This represents around 24.5 million doses in the past six days, as the country's vaccine rollout continues to accelerate.

Austin was due to meet Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz during the two-day visit, which officials said would include discussions of US arms supplies to Israel.

At a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago Club for Republican National Committee donors in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump made clear he is still irked at his inability to hang on to the White House despite losing the Nov. 3 election to Democrat Joe Biden, who is now president.

The summit, scheduled for Friday in Washington, comes as the Biden administration ramps up criticism of China's treatment of the Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region and actions concerning Hong Kong. Suga has said those issues must be addressed based on basic human rights principles.

The structure will span the Brahmaputra River before the waterway leaves the Himalayas and flows into India, straddling the world's longest and deepest canyon at an altitude of more than 1,500 meters.

Authorities have to "consider ways to solve the issue that efficacy rates of existing vaccines are not high", Chinese media outlet The Paper reported, citing Gao Fu, the head of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials asked residents in the town of Denham, Shark Bay, 500 kilometres (311 miles) north of Perth to evacuate while sandbags were being made available to residents of Geraldton, further down the coast, due to potential storm surge.

Residents in Western Australia's Mid West and Gascoyne regions are being urged to finalise their emergency plans, as the cyclone is expected to intensify to a category three overnight, battering a region where buildings are not made to withstand cyclonic winds.

In total, the administration sought $1.5 trillion for the year starting Oct. 1, up 8.4 percent, with an emphasis on education, health care and measures to address climate change, according to an overview of Biden's request for the so-called discretionary funding.

The guidelines "liberalize guidance on contacts with Taiwan, consistent with our unofficial relations," State Department spokesman Ned Price said, noting the guidance "underscores Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and an important security and economic partner."

The panel's Democratic chairman and top Republican said in a joint statement they had become "aware of public allegations" that Gaetz, one of former President Donald Trump's most prominent supporters in Congress, may have violated "House rules, laws or other standards of conduct."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed Philip's "extraordinary life", sending his condolences to Queen Elizabeth after her husband's death was announced. 

It will hold a meeting of related ministers as early as Tuesday to formally decide on the plan, a major development following over seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

"I intend to give viewers a candid, no-nonsense look at geopolitics, international relations and the America First policies that helped chart the course for unprecedented American prosperity and security," the former secretary of state and member of Congress said in a statement released by Fox. 

Kyaw Zwar Minn met on Thursday with Nigel Adams, Britain's Foreign Office minister for Asia, after his hosts said they could no longer recognise him as ambassador in line with the junta's decision to terminate his posting.

The creators of Sputnik confirmed in a message on their Twitter feed on Thursday evening that "discussions" had begun.

The draft bill, titled "Strategic Competition Act of 2021," is designed to ensure that the United States is "positioned to compete with China across all dimensions of national and international power for decades to come," the committee's chairman, Robert Menendez, said.

The Israeli website said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had decided not to cooperate with the inquiry after meeting with senior ministers and government officials ahead of a Friday deadline to respond to an ICC notification letter.

It is the first time that the administration of President Joe Biden, who took office in January, has imposed sanctions on Chinese high-tech companies. The move reflects the continuing US-China rivalry including on the technology front.

Four of those wounded in the shooting rampage at Kent Moore Cabinets in Bryan, Texas, were in critical condition in hospital, the police department said on Twitter.

The two foreign ministers discussed current and potential areas for cooperation, including trade and security, as well as the health sector in terms of vaccine access and distribution.

Tropical Cyclone Seroja is expected to hit Western Australia late Sunday or early Monday after tracking south.

The ambassador, Kyaw Zwar Minn, said Wednesday the defence attache had taken over the mission in "a kind of coup", an extraordinary diplomatic standoff that comes two months after the military seized power in Myanmar.

"The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows," the US Navy said in a statement.

The latest US provocation against China amid growing criticism of its alleged human rights abuses would inflame the already strained tensions between the world's two major powers.

Amnesty International said Navalny, who last year was poisoned with a military grade nerve agent, was now being subjected to sleep deprivation and did not have access to a doctor he could trust in jail.

"It is something that we certainly wish to discuss and it is certainly something that we understand that a coordinated approach will be not only in our interests but also in the interests of our allies and partners," State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a press conference.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the two-way, quarantine-free travel corridor would open from 11:59 p.m. on April 18.

The haj and umrah ministry said in a statement that three categories of people would be considered "immunized" -- those who have received two doses of the vaccine, those administered a single dose at least 14 days prior, and people who have recovered from the infection.

"I can confirm that quarantine-free travel will begin in just under two weeks, at 11:59pm on April 18," Ardern announced after the date was confirmed by her cabinet.