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It said preliminary studies show the B.1.617 mutation spreads more easily than other variants and requires further study. The variant has already spread to more than 30 countries, the WHO says. Three other variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been given the same designation. A mutation is elevated from a "variant of interest" to a "variant of concern" (VOC)...

The US, the European Union and the UK have urged Israel and the Palestinians to lower tensions as soon as possible. The violence escalated on Monday night after Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem. In response, the Israeli military launched air strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian health officials in Gaza said 20 people, including children, had died in...

The discovery, near the border between the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, was confirmed to the BBC on Monday. It is not clear how the bodies came to be there, but local media reports suggest they may be Covid-19 victims. Some media reports say as many as 100 bodies have been found, and that their condition suggests they may have...

The stabbing took place at a Countdown supermarket in central Dunedin on South Island in the afternoon. One person has been taken into custody, authorities said. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the motivation behind the attack was not clear but that there was no indication it was a domestic terror event. "At this stage, there's nothing to suggest from the police's perspective...

Police in the Maldives say they have arrested the alleged "prime suspect" in the attempted assassination of the country's former president. Adhuham Ahmed Rasheed, 25, was arrested on Sunday, three days after Mohamed Nasheed, 53, was badly injured in an explosion outside his home in the Indian Ocean nation's capital, Male. Mr. Nasheed's condition had improved on Saturday, according to family. A...

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the US to drop its restrictions on the export of Covid-19 vaccines and ingredients. His words came as a divide emerged between parts of Europe and the US over how best to increase global vaccine production. Currently, around 1.25bn doses have been administered around the world. However, less than 1% have been given to the...

On Saturday morning, Dr Akshay Nair, a Mumbai-based eye surgeon, was waiting to operate on a 25-year-old woman who had recovered from a bout of Covid-19 three weeks ago. Inside the surgery, an ear, nose and throat specialist were already at work on the patient, a diabetic. He had inserted a tube in her nose and was removing tissues infected with...

Mountaineers and authorities at Everest base camp in Nepal have told the BBC they are seeing rising numbers of climbers with Covid-19 symptoms and rising numbers of positive tests, raising fears of a serious outbreak. Base camp officials said they had received reports of 17 confirmed cases from hospitals in the capital Kathmandu, where a number of climbers have been...

President Vladimir Putin has heralded Russia's vaccine offering as "reliable as a Kalashnikov assault rifle". The comment was made during a video conference on Thursday with Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova. It came as the country's health officials registered a single-dose version of the Sputnik V vaccine on Thursday, dubbed Sputnik Light. Mr. Putin's comparison referenced the Soviet Union-era weapon that remains...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted emergency approval for the Covid vaccine made by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm. It is the first vaccine developed by a non-Western country to get WHO backing. The vaccine has already been given to millions of people in China and elsewhere. The WHO had previously only approved the vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson...