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European Union governments agreed on Wednesday to add the United States to their list of countries from which they will allow non-essential travel, EU diplomats said. Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 countries approved the addition of the United States and five other countries at a meeting on Wednesday, with the …

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin face off on Wednesday in their first meeting since Biden took office with wide disagreements likely and expectations low for any breakthroughs. Both have said they hope their talks in a stately lakeside Geneva villa can lead to more stable and …

Macau’s government said on Wednesday it would suspend operations at its representative office in Taiwan, following in the footsteps of Hong Kong, which made a similar move last month in response to Taipei’s support for pro-democracy activists there. The gambling hub’s government said that The Macao Economic and Cultural Office …

Eritrean troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are expected to “definitely leave soon,” Ethiopia’s U.N. envoy said after a top U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that Eritrea’s soldiers were using starvation as a weapon of war. Outgoing U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock told the 15-member council in a …

China does not tolerate foreign forces intervening in Taiwan issues and has to make strong responses to such acts of “collusion”, the government said on Wednesday after the island reported the largest incursion to date of Chinese aircraft. Twenty-eight Chinese air force aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, entered Taiwan’s …

Peruvian socialist candidate Pedro Castillo claimed victory in the presidential election on Tuesday after clinging on to a narrow lead as the lengthy vote count ended, although his right-wing rival pledged to fight the result and has yet to concede. Castillo ended the count 44,058 votes ahead of Keiko Fujimori, …

Australia’s most populous city Sydney has recorded its first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in more than a month, stoking concerns of a fresh wave of infections on Wednesday. New South Wales (NSW) state said it is not clear how the unnamed man in his 60s acquired the virus, but …

China said on Wednesday that there was no radiation leak at the Taishan nuclear power station and it had not raised acceptable limits for radiation levels around the plant, responding to a CNN report earlier this week. CNN reported on Monday that Framatome, the French company which designed the plant, …

Saudi Arabia has executed a man for offences rights groups say he allegedly committed while under the age of 18, despite the kingdom’s insistence that it has abolished death sentences for many childhood crimes. Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish was arrested in May 2015 and charged with protest-related offences, many of which …

A car bomb explosion at a military base in the Colombian border city of Cucuta injured 36 people on Tuesday, the defense minister said, casting blame for the attack on leftist rebels. The explosion took place at a base used by the 30th Army Brigade in the northeastern city near …

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit near Indonesia’s Mollucas islands on Wednesday, Indonesia’s geophysics agency BMKG said. The quake, which struck at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), had no potential to trigger a tsunami, the agency said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said the country’s economy improved this year but called for measures to tackle the “tense” food situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and last year’s typhoons, state media said on Wednesday. Kim chaired a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s central committee …

Twenty-eight Chinese air force aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday, the island’s government said, the largest reported incursion to date. While there was no immediate comment from Beijing, the news comes after the Group of Seven leaders issued a joint statement …

Ten people who had been held captive by terrorists were freed this week in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, three security sources and two close associates of those released told Reuters. The people, including aid workers, had been taken by Boko Haram over the past year, the sources said. They were …

China said on Tuesday that radiation levels around the Taishan nuclear project in the southeastern province of Guangdong remained normal, following media reports of a leak at one of its reactors. French utility EDF, one of the project’s owners, said on Monday that it was investigating media reports that abnormal …

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Tuesday her government is considering including Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s enclaves in North Africa, fully in Europe’s passport-free Schengen area. Currently, Moroccans from the towns surrounding the enclaves can enter without a visa but need one to travel by sea or air …

A huge red banner welcomed nearly 9,000 students in Wuhan for a massive graduation ceremony over a year after the city was battered by the first global outbreak of COVID-19. Students in navy gowns and mortarboards sat in crowded rows, without social distancing or face masks, beneath the sign that …

Japan will send 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday, as Vietnam seeks to accelerate its vaccine procurement drive to tackle a more stubborn wave of infections. The shipment of AstraZeneca PLC vaccines produced in Japan is due to arrive in Vietnam on …

At least 15 army recruits died Tuesday when a suicide bomber attacked a military training camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, an officer said. “I have counted about 15 new recruits who have been killed in the blast,” said army officer Mohamed Adan, adding the toll could be higher. Adan said the …

A store clerk was fatally shot and a suspected assailant and a police officer injured after a dispute over a face mask requirement escalated into a firefight inside a store in Georgia. After getting into an argument with a cashier at a Decatur, Georgia supermarket on Monday afternoon, 30-year-old Victor …