The negotiations among the 15 nations on the Security Council were over a text that could be watered down from an initial draft proposed by Norway, diplomats said.

The US intelligence community is looking into whether the attack against Colonial Pipeline has any ties to Russia, according to the White House.

At least 20 people were killed, including nine children and a senior Hamas commander, and 65 others wounded, Gaza authorities said.

China's birthrate has been in steady decline since 2017, despite Beijing's relaxation of the decades-old "one-child policy" in order to try and avert a looming demographic crisis.

The UN health agency said the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19 first found in India last October seemed to be transmitting more easily.

"To date, there is no evidence that an adaptation of BioNTech's current Covid-19 vaccine against key identified emerging variants is necessary," the company said in a statement.

The unrest came as worshippers flocked there for the last Friday prayers of Ramadan.

In a statement released late on Sunday night, the Foreign Ministry said: “Our heartfelt condolences and sympathy go out to the families of the victims and the people of Afghanistan."

Media reports, later confirmed by diplomatic and Iraqi government sources, revealed that Iranian and Saudi officials met in Baghdad in April, their first high-level meeting since Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2016.

Violence has soared since May 1 -- the deadline missed by the United States to withdraw the last of its troops -- and while the Taliban have avoided engaging American forces, attacks against government and civilian targets have not stopped.

The letter published in the conservative Valeurs Actuelles magazine published late on Sunday echoes the tone of a similar letter printed in the same magazine last month which also warned a civil conflict was brewing.

Sweating under the Sunday afternoon sun, visitors checked into an online system -- no proof of residence required -- and soon after received a free, single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and a vaccination card.

Hundreds of people threw projectiles at the Israeli security forces who responded with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets, the correspondent said, adding that some of those involved were injured.

Labour lost control of a number of local authorities and of the parliamentary seat of Hartlepool, previously a Labour bastion for many decades. It held onto city halls in London, Manchester and elsewhere, but those successes could not mask its retreat in areas that used to be party strongholds.

Police said the attack -- highly unusual in the normally peaceful South Pacific nation -- occurred at a Countdown supermarket in central Dunedin at 2:30pm (0230GMT) and a man had been taken into custody.

Brazil is one of the worst hit countries in the world by the pandemic having suffered 420,000 deaths.

While the virus first emerged in China in late 2019, it has largely been brought under control in the country through a series of strict lockdowns and border closures.

Indonesia has reiterated call to waive patents on COVID-19 vaccines following US’ support for such a move, but questions linger on whether it would help countries in urgent need of vaccines.

Police arrived to find six people dead plus a seventh who was seriously wounded and died after being taken to a hospital, the statement said.

"Mr. Sullivan also reiterated the United States’ serious concerns about the potential evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood," the White House said in a readout of the call between Sullivan and Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat.

"I would say we are turning the corner," Zients said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union."

Tensions over Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem have stoked daily confrontations. Washington said Saturday it was "deeply concerned" and wanted "authorities to approach the residents ... with compassion and respect".

The embarassing claims come at a time of disastrous relations between London and Moscow, notably after the 2018 poisoning of a former Russian spy in England.

After delivering his Regina Caeli prayer from the window overlooking St Peter's Square, the pope said he was "following with particular concern the events that are happening in Jerusalem".

In an interview with AFP, Soumya Swaminathan warned that "the epidemiological features that we see in India today do indicate that it's an extremely rapidly spreading variant".

The Indonesian government and the nation's top Islamic clerical body have condemned the latest string of aggression committed by Israel against Palestinians in the final days of Ramadan, saying Israel has violated various international laws.

A series of blasts outside the school during a peak holiday shopping period killed more than 50 people, mostly girl students, and wounded over 100 in Dash-e-Barchi, a west Kabul suburb populated mostly by Hazara Shiites.

Flights were suspended on Thursday after two people in Sydney tested positive for the virus. 

India's health ministry reported 4,092 fatalities over the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 242,362. New cases rose by 403,738, just shy of the record and increasing the total since the start of the pandemic to 22.3 million.

Obama had promised his young daughters Malia and Sasha that they could get a dog after the 2008 election, and Bo joined the family soon after they moved into the president's official residence.