The leader of Australia's opposition Labor Party has called for the country's coronavirus vaccine rollout to be accelerated.

Essential services, such as public transit, supermarkets, pharmacies and bakeries will operate, but with severely limited hours.

The more turbulent the world becomes, the more stable China-Russia relations should be, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, during which the two ministers also slammed the suppression by the US against the two countries.

A total of 1,424 COVID-19 mutations have been detected in Russia, but none of them are linked to the highly infectious new strain recently reported in Britain, said Anna Popova, head of the country's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, on Tuesday.

UN Undersecretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo on Tuesday called for efforts to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.

With the cast of the last can of concrete, the main structure of Boten Station, Laos' border gate station along the China-Laos railway, constructed by the China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG) was successfully concluded.

The New Zealand man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane committed violent sex crimes against two other women, a court revealed Tuesday, as the killer was publicly named for the first time.

Tunisia arrested a dozen people including its environment minister Monday in a scandal over hundreds of containers of household waste shipped from Italy to the North African country.

Due to pandemic prevention reasons, the Chinese Visa Application Service Center in London suspends its operations from Tuesday: the Chinese Embassy in the UK

The solar system's two biggest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, came within planetary kissing range in Monday's evening sky, an intimacy that will not occur again until 2080.

Silicon Valley is working behind the scenes to secure senior roles for tech allies in lesser-known but still vital parts of president-elect Joe Biden's administration, even as the pushback against Big Tech from progressive groups and regulators grows.

Lebanon's parliament Monday approved a bill that suspends banking secrecy laws for one year to allow for a forensic audit of the central bank, a key demand of international donors, state media said.

In the US last week, someone died from COVID-19 every 33 seconds.

EU and UK trade talks inched onwards under renewed pressure Monday as transport chaos triggered by the emergence of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus in Britain overshadowed efforts to reach a Brexit deal.

Israeli lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a bill to give the government more time to pass a budget, raising the likelihood that parliament will dissolve and force a fourth election in less than two years.

The US on Monday reinstated Sudan's sovereign immunity, as the US Congress passed legislation formalizing the move, following the ending of Sudan's designation as a state sponsor of terror.

US lawmakers on Monday approved a $900 billion relief package for the world's biggest economy that will provide a long-sought boost for millions of Americans and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

US House of Representatives passed a 900-billion-USD COVID-19 relief package late Monday, sending the bill to the Senate.

Colombia plans to launch a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in February, President Ivan Duque said on Monday.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects have achieved major progress despite grave economic and health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Chairman of the CPEC Authority Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the nation's share of modern weaponry among its nuclear deterrent forces must reach nearly 90 percent in 2021.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine during a televised event in his home state of Delaware.

Mayor of the US city of Houston Sylvester Turner on Monday urged people to get a COVID-19 test before Christmas as the city's positivity rate continues to rise.

Despite a number of mutations so far of SARS-CoV-2 virus, the culprit behind the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, none of them, including the latest UK variant, has made a significant impact on the susceptibility of the virus to any of the currently used therapeutics, drugs or the vaccines under development, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 18 million on Monday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

US lawmakers agreed on a nearly $900 billion COVID-19 relief package for millions of Americans on Sunday, in a deal that follows months of wrangling and comes as the nation battles the world's largest coronavirus outbreak.

When Jesus strode through the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem, his feet met hewn-stone, earth-tone tiles that were geometric in design and cool, dappled and scuffed to the touch.

The EU's drug regulator will decide on Monday whether to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, with desperate countries hoping for the green light to finally start inoculating their citizens.

The decapitated body of a young man has been found in Tunisia's central Kasserine region, in a probable "terrorist" attack, a justice official said.

A German court is to hand down its verdict Monday on a deadly far-right attack in Halle in 2019 that nearly became the country's worst anti-Semitic atrocity since World War II.

Rebel forces advancing on the Central African Republic's capital Bangui have been pushed back and the situation is "under control," a spokesman for UN peacekeeping forces said Sunday, as tensions mount a week before key elections.

Wang made his comments in response to Reuters' report on December 16, which said that a suspected Chinese hacking group attacked the AU headquarters, mentioning a report by Le Monde in 2018 that China “bugged the AU headquarters.”

Boeing's 737 MAX is set to return to the skies in Canada with a local twist in the cockpit, after Ottawa became the last major Western regulator to lift a 20-month safety ban.

Countries worldwide banned arrivals from the UK on Monday over a new highly infectious coronavirus strain which Britain said was "out of control," as the WHO called for stronger containment measures.

Opponents of Nepal's prime minister turned to the Supreme Court on Monday to challenge his dissolution of parliament and the calling of an election.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government approved a ninth consecutive rise in military spending on Monday, funding the development of an advanced stealth fighter and longer-range anti-ship missile.

China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs and respects the anti-epidemic policy the Swedish government has chosen, said China's Ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou when asked about his view of Sweden's "failed" coronavirus policy in an interview with Swedish media Expressen.

Shanghai has recently seen more COVID-19 cases imported from Russia.

Ezra Vogel, a professor emeritus at Harvard University and a scholar on China, Japan and Asia studies, dies at 90, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard said on Sunday.

Israel bans flights from Britain over discovery of a fast-spreading variant of COVID-19.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday demanded the country's intelligence agencies better safeguard national security.

A number of European countries on Sunday began to ban flights from Britain following the emergence of a highly infectious variant of coronavirus.

"Congress has just reached an agreement. We will pass another rescue package ASAP," McConnell said in a tweet. "More help is on the way."

An advisory panel of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted Sunday to recommend that frontline essential workers and adults 75 years of age and older be next in line to receive COVID-19 vaccine.

Thailand plans to test more than 10,000 people after reporting 516 workers at a seafood market in Samut Sakhon province, not far from the capital, had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Lusail Stadium, the main stadium for the 2022 World Cup, is featured on the new 10-riyal banknote of Qatar, which was released on Friday. This is the first time that a China-built infrastructure project is chosen to appear as a main symbol on the official currency of Qatar.

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Saturday to avoid visiting family members over Christmas and to use video calls instead for greetings, the way service members stationed abroad do, as the country battles COVID-19.

US lawmakers are making a final push in 2020 to win approval of landmark reforms to how the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certifies new airplanes in the wake of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes, five people briefed on the matter said on Saturday.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday introduced key members of his environmental team and said his administration would make the fight against global warming a pillar of his drive to rebuild the pandemic-hit US economy.

As the UK braces for the end of the Brexit transition period, the Northern Irish town of Warrenpoint reflects on four years at the heart of Britain's turbulent departure from the EU.

Hungary's government will extend a moratorium on household and business loan repayments until July and halve a local business tax collected by municipalities, a move strongly criticized on Saturday by Budapest's opposition lord mayor.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a COVID-19 vaccine jab on Saturday, kicking off a national rollout over the coming days.

Millions of people in England and Italy will celebrate Christmas under tough new coronavirus restrictions as Europe battles a winter surge including a more infectious new strain.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit to a Sikh ­temple in New Delhi on Sunday, kneeling down in respect and freely clicking pictures with visitors at a time when the community is leading massive protests against his farm reforms.

US President-elect Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, nicknamed AMLO, on Saturday made a commitment to work on a humane strategy to regional migration by addressing its root causes in Central America and southern Mexico.

Britain reiterated on Saturday that it would prefer to leave the European Union with no trade deal rather than compromise its independence while there was no word from Brussels on whether progress had been made after a crucial day of talks.

The United States has reported over 400,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day on Friday, setting a gloomy new world record as the country is preparing distribution of second COVID-19 vaccine to states.

Kaavan, once dubbed "the world's loneliest elephant" living in a Pakistani zoo, has been enjoying his new life after being moved to a sanctuary in Cambodia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus on a live television broadcast Saturday evening.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced new stricter coronavirus restrictions for London and parts of England to combat an alarming surge in infections linked to a new virulent strain.

The US Congress on Friday passed a two-day stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown and provide lawmakers more time to negotiate a deal in COVID-19 relief and long-term government funding.

COVID19 cases in India hit 10 million on Sat, according to Johns Hopkins University's real-time tally, making it the 2nd country worldwide to cross the 10-million mark after the US.

As COVID-19 infections grow across Europe, holiday season etiquette and the rising mental health crisis were the major takeaways from a press statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge on Friday.

Italians will have to spend much of the Christmas and New Year holiday in a nationwide "red zone" in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced in a nationally televised press conference on Friday evening.

Experts believe that Europe is at risk of spinning out of control on Christmas despite recent strict measures against COVID-19, and immunologists said a 70 percent vaccination rate is needed to achieve herd immunity, which takes at least 1 to 2 years.

Russia and China have common interests in many fields, said Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday during his annual press conference.

The Indian space research organisation ( ISRO) Thursday successfully launched a communication satellite CMS-01 onboard Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle -- PSLV-C50, officials said.

A host of European leaders are self-isolating after contact with French President Emmanuel Macron, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

An advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met on Thursday and voted in favor of authorizing American drugmaker Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

US COVID-19 deaths surpassed 310,000 on Thursday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The European Union (EU) will start vaccination for COVID-19 after Christmas, the bloc's executive chief Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has been in self-quarantine following close contact with French President Emmanuel Macron, who had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier on Thursday.

US Democratic House lawmaker Cedric Richmond, a close adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, has tested positive for coronavirus, the Biden transition team said Thursday.

After visiting Sinopharm, one of China's three leading companies engaged in COVID-19 vaccine development, Muneeb Ahmed Pasha, a diplomat from the Pakistani Embassy in China, said he was “impressed” by its “state-of-the art facilities and quality of research.”

Chinese experts on Thursday slammed the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) for its old trick of defaming China and the Communist Party of China (CPC) in a report that accuses the CPC of manipulating Chinese-language media in Australia.

US COVID-19 cases surpass 17 million: Johns Hopkins University

A nearly "zero-emissions" building site in Oslo, using electric machinery, could be a pioneer for greener construction as the world's urban areas swell by the equivalent of a Dublin, Ireland or Dallas, the US every week, city experts say.

Fiji declared a state of natural disaster on Thursday, ordering its entire population to take shelter ahead of a nightly curfew as a potentially devastating cyclone approached the Pacific Island nation.

More than 30,000 tremors have rocked Antarctica since the end of August, according to the University of Chile, a spike in seismic activity that has intrigued researchers who study the remote, snowbound continent.

Planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from buildings and construction are jeopardizing global goals to keep devastating climate change at bay, a UN-backed coalition warned on Wednesday, after data showed they hit an all-time high in 2019.

Somalia's opposition says it has written to Turkey urging it not to send a planned shipment of weapons to a special police unit that they fear incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed could use to "hijack" forthcoming elections.

A Paris court on Wednesday handed jail terms ranging from four years to life to more than a dozen people convicted of helping Islamist gunmen who attacked satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and customers at a Jewish supermarket in January 2015.

Britain and the European Union have moved closer to sealing a new trade deal but it was still unclear if they would succeed, the bloc's chief executive said on Wednesday.

French President Macron tests positive for Covid-19: presidency

South Korean President Moon Jae-in temporarily suspended the country's prosecutor general this week, the latest move in a row that has sent the president's ratings to record lows and threatens to derail his ambitious reform agenda for the rest of his term.

The UN Security Council is planning to discuss Western Sahara on Monday, diplomats said, after US President Donald Trump recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed region in return for the kingdom normalizing ties with Israel.

European nations vowed Wednesday to get their coronavirus vaccination campaigns rolling before the end of the year, while the US recorded a shocking new peak of more than 3,700 deaths in one day.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has put himself under isolation after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. Chinese internet users believe that Pompeo's quarantine and previous White House infections showed that the Trump administration's contempt for scientific epidemic-prevention measures has backfired, and they should be blamed for the 17 million patients in the US.

India's mentality toward multilateral mechanisms has been changing. The trend is particularly obvious this year.

Bangladesh on Wednesday celebrated its 50th Victory day with due solemnity and rich tributes paid to the martyrs of the Liberation War of 1971.

The employment of Singapore's residents, referring to Singapore citizens and permanent residents, rebounded strongly in the third quarter of 2020, according to the Labour Market Report released by the Ministry of Manpower on Thursday.

Negotiations have concluded on the agreement to facilitate quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Niue, which has remained COVID-19 free throughout 2020.

Australia's China policy is actually following in the footsteps of the US, but Canberra refuses to admit to it. In a self-deceiving way, the Morrison administration has always emphasized that, “we will always be Australia.”