Data was withheld from World Health Organization investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Pakistan’s prime minister has responded to a recent peace overture from his Indian counterpart, writing in a letter to Narendra Modi that Islamabad also desires peaceful relations with New Delhi, officials said yesterday.

Several Asian countries sought alternative sources for Covid-19 inoculations after export restrictions by manufacturer India left a World Health Organization-backed global vaccine sharing programme short of supplies.

The United States led a chorus of concern from a group of nations yesterday over a WHO-backed report into the origins of the coronavirus in China, with accusations swirling that Beijing failed to give proper access to the investigators.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, slammed South Korea’s president as “a parrot raised by America” for calling the North’s recent missile test “concerning”, state media KCNA reported yesterday.

Nepal has ordered schools to close for four days after air pollution climbed to hazardous levels, forcing millions of students to stay home across the country.

A billionaire Thai opposition figure was charged yesterday with defaming the monarchy after he questioned the government’s alleged over-reliance on coronavirus vaccines from a company linked to the royal family.

Chinese leaders endorsed a sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system yesterday, creating powers to vet anyone standing for public office and slashing the number of directly elected politicians.

The United States will seize products made by Malaysia’s Top Glove after concluding the firm uses forced labour, officials said, dealing a fresh blow to the world’s biggest surgical glove maker.

Gunmen killed three Afghan women involved in a nationwide polio immunisation programme yesterday, officials said, a day after authorities launched a new drive against the crippling disease.

The number of US-bound migrant children crossing the dangerous Darien jungle in Panama on foot has increased more than 15-fold in recent years and is likely to rise further during the pandemic, the UN children’s agency has warned.

The cost of global warming will far outweigh the cost of rapidly cutting greenhouse gas emissions, more than 700 economists from around the world said yesterday in an unprecedented call to climate action.

Data was withheld from World Health Organization investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said today.

West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress has written to the Indian Election Commission, alleging that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Bangladesh had “violated” the code of conduct for the state assembly elections.

Sensing potential public anger, India’s Manipur government yesterday withdrew an earlier order directing authorities in districts bordering Myanmar to “politely turn away” nationals of the neighbouring country who are trying to enter India.

The United Nations will urge international donors to pledge up to $10 billion to help Syrians fleeing a decade of civil war in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that the need for humanitarian support has never been so great.

China approved a sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system, drastically curbing democratic representation in the city as authorities seek to ensure “patriots” rule the global financial hub.

Facebook has said it planned two new undersea cables to connect Singapore, Indonesia and North America in a project with Google and regional telecommunication companies to boost internet connection capacity between the regions.

Like millions of American children, Brody Cotton has not seen the inside of a classroom in more than a year. As the COVID-19 pandemic left him navigating 7th grade from his couch in Carlsbad, California, Brody’s grades dropped from As and Bs to a D and two Fs last semester.

Canadian health officials said they would stop offering AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to people under age 55 and require a new analysis of the shot’s benefits and risks based on age and gender.