China's top Covid official has signalled a possible relaxing of the country's strict zero-tolerance approach to the virus, after nationwide protests calling for an end to lockdowns and greater political freedom. Anger over China's zero-Covid policy -- which involves mass

Global wages fell in 2022 for the first time since the global financial crisis due to soaring living costs, threatening to worsen inequality and drive social unrest, the United Nations labour agency has warned. Monthly wages dropped 0.9 percent in real terms in the first half of 2022

Ukraine urged Nato members on Tuesday to speed up weapons deliveries and help restore its shattered power grid, as Western allies vowed to bolster support to aid Kyiv through winter in the face of Russia’s attacks. Moscow has unleashed waves of strikes against Ukraine’s

Radhika and Prannoy Roy, founders of leading Indian news network New Delhi Television (NDTV), have resigned as directors of a group promoting their company, bringing a conglomerate led by Gautam Adani, one of the world's richest man, closer to taking over the media firm. The BBC looks

Scientists have triggered new fears of a pandemic after resurrecting a “zombie virus” that’s been under the ice of a frozen lake in Russia for 48,500 years – a new world record. A team of researchers from Russia, Germany and France discovered the “zombie

People in China who attended weekend protests against Covid restrictions say they have been contacted by police, as authorities begin clamping down. Several people in Beijing said police had called demanding information about their whereabouts. It is unclear how police might have

Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland called for stronger international commitment towards the two-State solution and outlined potential ways to move forward.   Surge in violence  “After decades of persistent violence, illegal settlement expansion, dormant negotiations

Rishi Sunak has said the so-called "golden era" of relations with China is over, as he vowed to "evolve" the UK's stance towards the country. In his first foreign policy speech, the PM said the closer economic ties of the previous decade had been

Chinese authorities have begun inquiries into some of the people who gathered at weekend protests against COVID-19 curbs, three people who were at the Beijing demonstrations told Reuters, as police remained out in numbers on the city’s streets. In one case, a caller identifying

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned of an unprecedented joint response with allies if North Korea goes ahead with a nuclear test, and urged China to help dissuade the North from pursuing banned development of nuclear weapons and missiles. In a wide-ranging interview with

Riots broke out in several Belgian and Dutch cities after Morocco’s 2-0 upset win over Belgium at the World Cup Sunday. Police detained about a dozen people after they deployed water cannons and fire tear gas to disperse crowds in Brussels and eight more in the Northern city of

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of new Russian missile attacks on his country, urging defence forces and citizens to be prepared to withstand a new week of strain on the power grid. The warning on Sunday came as snow fell in Kyiv and temperatures hovered around

Hundreds of demonstrators and police have clashed in Shanghai as protests over China’s severe COVID-19 restrictions continued into a third day and spread to several other cities. The latest demonstrations — unprecedented in mainland China since President Xi Jinping took

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has called off the ‘long march’ to the capital Islamabad fearing chaos and announced his party would resign from state assemblies in a new bid to push for early elections. “I have decided not to go to Islamabad because

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said that his ultimate goal is to possess the world’s most powerful nuclear force, according to state media. Kim made the announcement on Saturday as he promoted dozens of military officers involved in the recent launch of North Korea’s

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has resigned as head of the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after her strategy to frame local elections as showing defiance to China’s rising bellicosity failed to pay off and win public support. Tsai offered her resignation on Saturday

Protests against Covid restrictions in China appear to have intensified following a fire which killed 10 people in an apartment block in Urumqi. In the city of Shanghai, videos posted on social media by foreign journalists show hundreds of people calling for President Xi Jinping to

Gunmen on Friday killed 15 people in multiple attacks in northwest Nigeria's Kaduna state, the latest violence in the volatile region, a government official said. Northwest and central Nigeria have been terrorised by criminal gangs known locally as bandits who raid villages,

Chinese President Xi Jinping has told North Korea’s Kim Jong Un that Beijing is willing to work with Pyongyang for global peace and stability, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The report on Saturday came days after North Korea fired an intercontinental

At least 10 people were killed and nine injured after a fire ripped through an apartment in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, state media reported on Friday. The fire broke out at a high-rise building on Thursday night in the regional capital of Urumqi, where temperatures