The effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 declines faster than that of the AstraZeneca jab, according to a new study published on Thursday. "Two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech have greater initial effectiveness against new COVID-1...

Smiling and waving at journalists, posing for selfies in the streets and even sitting down for a TV interview with a woman journalist, the Taliban appear to have launched a public relations blitz, telling Afghans -- and the world -- that life under ...

Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah Thursday said a tanker would set off from Iran "within hours" to bring desperately needed fuel supplies to Lebanon, in defiance of US sanctions. Nasrallah had previously said that he would turn to his movement's ally...

Hong Kong's decision to grant Hollywood star Nicole Kidman a quarantine exemption as she films an Amazon-funded series about the lives of wealthy expats has sparked public anger. The Chinese financial hub maintains some of the strictest quarantine ...

New restrictions to curb Covid transmission took effect in Israel Wednesday as the prime minister urged citizens to get vaccinated, after the largely inoculated country saw its highest daily infection figures since January. 

Dropping winds and cooler temperatures raised hopes Thursday that France's worst summer wildfire could be contained, as firefighters entered a fourth day of battling a blaze that has killed at least two people. The fire started on Monday evening at...

Toyota will cut auto production by 40 percent in September as the global chip shortage hits its supply chain, Japan's Nikkei daily said Thursday. The world's largest automaker had planned to build just under 900,000 vehicles next month, but this ha...

A British man was sentenced to six weeks' jail in Singapore for not wearing a mask and harassing police, officials confirmed Thursday. The city-state, which has had comparatively mild Covid-19 outbreaks, has taken a tough line against people breaki...

The death toll from a massive earthquake in Haiti soared past 2,000 on Wednesday as relief workers warned of challenges to aid efforts five days after thousands of people were left homeless. The number of people killed in Saturday's devastating qua...

Sri Lanka's central bank raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three years Thursday as the rupee hit a record low amid a crippling foreign exchange shortage. With the country of 21 million already facing shortages of imported cooking g...

US domestic airlines and civilian pilots can fly into Kabul to conduct evacuations, the Federal Aviation Aadministration (FAA) announced late Wednesday. But at least 12 Afghans have been killed in and around the Kabul airport since Sunday’s Talib...

Burkina Faso's president declared three days of national mourning from Thursday after suspected jihadists killed 47 people, including 30 civilians, in an attack in the north of the country. The attack was the latest bloodshed in an area plagued by ...

Britain's legal cannabis market has boomed during the coronavirus pandemic to become the second biggest after the United States, as consumers rushed to alleviate Covid-linked symptoms, industry experts say. Cannabidiol or CBD, which is most commonl...

Images of women have been covered up or vandalised on storefronts around Kabul, a sign of the Afghan capital's rapidly changing face in the days since the Taliban took charge. The new regime's fighters took control of the city on Sunday after a lig...

A scandal-plagued Malaysian party looked set Thursday to regain the country's leadership that it lost at landmark elections three years ago, after the last prime minister resigned this week. Muhyiddin Yassin quit Monday after a turbulent 17 months ...