US President Joe Biden on Wednesday tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with tackling an influx of migrants on the Mexican border, aiming to take charge of a situation that has energized opponents of the new administration.

Myanmar security forces fired at pro-democracy activists taking part in street demonstrations yesterday, killing at least four people, news reports said, a day after a nationwide silent strike in protest against last month’s military coup.

A Saudi official yesterday denied he threatened UN investigator Agnes Callamard following her probe into journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 murder, after the United Nations confirmed she was issued a death threat.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has vowed a new approach to work closer with allies, promising Washington would not force them to take sides against China.

North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea yesterday, in its first substantive provocation to the new US administration of Joe Biden.

Deadly heatwaves in South Asia are likely to become more common in the future, with the region’s exposure to lethal heat stress potentially nearly tripling if global warming isn’t curbed, researchers said.

Google announced on Wednesday it has signed licensing deals with numerous Italian media publishers to pay for news content, in the US tech giant’s latest move to tamp down media anger over lost advertising revenue.

London’s Court of Appeal yesterday refused Johnny Depp permission to challenge a verdict last year that concluded the Hollywood actor was a “wife beater”, meaning his attempt to restore his reputation will shift to US legal action.

A digital artwork by humanoid robot Sophia was sold at auction yesterday for $688,888 in the form of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). NFTs, a digital signature saved on blockchain ledgers that allows anyone to verify the ownership and authenticity of items, have become the latest investment craze, with one artwork selling this month for nearly $70 million.

India recorded more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases yesterday for the first time since November as a new wave of infections forcing lockdowns and restrictive curbs around the world.

A Singaporean blogger was ordered yesterday to pay almost $100,000 in damages for defaming the prime minister by sharing an article on Facebook linking the leader to a corruption scandal.

A “plague” of the world’s most venomous spiders could swarm Sydney after torrential rain and flooding, the Australian Reptile Park said yesterday, warning that the deadly arachnids could seek refuge in homes as they escape the deluge.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects for retaining power were uncertain yesterday after exit polls in Israel’s fourth national election in two years projected yet another stalemate.

Myanmar’s junta freed hundreds of demonstrators on Wednesday arrested during its months-long crackdown on protests, while businesses in Yangon were shut and streets deserted in response to a call by anti-coup activists for a silent strike.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said that no Indian was ‘outsider’ in West Bengal and promised the Bharatiya Janata Party, if voted to power in West Bengal assembly poll, would make a “son of the soil” the chief minister of the state.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles at the weekend, US and South Korean officials said, but Washington played down the first such tests under President Joe Biden and said it was still open to dialogue with Pyongyang.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan received a letter of goodwill from his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Tuesday, a Pakistani senior Cabinet minister said, as relations thaw between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Scores of people have died in the deadliest suspected jihadist massacre ever to hit Niger, the government said Monday, underscoring the huge security challenge facing new President Mohamed Bazoum.

UN human rights boss Michelle Bachelet was given a mandate yesterday to collect and preserve information and evidence of crimes related to Sri Lanka’s long civil war, which ended in 2009 with the defeat of the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Leaked videos of staff from Australia’s conservative government performing sex acts in parliament, including one man performing a lewd act over a female MP’s desk, left Scott Morrison’s administration facing yet another major scandal yesterday.