Khan, who became the first Muslim to head a major Western capital after his victory in 2016, saw off his main challenger, Shaun Bailey, the candidate from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party.

He added that Ankara had launched initiatives to mobilise international institutions.

While some people expressed weariness about having to put up with longer restrictions, 15 of the country's 47 prefectures saw record numbers of more coronavirus infections including Aichi and Fukuoka that will be placed under the emergency from Wednesday.

Palestinian youth threw stones, lit fires and tore down police barricades in the streets leading to the walled Old City gates as officers on horseback and in riot gear used stun grenades and water cannons to repel them.

The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world.

An Asian regional advocacy group speaks up against what it believes is an effort to single out migrant workers as vectors of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, in the form of mandatory vaccination and testing as a requirement for extending work contracts.

As India's deadly second wave of COVID-19 continues unabated and its total number of cases now stand at 21.49 million, with infections spreading from overcrowded cities to remote rural villages that are home to nearly 70 percent of the 1.3 billion population.

Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer beat the Labour candidate by 15,529 votes to 8,589, securing what less than a decade ago would have been seen as an impossible feat of dislodging the main opposition Labour Party from one of its heartland seats.

Scott Morrison this week barred all travel from India, fearing a large number of Covid-positive arrivals would overwhelm Australia's already strained quarantine facilities.

Latest estimates have shown the Long March-5B Y2 rocket, which carried the core module of China's first space station to orbit last week, is expected to come down "somewhere between" Saturday and Sunday, according to Austin.

Nanaia Mahuta's comments come after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said this week that differences with its top trading partner were getting harder to reconcile, and the country's parliament unanimously declared human rights abuses were taking place against Uyghur people in China's Xinjiang region, angering Beijing.

Anxious over the virus's deadly rampage through neighbouring India, officials have steadily tightened restrictions and banned travel during the upcoming Eid holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Beijing expressed anger after New Zealand's parliament passed a watered-down motion Wednesday expressing "grave concern" at human rights abuses involving the Uyghur Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang province.

"It's a new virus. Nobody knows whether it was born in a laboratory or because a human ate some animal they shouldn't have," said the far-right leader.

The huge pink monument with its tentacles outstretched was unveiled in March by the coastal town of Noto in central Japan as a proud nod to its local delicacy.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou pointed out that it is the first time Taiwan has been included in the communique of the G-7 foreign ministers' meeting.

Iraq has hosted talks between Riyadh and Tehran "more than once", its President Barham Saleh, an ex-premier of Iraqi Kurdistan, said Wednesday, following reports that a Saudi delegation led by intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali al-Humaidan met Iranian officials in Baghdad on April 9.

Wong, Lester Shum, Tiffany Yuen and Jannelle Leung were handed down the sentences after pleading guilty to the charge at the same Hong Kong court last Friday. They were found to have participated in the rally even though it had been banned by police citing public safety and health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 infections in the world's second most populous nation have surged past 21 million, with a death toll of 230,168, health ministry data show.

Health ministry numbers showed 3,980 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the national total to 230,168, and 412,262 new cases, bringing India's caseload since the pandemic began to 21.1 million.

President Reuven Rivlin tapped Lapid in an announcement that could end the Netanyahu era in Israeli politics. The move followed consultations with party leaders to determine if any lawmaker had a path to clinch a coalition capable of ending an unprecedented era of political gridlock.

Despite losing the presidency to Joe Biden last year and enduring a second impeachment after January's deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, the brash billionaire remains his party's most influential figure.

Noting that "extraordinary measures" are needed to tackle the global health crisis, the US trade representative said in a statement that the administration of President Joe Biden will support the IP waiver "in service of ending this pandemic."

Scotland is home to one of the world's most prominent independence movements and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has described this election as the most important in the country's history.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is "aware and he knows the space command is tracking, literally tracking this rocket debris," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. 

In a meeting in London, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui Yong agreed to push North Korea to comply with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions over its nuclear and missile programs, the ministry said.

Most of the elections were meant to be held a year ago but were delayed by the pandemic. Polls open at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) on Thursday, with results expected from Friday.

India is not part of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies but was invited by Britain to the talks.

“We need to act now and we need to act fast to have any hope of containing this human catastrophe. This virus has no respect for borders and these variants are running rampant across Asia," said Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific director for the Geneva-based agency representing the global humanitarian network.

Joined by aides, Blinken sat in the centre of a U-shaped table with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on each side in a conference room of a London hotel on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting.