Fresh Covid outbreaks put millions under lockdown in China
Tens of millions of people were under lockdown in China on Wednesday as businesses in a major tourist city were forced to shut their doors and fresh clusters sparked fears of a return to blanket restrictions.
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'Unbelievable feeling': Overseas hajj pilgrims rejoice after 2-year Covid absence
Of the hundreds of thousands of Muslims arriving in Mecca this week for the annual hajj pilgrimage, perhaps none had a more arduous journey than Adam Mohammed, a 53-year-old electrical engineer from the United Kingdom.
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French PM to face baptism of fire in divided parliament
French Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne will on Wednesday lay out the government's policy priorities in her first speech in front of what promises to be a stormy parliament.
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Evacuation calls as Russians advance in Ukraine's Donbas
Ukrainian officials have called on civilians to urgently evacuate the city of Sloviansk as Russian troops press towards it in their campaign to secure the Donbas region.
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Pene Pati: the Samoan Pavarotti
Pene Pati remembers his teachers at university telling him: "Don't be ashamed if you don't make it because a lot of Pacific singers won't." In fact, they added, no one from Samoa had ever become an opera star.
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Sri Lankans return to cooking with firewood as economy burns
As once relatively wealthy Sri Lanka suffers a dire economic crisis with shortages of everything from medicines to gas, people are returning to cooking with firewood.
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Wallaby Swain banned from last two England Tests after red card
Australia forward Darcy Swain will miss the rest of the series against England after being suspended for two weeks by a judicial committee on Wednesday for a headbutt in the first Test.
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Thousands more flee as Sydney floods track north
Thousands of people on Australia's east coast fled their homes Wednesday as torrential rains tracked north after unleashing floods in Sydney that submerged communities, roads and bridges under mud-brown water.
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Jordan chalks up business success from limestone riches
Long before whiteboards, beamers and laptops entered modern school classrooms, teachers relied on the humble, dusty, sometimes screechy blackboard chalk -- a material that has created a Jordanian business success story.
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Oil rises after sell-off but euro stuck at 20-year low, equities drop
Oil prices rose Wednesday after suffering a painful drop the previous day, though the euro remained wedged at a 20-year low and equities mostly fell in Asia as recession fears continue to flow through trading floors.
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