US Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday there had been no sign yet of an increase in coronavirus cases from two weeks of nationwide protests over police misconduct and racism. "What I can tell you is that, at this point, we don't see an increase in new cases now, nearly two weeks on...

Black Lives Matter protesters should be punished for ignoring coronavirus lockdown rules Australia's prime minister said Thursday, sparking anger by also claiming slavery never existed in the country. Tens of thousands of Australians demonstrated this week against systemic racism at home...

More than 70,000 people have died from coronavirus in Latin America as the pandemic sweeps through the region, putting growing pressure on an already stretched healthcare system. As the number of cases in the United States soared past two million, Central and South America has emerged as...

The brother of George Floyd, whose killing by police sparked worldwide protests against racism, made an emotional plea to the US Congress Wednesday to "stop the pain" and pass reforms that reduce police brutality. One day after burying his brother in Houston, Philonise Floyd appeared in...

US fighter jets intercepted Russian bombers twice on Wednesday off the coast of Alaska, US air defense command said. The intercepts come less than two weeks after US bombers were met by Russian jets over the Black Sea. North American Aerospace Defense Command said US F-22 Raptors...

Deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest was worse than previously reported in 2019, revised government data showed Tuesday, during the first year of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is keen to develop the forest crucial to curbing global warming. Brazil's space research agency INPE...

The global economy will contract at least six percent this year due to economic shutdowns to contain the coronavirus outbreak, the OECD said Wednesday, warning that recovery will be "slow and uncertain". In the case of a second wave of contagion later in the year, world economic output...

The death toll from an attack by jihadists linked to the Islamic State group on a village in northeast Nigeria has risen to 69, security sources and residents said Wednesday. Fighters believed to be from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction shot and ran over residents with...

Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday named their main suspect in the 1986 killing of prime minister Olof Palme, closing the murder case that has gripped the Scandanavian country for more than three decades. The suspect was named as Stig Engstrom, a former advertising consultant known for his...

Flooding in south and central China has caused more than a dozen deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, the government said Wednesday. About 228,000 people have been forced to seek emergency shelter due to flooding since June 2, the country's Ministry of...

Russia and China have started making the case at the United Nations against Washington's claim that it can trigger a return of all sanctions on Iran at the Security Council, with Moscow invoking a 50-year-old international legal opinion to argue against the move. Russian Foreign Minister...

George Floyd was fondly remembered Tuesday as "Big Floyd" - a father and brother, athlete and neighborhood mentor, and now a catalyst for change - at a funeral for the black man whose death has sparked a global reckoning over police brutality and racial prejudice. More than 500 mourners...

Cabin crew in protective suits, health certifications for passengers, mandatory face masks, and longer check-in times. This is the new reality of mass air travel. As people dream of taking to the skies once more, they face the prospect that changes to curb the spread of coronavirus will...

Afghan authorities are opening prison doors for thousands of Taliban inmates in a high-risk gambit to ensure the insurgent group begin peace talks with Kabul. Security concerns are mounting as many of the newly liberated fighters say they are ready to resume their holy war. "If the...

Japan's powerful lower house of parliament approved an emergency budget worth nearly $300 billion Wednesday, doubling the scale of measures to pep up the world's third-biggest economy after the coronavirus tipped it into recession. Consumer spending has slowed to a crawl despite Japan's...

The world is facing an "impending global food emergency" that could impact hundreds of millions of people as the coronavirus pandemic threatens already strained supply chains, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday. "Our food systems are failing, and the Covid-19 pandemic is...

Russia confirmed Tuesday that it would open talks with the United States this month on extending a major nuclear disarmament treaty but warned that US insistence on including China could scuttle efforts. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet in Vienna on June 22 with US envoy...

A huge fire broke out at an oil field near popular ecotourism spots in northeastern India on Tuesday, after gas that had spewed for two weeks from a blown-out well ignited, officials said. The gas well at an oil field managed by state-owned Oil India started leaking in late May in Tinsukia...

The Belgian port city of Antwerp took down a statue of late King Leopold II on Tuesday, days after it was daubed with paint by anti-racism protesters. Statues of Leopold have long been a target of activists because of his record of brutal colonial rule in Belgium's former central African...

An oil spill that sparked a state of emergency has contaminated a freshwater lake in the Russian Arctic, an official said Tuesday, after authorities claimed to have contained the pollution. The announcement came after a spokeswoman for the taskforce in charge of the accident clean-up told...