesday it expects that the immunity induced by its Covid-19 vaccine would be protective against the coronavirus variants reported in the UK.

Gunmen killed more than 100 people in a dawn attack in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia on Wednesday, the human rights commission said, as residents described fleeing the latest deadly assault in an area bedevilled by ethnic violence.

Singapore has confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom, the city-state said, while 11 others who were already in quarantine had returned preliminarily positive results for the new strain.

Argentina football legend Diego Maradona was suffering from liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders but there were no signs of alcohol or narcotics consumption in his autopsy, the public prosecutor said on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump issued new pardons Wednesday for allies including the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner and two people caught up in the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that brought him to power.

The coronavirus has landed in Antarctica, the last continent previously free from Covid-19, Chile’s military said, as health and army officials scrambled to clear out and quarantine staff from a remote research station there.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson held the fate of a post-Brexit trade deal in their hands yesterday as talks hung in the balance.

With less than a month before Joe Biden moves into the White House, Moscow yesterday accused the incoming US administration of “Russophobia” after the president-elect promised to punish Russia for a major cyber attack.

Nepal’s Supreme Court yesterday started hearing petitions challenging Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s sudden dissolution of parliament and call for fresh elections, a move denounced by his opponents as unconstitutional. Oli’s decision, the culmination of months of political turmoil in the Himalayan country situated between China and India, has triggered unrest in his party and protests on the streets of the capital Kathmandu.

US President Donald Trump granted pardons Tuesday to two people linked to a probe into alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia along with a list of others as time ticks away on his remaining weeks in office.

An alliance of political parties in Indian-administered Kashmir opposed to India’s policies in the region has won a majority of seats in local elections, the first since New Delhi revoked the disputed region’s semi-autonomous status last year.

Israel is working towards formalising relations with a fifth Muslim country, possibly in Asia, during US President Donald Trump’s term, an Israeli cabinet minister has said.

More interested in trade and investment, says Momen

Dundar’s lawyers refused to attend the final hearing. “We do not want to be part of a practice to legitimize a previously decided, political verdict,” they said in a written statement ahead of the hearing.

The coronavirus has landed in Antarctica, the last continent previously free from COVID-19, Chile’s military said this week, as health and army officials scrambled to clear out and quarantine staff from a remote research station surrounded by ocean and icebergs.

French and EU citizens will again be allowed to enter France from Britain from Tuesday midnight provided they have a negative Covid-19 test that is less than 72 hours old, the French prime minister’s office has said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed laws granting former Russian presidents expanded immunity from prosecution and allowing them to become senators for life in the upper house of parliament once they leave the Kremlin.