US President Donald Trump’s administration says that on Saturday all United Nations sanctions on Iran have to be restored and a conventional arms embargo on the country will no longer expire in mid-October. But 13 of the 15 UN Security Council members, including long-time US allies, say Washington’s move is void and diplomats say few countries are likely to reimpose the measures, which were lifted under a 2015 deal between world powers and Iran that aimed to stop Tehran developing nuclear weapons. Here is a look at the events leading to this showdown and an explanation of what could happen next.

Lebanon’s army has said it found 1.3 tonnes of fireworks during a search of Beirut port, which was devastated last month in a huge blast that was blamed on a large quantity of chemicals kept in poor condition.

Thousands of protesters in Thailand’s capital have demonstrated against the government of former coup leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, with many also demanding reforms to the powerful monarchy.

The Covid-19 weekly death toll of around 50,000 lives is unacceptably high, the World Health Organization said Friday as the one million fatalities landmark approaches.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a stalwart liberal on the US Supreme Court since 1993, died on Friday at age 87, giving President Donald Trump a chance to expand its conservative majority with a third appointment at a time of deep divisions in America with a presidential election looming.

Thousands of people in northwest China have tested positive for a bacterial disease after a leak from a state-owned biopharmaceutical plant making animal vaccines last year.

Poland’s parliament yesterday passed an animal rights law that had angered fur farmers and kosher meat producers and divided the country’s right-wing governing alliance.

Cat and dog owners suffering from Covid-19 can pass their illness onto their feline and canine companions, according to a small study released yesterday.

The United States hopes to move ahead with plans to name Qatar as a major, non-Nato ally, a status that provides foreign nations with benefits in defence trade and security cooperation with Washington, a senior US official said on Thursday.

Record temperatures are accelerating the rise of sea levels, melting glaciers and snow coverage and threatening the water supplies for billions, according to a major UN report yesterday charting the “increasing and irreversible” impacts of climate change.

While institutions, governments, elected officials, companies and sports federations are all having to adapt to new constraints under the coronavirus pandemic, experts say they are often using the health crisis as an excuse to restrict journalists’ access.

A tunnel nearing completion in the Indian Himalayas will slash by hours the time it takes troops to reach the Chinese border, part of an infrastructure blitz by New Delhi that is gathering pace since a bloody border clash.

Fierce fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban killed dozens in a restive eastern province, officials said, as negotiators from both sides pushed ahead with peace talks in Qatar.

A day after key ally Akali Dal pulled out its only minister from his government over farm bills, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “misinformation was being spread” that farmers would be shortchanged.

Wildlife guide Eduarda Fernandes steers a speedboat up the Piquiri river in western Brazil, scanning the horizon for jaguars wounded in the wildfires ripping through the Pantanal, the world’s biggest tropical wetlands.

US President Donald Trump will not attend next week’s UN General Assembly’s 75th session in person, his chief of staff told journalists aboard Air Force One Thursday, according to a pool report.

A lawyer for Julian Assange has told a London court that she was present when an ally of US President Donald Trump offered to arrange a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder in return for information that would “benefit President Trump politically”.

The global hunger crisis caused by conflict and compounded by Covid-19 pandemic is moving into a dangerous phase, the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said.

The US Commerce Department said it will issue an order Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on September 20.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has said that five more countries are seriously considering striking a normalisation deal with Israel after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed accords.