A UN human rights office spokesman said Friday that the shooting of Jacob Blake in the US exposes how African Americans continue to be exposed to differentiated and heightened risks in engaging with US law enforcement bodies. Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for...

Venezuelan security forces and authorities under President Nicolas Maduro have used the coronavirus as an excuse to crack down on dissenting voices on social media and even in private messages, Human Rights Watch reported Friday. The New York-based rights group said Venezuelan authorities...

South Korea decided Friday to tighten coronavirus curbs further in the greater Seoul area as it seeks to contain growing clusters in the region. The country largely overcame an early coronavirus outbreak with extensive tracing and testing, but is now battling several outbreaks mostly linked...

Anti-racism protesters were planning to flood the streets of the US capital on Friday, after a white officer's shooting of African American Jacob Blake rekindled outrage over police violence and sparked a boycott movement in the sports world. Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected...

Japan's longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, intends to leave office because of declining health, according to reports Friday by national broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media.  In a country once known for its short-tenured prime ministers, Abe's departure would mark the end...

Nearly 5,800 people suspected of killing health workers, selling defective medical equipment and lying about their travel history have been arrested in China for epidemic-related crimes since January, the state prosecutor's office said. One case involved a shopper who beat another customer...

US President Donald Trump will announce on Thursday a deal for 150 million rapid COVID-19 tests as he eyes a return to normal life ahead of November's elections, White House officials told AFP. The purchase from Abbott Laboratories is part of a $750 million deal with the company, a senior...

The World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated its advice on Thursday that resources permitting, people exposed to the novel coronavirus should be tested even if they do not show immediate symptoms of infection. The comments come after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

The death toll from two days of heavy flooding in northern and eastern Afghanistan rose to at least 150 Thursday, with scores more injured as rescue crews searched for survivors beneath the mud and rubble of collapsed houses, officials said. Heavy rains, compounded by mudslides, often...

Beijing slammed Washington's "tyrannical logic" Thursday over the latest US sanctions targeting Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, worsening tensions between the two superpowers. In recent years, China has aggressively pursued its territorial claims in the South China Sea,...

President Donald Trump will make a crucial pitch for a second term in the White House Thursday with a keynote address at the Republican National Convention highlighting his record in office and charting a path for the next four years. The former New York businessman's speech on the White...

European Union nations, Britain and EU partners have agreed on a blueprint for a COVID-19 vaccination plan envisaging inoculation of at least 40% of their populations, a step that may set back the World Health Organisation's own vaccine blueprint. The EU target for early vaccinations is...

The United States Wednesday hit back at a UN women's rights panel that said some US states limited access to abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting its interference and the notion of "an assumed right to abortion." "The United States is disappointed by and categorically rejects...

The novel coronavirus has claimed 1,271 more lives in Brazil and 650 in Mexico over the past 24 hours, according to health authorities Wednesday. In Brazil, the world’s second worst-hit country after the US, the death toll climbed to 116,580, while the number of cases surged to nearly 3.67...

The coronavirus is exposing an uncomfortable inequality in the billion-dollar system that delivers life-saving aid for countries in crisis: Most money that flows from the US and other donors goes to international aid groups instead of local ones. Now local aid workers are exposed on the...

The coronavirus pandemic is still raging worldwide, but fresh World Health Organization data indicates its pace is easing in most regions, with the biggest slowdown seen in the hard-hit Americas. More than 1.7 million new coronavirus cases and some 39,000 new deaths were recorded last week,...

The Malian military junta that seized power last week has agreed to release ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, local media reported.  The announcement was made late Sunday during a meeting between the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) and Economic...

Canada is pressing Iran for additional answers over the downing in January of a Ukrainian jetliner, after an announcement by Tehran Sunday provided "limited and selected information." Iran's Revolutionary Guard has said it accidentally shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752...

Three massive wildfires chewed through parched Northern California landscape as firefighters raced to dig breaks and make other preparations ahead of a frightening weather system packing high winds and more of the lightning that sparked the huge blazes. There were hundreds of other...

Some 172 countries are engaging with the WHO-led COVAX plan designed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said Monday, but more funding is urgently needed and countries should now make binding commitments. "Initially, when there will be limited...