Scotland will not be given a new referendum on independence before 2024, a senior UK cabinet minister said in an interview published yesterday.

1901 - The first exhibition by the 19-year-old painter Pablo Picasso opened in Paris to critical acclaim.

We are not considering even the possibility of any contact with the US, let alone having it, which would get us nowhere. North Korea Foreign minister Ri Son Gwon

After six months of deliberation, a team of international lawyers has unveiled a new legal definition of “ecocide” that, if adopted, would put environmental destruction on a par with war crimes – paving the way for the prosecution of world leaders and corporate chiefs for the worst attacks on nature.

Climate change will fundamentally reshape life on Earth in the coming decades, even if humans can tame planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to a landmark draft report from the UN’s climate science advisors obtained by AFP.

The Russian military said one of its warships in the Black Sea fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs Wednesday to force a British destroyer away from an area near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters, but Britain denied that account and insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon.

Shunned by rich countries and failing to meet the needs of the poorest, a programme co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) for fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is planning a shake-up, internal documents seen by Reuters show.

The pandemic has helped rebuild a little of the confidence lost in the media, and pushed news companies even more towards digital, according to the annual Reuters Institute report published Wednesday.

WeRide, a China-based autonomous driving startup, said on Wednesday that it would deepen development with Nissan Motor on autonomous driving technology for the China market as it raised $310 million at a $3.3 billion valuation.

Discounts on items ranging from fast food to flights are being offered by Indian firms keen to lure people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as the economy re-opens gradually from weeks of lockdown.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told visiting junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing that Moscow is committed to strengthening military ties with Myanmar, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.

Facebook’s recommendation algorithm amplifies military propaganda and other material that breaches the company’s own policies in Myanmar following a military takeover in February, a new report by the rights group Global Witness says.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily said it will print its last edition on Thursday, after a tumultuous year in which it was raided by police and its tycoon owner and other staff were arrested under a new national security law.

A senior US senator, Lindsey Graham, on Tuesday described American President Joe Biden’s reluctance to reach out to Prime Minister Imran Khan as ‘stunning,” and warned that ignoring Pakistan while withdrawing from Afghanistan could lead to a disaster.

China condemned the United States on Wednesday as the region’s greatest security “risk creator” after a US warship again sailed through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from China.

Indian security agencies are probing the possibility of the involvement of Chinese national Han Junwei, who was arrested near the border with Bangladesh on June 10, in a conspiracy relating to national security and not just financial fraud.

Four Saudis who participated in the 2018 killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in the United States the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un yesterday said that Washington had “wrong” expectations for dialogue with Pyongyang and was facing “greater disappointment”, state media reported.

Four protesters and at least two officers were killed as Myanmar soldiers battled an anti-junta civilian militia with small arms and grenades in the country’s second city yesterday, military sources said.

Spain cabinet yesterday pardoned nine jailed Catalan separatists behind a failed 2017 independence bid in a bid to break the deadlock over the political crisis in this wealthy northeastern region.