BEIJING, DEC 9 (REUTERS) - China is not worried about a “domino effect” of diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Winter Olympics, it said on Thursday, after Australia, Britain and Canada joined the United States in deciding not to send officials to

MANILA, DEC 9 (REUTERS) - A Filipino journalist who formerly worked with Reuters has been killed in a drive-by shooting, authorities said on Thursday, one of more than a dozen journalists killed in the country in the past five years.

DEC 9 (REUTERS) - New Zealand plans to ban young people from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world’s toughest crackdowns on the tobacco industry, arguing that other efforts to extinguish smoking were taking too long.

Social Democrat Olaf Scholz was sworn in as German chancellor on Wednesday, ending Angela Merkel’s 16 years of conservative rule and paving the way for his coalition government that has promised to boost green investment and strengthen European uni

KYIV, DEC 8 (REUTERS) - Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Reuters on Wednesday that talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin had enabled “deterrence and de-escalation”.

NEW DELHI, DEC 6 (REUTERS) - Chief ministers of two Indian border states on Monday called for the withdrawal of a law that gives armed forces special powers to operate in some northeastern regions affected by insurgencies.

MOSCOW, DEC 7 (REUTERS) - The Kremlin said it expected no breakthrough later on Tuesday at virtual talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden over Ukraine, but urged people to remain calm despite mounting tensions.

JAKARTA, DEC 7 (REUTERS) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo promised on Tuesday to bolster evacuation efforts and repair damaged homes after visiting the site of a volcanic eruption on Java that has killed at least 34 people. The 3,676-metre Mt. Seme

Britain’s handling of the evacuation of vulnerable Afghans from Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August was dysfunctional and chaotic, a Foreign Office whistleblower said in evidence disputed by former foreign secretary Dominic Raab.

Indians outraged by the security forces’ mistaken killing of 14 civilians in Nagaland state held funeral rites for the dead on Monday amid intense security and sporadic internet outages aimed at damping unrest in the remote northeastern region.

BERLIN, DEC 6 (REUTERS)- Germany wants Iran to present realistic proposals in talks over its nuclear programme, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday, adding that offers Tehran made last week almost all violate previously agreed compromises.

DEC 6 (REUTERS) – A court in military-ruled Myanmar found deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of charges of incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions on Monday, drawing international condemnation of what some critics described as a “sh

BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) – U.S. politicians should stop calling for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to avoid hurting bilateral ties and China will take “countermeasures” if necessary, China’s foreign ministry said on Monda

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden are scheduled to hold talks by video conference on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, as tensions rise over Ukraine.

SUMBERWULUH, DEC 5 (REUTERS) - The eruption of Indonesia’s Semeru volcano has killed at least 14 people and injured dozens, the disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said on Sunday, as search teams looked for victims in a landscape covered in deep laye

DEC 5 (REUTERS) - Five people were killed and at least 15 arrested after Myanmar security forces in a car rammed into an anti-coup protest on Sunday morning in Yangon, local news portal Myanmar Now reported. Witnesses on the scene told Reuters dozens

More than 20 countries, including the US, Germany, and Britain, have issued a joint statement expressing concern regarding allegations former security force members have disappeared or were executed in Afghanistan.

The World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told the Reuters Next conference on Friday that while the new coronavirus variant Omicron appeared to be very transmissible, the right response was to be prepared, cautious and not

Russia has massed more than 94,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders and may be gearing up for a large-scale military offensive at the end of January, Ukraine’s defence minister told parliament on Friday, citing intelligence reports.

The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee has confirmed a “very rare” risk of myocarditis and pericarditis in individuals who’ve had the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Covid vaccines, having conducted large Europe-wide studies.

The United Nations appealed on Thursday for a record $41 billion to provide life-saving assistance next year to 183 million people worldwide caught up in conflict and poverty, led by a tripling of its programme in Afghanistan.

Germany agreed on new COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday and the United States prepared to do the same, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Omicron variant showed the pandemic could be around for “some time”.

Taiwan’s air force scrambled again on Sunday to warn away 27 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defence zone, Taiwan’s defence ministry said, the latest increase in tensions across the Taiwan Strait as China’s president met his top generals.

The new Omicron coronavirus variant kept spreading around the world on Sunday, with 13 cases found in the Netherlands and two each in Denmark and Australia, even as more countries tried to seal themselves off by imposing travel restrictions.

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers marched overnight to reinforce protesting colleagues camping on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi to mark a year of sustained demonstrations against three farm laws introduced last year.

Global authorities reacted with alarm on Friday to a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as researchers sought to find out if the mutation was vaccine-resistant.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Britain on Friday it needed to “get serious” or remain locked out of discussions over how to curb the flow of migrants escaping war and poverty across the Channel.

At least 11 miners died in a coal mining accident in Russia’s Siberia on Thursday and an operation to rescue dozens more people stuck underground was suspended due to the risk of an explosion, the region’s governor said.

France said on Thursday it was mobilising reservists and beefing up sea rescue operations as London and Paris traded blame over the deaths of 27 migrants trying to reach Britain in an inflatable dinghy.

Scientists are sounding the alarm, as what could be the most highly-evolved strain of the coronavirus has been discovered in patients in different parts of the world. Its resistance to vaccines adds to the concerns.