The World Health Organization has designated it a variant of concern and many countries are racing to try and contain it, banning flights from southern Africa.

"We are currently on the verge of a state of emergency," Bennett said, according to a statement from his office. "Our main principle is to act fast, strong and now."

Journalists Halvor Ekeland and Lokman Ghorbani were in Qatar to report on preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, public broadcaster NRK said.

Souleyman was freed at 10:30pm (1930 GMT), the photographer said, after a confusing day during which he was released in the morning before being taken back to a detention centre.

Women on 10 Qatar Airways flights from Doha, including 13 Australians, were subjected to the examinations late last year as authorities searched for the mother of a newborn found abandoned in an airport bathroom.

As far as the eye can see, building sites dot the horizon heralding the arrival of this crown jewel of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's grand urban plans.

Isaac Benbenisti was tapped last week to succeed founder and CEO Shalev Hulio, who was to have become global president and vice chairman of the board.

A joint statement issued by special envoys of Pakistan, the United States, China and Russia after a meeting in Islamabad said they "agreed to continue practical engagement with the Taliban to encourage the implementation of moderate and prudent policies that can help achieve a stable and prosperous Afghanistan as soon as possible."

De Klerk and South Africa's first black president Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for leading the "miracle" transition from white rule over the country.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi spoke at the opening of the so-called "troika plus" meeting, which included Thomas West, the new US special envoy for Afghanistan. The delegates are also expected to meet later Thursday with Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

It is the latest step in the United Arab Emirates -- where personal status laws on marriage and divorce had been based on Islamic sharia principles, as in other Gulf states -- to maintain its competitive edge as a regional commercial hub.

The business deals may have been the reason for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's attraction to the United Arab Emirates, but what business he gets in return is just one aspect of Indonesia’s blossoming relationship with the oil-rich Gulf state.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi "directed the government to start the actual transfer to the government district in the New Administrative Capital starting in December for a trial period of 6 months," he said.

Since 2010, when Iran's nuclear program was hit by the Stuxnet computer virus, Iran and its arch-foes Israel and the United States have regularly accused each other of cyber attacks.

Tehran has had 0.4 millimetres of rain since September 23, compared with 14.3 mm over the same period in 2020, said Mohammad Shahriari, deputy director of the company that supplies the region.

In an interview with US broadcaster CBS News' "60 Minutes", Saad Aljabri -- formerly a top spy and interlocutor between the kingdom's intelligence services and Western governments -- alleged he was targeted after he fled the country following a 2017 power grab by the crown prince.

He also said it would double the emissions cuts it plans to achieve by 2030.

"The variant AY 4.2. that has been discovered in a number of countries in Europe has been identified in Israel," a ministry statement said late Tuesday.

Workers removed floor markings that guide people to social distance in and around the Grand Mosque, which is built around the Kaaba, the black cubic structure towards which Muslims around the world pray. 

Jared Kushner, a former White House adviser married to Ivanka Trump, was a major architect of the deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. 

This is the fourth year that drought has devastated Aly's home in southern Madagascar. Now more than one million people, or two out of five residents, of his Grand Sud region require emergency food aid in what the United Nations is calling a "climate change famine."

The accusation adds to pressure on the world's largest social network after a whistleblower told US lawmakers on Tuesday that the company needs to be regulated.

The atomic scientist was hailed as a national hero for transforming his country into the world's first Islamic nuclear power, but regarded by the West as a dangerous renegade responsible for smuggling technology to rogue states.

In response to a question from Russian journalists on whether representatives of the hardline group would be invited to negotiations involving China, India, Iran and Pakistan, Kabulov said: "Yes".

The quake with a magnitude of 5.7 was relatively shallow at 20 kms (12 miles) with an epicentre 102 km (62 miles) east of Quetta, said the US Geological Survey (USGS).

A visit to Washington by Israel's national security adviser, Eyal Hulata, will allow the two allies to share intelligence and develop a "baseline assessment" of how far Tehran's nuclear program has advanced, the official said.

The vote was for 30 members of the 45-strong Shura Council, a body with limited powers that was previously appointed by the emir as an advisory chamber.

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, said they had personally recommended that some 2,500 troops remain on the ground in Afghanistan.

The Expo site in the dusty Dubai suburbs has remained strictly off-limits during its year-long postponement but the wraps will come off on Thursday at an opening ceremony attended by Emirati royalty.

The money had originally been included in legislation addressing a looming government shutdown and a potential October debt crisis.