India

KABUL: The bitter cold of Afghanistan's winter has small children huddled beneath blankets in makeshift camps. Sick babies in hospitals lie wrapped in their mothers' all-enveloping burqas. Long lines at food distribution centres have…

BEIJING: The locked-down Chinese city of Xi'an on Monday tightened Covid-19 controls to the "strictest" level, banning residents from driving cars around town in an effort to control the country's worst outbreak in 21 months. China has…

RAMAT GAN: An Israeli hospital administered fourth Covid-19 vaccine doses on Monday to a test group, as the country considers approving the measure for vulnerable populations in a bid to outpace a surge in infections fuelled by the…

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates government has told some of its biggest business families that it plans to remove their monopolies on the sale of imported goods, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The government did not immediately…

TOKYO: Heavy snow caused traffic jams, flight cancellations and disruption to train services in central Japan on Monday, with record drifts recorded in some areas. More than 3,200 households have been left without power in the region,…

SEOUL: South Korea authorised for emergency use Pfizer's antiviral pills targeting Covid-19 as the first of its kind to be introduced in South Korea, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said on Monday. South Korea restored tough…

PARIS: From the Covid pandemic to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and extreme weather, we look back on the key events of 2021. More than five million people die from the virus despite eight and a half billion vaccine shots being…

A court in military-ruled Myanmar has postponed verdicts it was expected to make in two cases in the trial of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to Jan. 10, according to a source familiar with the proceedings. The court had been due to rule…

SINGAPORE: Singapore has made Covid vaccination a mandatory condition for the approval of new applications for work passes, long-term passes and permanent residence in Singapore from February 1 next year. Those renewing their work passes…

SYDNEY: Australia's New South Wales state reported more than 6,000 new Covid-19 cases on Monday and confirmed its first death from the omicron variant. The fatal case was identified as a man in his 80s who was infected at an aged care…