WORLD

A drunk man urinated on an elderly female passenger onboard an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26 last year.

Germany used more renewable energy than ever in 2022 but again failed to reach its CO2-reduction goal as Russia's war in Ukraine prompted a return to more coal and oil use, a think tank reported Wednesday.

Foreign investors withdrew more money from emerging Asian equities in 2022 than they had done in any year since the global financial crisis in 2008, as rising U.S.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka Wednesday announced its first nationwide elections since its president fled and resigned in the face of widespread protests.

Japan will toughen its COVID-19 border control measures for travellers from China from Sunday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, in response to a surge of infections.

Retail pharmacies in the United States will be permitted to sell abortion pills, health officials said Tuesday.

Oil fell sharply on Wednesday after slumping in the previous session, weighed down by concerns about weak demand due to the state of the global economy and China's rising COVID cases.

In a terrifying incident, a circus trainer was attacked by a tiger during a live show in the Italian province of Lecce on Thursday.

The euro nursed losses on Wednesday and has helped the dollar to make a strong start to 2023, after a surprise slowdown in German inflation rallied bunds and sent the common currency sliding.

An Italian court on Tuesday postponed for a second time a hearing on whether to hand over to Belgium a woman suspected of involvement in a Qatar graft scandal that has rocked the European Parliament.

China called the mounting international restrictions on travellers from its territory "unacceptable" on Tuesday after more than a dozen countries placed fresh Covid curbs on visitors from the world's most populous nation.

Seoul and Washington are discussing joint planning and exercises involving US nuclear assets to counter growing threats from the North, South Korea's presidential office said Tuesday, after US President Joe Biden said there would be no such joint drills.

US Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was a simple up-or-down vote from realizing his dream of becoming one of the country's top statesmen on Tuesday -- in a cliffhanger worthy of TV drama "House of Cards" that could as easily end with his career in tatters.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday in volatile trade as weak demand data from China and a gloomy economic outlook weighed.

A Russian missile attack destroyed an ice arena in the town of Druzhkivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Monday, Ukraine's ice hockey federation said, following earlier reports of a missile hitting the town and injuring two people.

An exception to a New Year's resolution by France to end the massive culling of male chicks will still allow millions to be killed, much to the consternation of animal rights activists.

Another Russian citizen was found dead in the Indian state of Odisha on Tuesday, just weeks after the deaths of two other tourists from the country.

The Philippines' main gateway scrambled to resume full services on Monday after a New Year power outage jolted its air traffic control and disrupted 300 flights, prompting calls from business leaders and a top senator for urgent action.

Europe's wholesale natural gas prices fell Monday to their lowest level since Russia invaded Ukraine, which had driven them to a record high last year.

Several top football players were detained by Iranian police on New Year's Eve in Tehran.

Peru's economy minister pledged on Thursday to launch an investment program of $1.6 billion to ramp up growth hampered by constant political crises.

China said on Friday all the Covid-19 data it has shared -- including with the World Health Organization -- has been transparent, despite its hospitals being overwhelmed and its official figures on infections and deaths being tiny compared with other countries.

The European Union should consider immediately scaling up genomic sequencing of COVID-19 infections and monitoring of waste water, including from airports, to detect any new variants given the virus surge in China, the bloc's health chief said.

European shares slipped in the last trading session of a rough year marked by geopolitical tensions and fears of a recession as central banks tightened monetary policies.

Sweden takes over the EU's rotating presidency from January 1 vowing to maintain unity on Ukraine and uphold free trade in the face of calls for a tougher response to US green subsidies.

An explosion of Covid-19 cases in China as the country lifts its zero-Covid measures could create a "potential breeding ground" for new variants to emerge, health experts warn.

A fresh barrage of Russian missiles battered Ukraine on Thursday, wounding at least five people including a teenager and cutting electricity in the west.

From the moment Russian gas exports to Germany were first disrupted in June, German firm Kelheim Fibers began casting around for alternative options to keep its engines running.

Italy on Thursday urged the rest of the European Union to follow its lead and test travellers from China for COVID, but others said they saw no need to do so for now or were waiting for a common stance across the largely border-less bloc.