China's behaviour with the expert team constituted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate the coronavirus (Covid-19) has led to more speculation about the virus that traces its origins to Wuhan in central China. Various news reports have made it clear that the WHO team worked under limitations and did not have access to all information it sought on the initial days of the outbreak. ....

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's wife Ri Sol-ju has made her appearance in public for the first time in more than a year as she attended a concert commemorating the birthday of late leader Kim Jong-il, state media reported on Wednesday. ....

Iraqi Minister of Health Hassan al-Tamimi said that the ministry detected cases of a new strain of coronavirus, while the ministry reported 2,798 new coronavirus cases in the country. ....

The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 108.7 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.39 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University. ....

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to lift all COVID-19 lockdowns in two and a half months as lockdown-sceptic Tories called on him to commit to a timetable for easing the restrictions with a complete end to controls by the end of April. ....

Former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi has formally accepted the role of Italy's next Prime Minister and will be sworn in on Saturday. ....

The number of Covid-19 related deaths in Africa has spiked as the continent grapples with local transmission of highly contagious strains of the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. ....

The Australian state of Victoria will enter a snap five-day lockdown from Friday midnight as a new Covid-19 cluster linked to a quarantine hotel in Melbourne increased to 13. ....

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) and many other Indo-Canadian organisations have welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis promise to provide Covid-19 vaccine to Canada. ....

US President Joe Biden has announced a Pentagon task force to chart Washington's Beijing strategy and followed it up with a stern dialogue with his Chinese counterpart XI Jinping about the Asian giant's "increasingly assertive actions" and served notice that he was committed to an open Indo-Pacific region, according to the White House. ....