World News

U.S. intelligence agencies are examining reports that researchers at a Chinese virology laboratory were seriously ill in 2019 a month before the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, according to U.S. government sources who cautioned that there is still no proof the disease originated at the lab.

Russia’s foreign ministry on Monday raised concerns over Washington’s implementation of the New START nuclear arms control treaty and said the number of U.S. launchers and bombers exceeded the agreed limit.

The World Health Organization pushed member countries Monday to join a campaign to vaccinate 10% of the global population by September and 30% by December, dubbing the shortfall of COVID-19 shots in poorer places a “scandalous inequity” that is prolonging the pandemic.

The UN nuclear watchdog and Iran have agreed to extend an understanding to monitor Tehran’s activities by one month, the agency said Monday, with talks ongoing in Vienna try to save the 2015 nuclear deal.

Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to deliver more than 1.3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries this year. Their agreement came at a global health summit that underlined the growing disparity between rich and poorer developing countries.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday unveiled a new combat drone dubbed “Gaza” in a tribute to Palestinians, the force’s official website reported, hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian terror groups took effect.

Tens of thousands of people attended pro-Palestinian rallies on Saturday in Britain, France and elsewhere, during which they condemned Israel over its recent fighting with the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip and likened the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.

Iran’s parliament speaker said Sunday that international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, escalating tensions amid diplomatic efforts in Vienna to save Tehran’s atomic accord with world powers.

At least nine people were injured in a blast on Sunday at a plant producing explosive materials in Iran’s central province of Isfahan, ISNA news agency reported.

Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the Covid-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory.

Army Gen. Paul LaCamera, nominated to be the next commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, told the Senate this week that North Korea is building small warheads, tactical nuclear arms and multiple warhead missiles.

European leaders have condemned Belarusian authorities after a passenger plane traveling between two European capitals was forced to land, and a prominent opposition journalist was detained.

At least 14 people have died, including one of two children rushed to hospital after a cable car crashed to the ground in Verbania, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, officials say.

European Union lawmakers and member states on Thursday reached an agreement that would allow anyone in the bloc to obtain digital proof of coronavirus vaccination status, COVID test results, or recovery from an infection.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday offered to accept a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% during international negotiations, a rate significantly below its proposed 21% minimum for U.S. multinational firms.

Indonesian authorities are cracking down on youngsters using social media to condemn Palestinians in the ongoing conflict with Israel.

Her powerful voice trembled as she carefully sang her song in Papiamentu’ Vlemayo.’ It narrates the horrific story of a mother incapable of protecting her newborn child against famine, drought, diseases, and other threats.

India’s Catholic Church says the coronavirus pandemic is killing many Catholic leaders. Some 160 Catholic priests have died from Covid-19 in the past five weeks, or an average of 4 each day, according to figures published Monday.

A leading human rights group is petitioning that governments of Australia, New Zealand, and Britain recognize the systemic killing of some 1.5 million mainly Christian Armenians systemic by Ottoman Empire forces as “genocide.”

On the night of May 25-27, observers in Oceania, Hawaii, eastern Asia and Antarctica will see a lunar eclipse that coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth — making it a “supermoon” eclipse that will turn the moon reddish — also known as a “blood moon.” (The dates of this eclipse span two days because the area it will be visible spans the international date line).