Asia-Pacific leaders have called for open and multilateral trade to support a global economy battered by the novel coronavirus, and some hoped for more engagement with the United States under a Joe Biden administration.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has extended suspension of regular flight operations on five international routes till December 31 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has threatened to use all laws possible against protesters, as demonstrations escalate for his removal and for reforms to curb the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

A shocking Australian military report into war crimes has found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians.

US Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday chose House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead the party into the Joe Biden era and preside over their narrow House majority as the most powerful person in Congress.

Israeli warplanes struck Syria yesterday, hitting Iranian targets and killing 10 Syrian and foreign fighters in what the Israeli army called a retaliatory attack after explosive devices were found near one of its bases on the occupied Golan Heights.

The Palestinian Authority said Tuesday it will restore coordination with Israel, ending a six-month suspension. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had announced a halt to coordination with Israel, including US-backed security cooperation, in May in response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. “In the light of Mahmud Abbas’s international contacts... and given the written and verbal commitments we have received from the Israelis, we will resume relations where they were before May 19, 2020,” Hussein al-Sheikh, the PA’s civil affairs minister, said late Tuesday.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia yesterday reopened their Arar desert crossing, a long-awaited sign of closer trade ties after 30 years of sealed land borders between the two countries.

Both sides in Ethiopia’s raging internal conflict claimed military successes yesterday, creating a muddied picture of fighting even as the government promised it would soon be over.

Facebook and Twitter defended their handling of US election misinformation at a heated congressional hearing Tuesday where one key senator assailed the platforms for being the “ultimate editor” of political news.

Britain will ban petrol and diesel vehicle sales from 2030 as part of a 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” to be unveiled yesterday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Thousands of democracy activists marched on Thailand’s police headquarters in downtown Bangkok yesterday, a day after six people were shot during violent clashes.

About half of all Republicans believe President Donald Trump “rightfully won” the US election but that it was stolen from him by widespread voter fraud that favored Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday held his first talks since his victory with the prime ministers of Israel and India, allies of Donald Trump who has not conceded defeat.

More than four billion people could be overweight by 2050, with 1.5 billion of them obese, if the current global dietary trend towards processed foods continues, a first-of-its-kind study predicted yesterday.

The US will slash troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq to their lowest levels in nearly 20 years of war after President Donald Trump pledged to end conflicts abroad, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump plans to represent the United States at a virtual Asia-Pacific summit this week in which his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping also plans to participate, a US official has told Reuters.

Social media giant Twitter Inc has apologised to an Indian parliamentary panel for showing a northern Himalayan region as part of China, promising to make corrections by month-end, the panel’s chief said on Wednesday.

Israel has launched air raids against what it called a wide range of Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria, sending a signal that it will pursue its policy of striking across the border despite US President Donald Trump’s election defeat.

After nearly two years of scrutiny, corporate upheaval and a standoff with global regulators, Boeing Co has won approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration to fly its 737 MAX jet again after two fatal disasters.