Australia's Health Minister Mark Butler has warned that "millions" of people could get infected with coronavirus in the coming weeks amid a winter surge. Butler recently asked the Australians to wear masks and work from home when needed to mitigate the impact of a wave of BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariant infections. There were 316,574 active COVID-19 cases in Australia by Wednesday -- a figure Butler said could increase within weeks. "I think this is a very concerning wave. This is the third wave just this year that Omicron has thrown at Australia," he said on the TV program Sunrise on Wednesd

Amid pressure from the public uprising in Sri Lanka, the country's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday tendered his resignation to the Speaker of the Parliament. Sri Lankan Speaker's office said that the Speaker of Parliament has received the resignation letter of Rajapaksa. Meanwhile, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Rajapaksa has been allowed entry into Singapore on a private visit and he has not asked for asylum nor has he been granted asylum. Rajapaksa, 73, had gone into hiding after crowds of protesters stormed his residence on July 9 and he had announ

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday blamed inadequate police security for the death of former leader Shinzo Abe, who was shot while giving an outdoor campaign speech. Abe, one of Japan's most influential politicians, was assassinated last Friday in western Japan, shocking a nation known for its low crime rate. Photos and videos of the shooting show the gunman was able to come close to Abe. A suspect was arrested at the spot and is being detained for questioning. Police and media reports say he told investigators that a rumored link between Abe and a religious group the suspect ha

An Iranian citizen was Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Swedish court after being convicted of committing grave war crimes and murder during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The Stockholm District Court that said Hamid Noury took part in severe atrocities in July-August 1988 while working as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison outside the Iranian city of Karaj. A life sentence in Sweden generally means a minimum of 20 to 25 years in prison, but it could be extended. If he is eventually released, Noury will be expelled from Sweden. Noury

British rail workers will go on strike on July 27 over an ongoing pay dispute, a month after the country's most disruptive railway strike in three decades paralyzed train networks across the U.K. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said Wednesday its members will walk out for 24 hours, threatening travel chaos during the busy summer holidays. Union leaders said they have rejected a new pay rise offer from Network Rail to resolve the dispute over jobs, pay and working conditions. The union staged three strikes last month that saw 40,000 workers walk off their jobs, crip

Singapore reported 5,979 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 1,540,788. Of the new cases, 5,743 were local transmissions and 236 were imported cases. Among the local cases, 508 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 5,235 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health. A total of 679 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 15 cases in intensive care units. Five deaths were reported due to COVID-19 infection, pushing the death toll to 1,437, the ministry said.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday warned the world that fresh waves of COVID-19 cases show that the pandemic is "nowhere near over." In a media briefing on COVID-19, the WHO chief said, "I am concerned that cases of COVID-19 continue to rise - putting further pressure on stretched health systems and health workers - and deaths are unacceptably high." He urged governments to regularly review and adjust their COVID19 response plans based on the current epidemiology and also the potential for new variants to appear. The Emergency Committee on COVID-1

Russia has confirmed the first case of monkeypox in a young man who recently returned from Europe, the country's consumer rights watchdog told reporters on Tuesday. "The first case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Russia. The disease was detected in a young man who returned from a trip to Europe and came to a medical facility with a rash that is common [for this disease]," Russia's rights watchdog Rospotrebnazor was quoted as saying by Sputnik. Rospotrebnadzor clarified that the patient has mild symptoms and is isolated. In the last week of June, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the

After Boris Johnson stepped down as Prime Minister of Britain, former minister Rishi Sunak has put forward his contendership to become the next Prime Minister of Britain. "I'm standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and your Prime Minister," he tweeted, adding that it is about time to rebuild the economy and reunite the country. In a further statement, he said, "Someone has to grip the moment and make the right decisions. That's why I am standing to be the next leader of the conservative party and your Prime Minister." I want to lead this country in the right direction, he add