GENEVA (AFP) -- The UN Human Rights Council said Thursday it would hold a special session on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, amid deadly violence between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza. The session, planned for next Thursday, will address "the grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem," the council said in a s...

Fixtures for South Korea‘s World Cup qualifying matches at home have been set. The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Wednesday that South Korea, as the host of the remainder of the second Asian qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, will face Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and Lebanon in Group H action in June. All matches will be played at Goyang Stadium in the city of Goyang...

NEW DELHI (AP) -- India on Wednesday reported more coronavirus deaths in a single day than any other country at any time during the pandemic, while infections continued to spread through vast rural areas with weak health systems. The Health Ministry reported a record 4,529 deaths in the past 24 hours, driving India’s confirmed fatalities to 283,248. It also reported 267,334 new infections, as da...

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- EU member states agreed Wednesday to reopen the bloc‘s borders to travellers who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, European sources said. Meeting in Brussels, diplomats also agreed to increase the level of new cases a country can hit before being declared unsafe -- a measure that would open up travel into the EU from more places. The recommendations will be a...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- A strike launched from Gaza on Tuesday killed two Thai workers inside a packaging plant in southern Israel, police said, as Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers continued to trade attacks throughout the day. The projectile attack Tuesday afternoon wounded another seven people in southern Israel, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service. The service had earlier sai...

MADRID (AP) -- Spain deployed its military to the Moroccan border Tuesday as thousands of Moroccans walked or swam onto European soil for the second day in a row after Rabat loosened border controls in a diplomatic spat. Live footage on Spain's public broadcaster TVE showed dramatic scenes of soldiers carrying children in their arms and Red Cross personnel helping migrants who were emerging from...

SINGAPORE (AFP) -- Singapore will close schools from Wednesday as authorities warned new coronavirus strains such as the one first detected in India were affecting more children. Taiwan also shut schools in the capital Taipei to control an outbreak, and the island banned all foreigners from entry or transit for a month unless they had a residency card. Both governments have been tightening rest...

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 33 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory's militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago. A rescuer could be seen shouting into a hole in the rubble. “Can you hear me?” he called out. “Are you OK?” Minutes later, first responders mana...

Singapore plans to vaccinate children under 16 years old after a recent rise of Covid-19 infections among students in the island state, according to Education Minister Chan Chun Sing. The ministries of education and health are working out plans for the “vaccination of our students,” Chan wrote on his Facebook page. “Once the approval for use is granted, we will roll out vaccinations to those bel...

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation opened an emergency meeting Sunday over the heavy fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip's militant Hamas rulers, the first major move among Mideast nations still grappling with how to address the conflict. While the Arab League and organizations like the Saudi-based OIC have maintained their view that the Palestinians should have their own i...

Elon Musk kicked off his "Saturday Night Live" debut by declaring himself to be the first person with Asperger's syndrome to host the US comedy sketch show. "Or at least, the first person to admit it," he said. In his opening monologue, the eccentric tech entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX offered an explanation for some of his past eyebrow-raising behavior. "Look, I know I say or post stran...

The Tokyo Olympics went off without a hitch. That is, at least, at a test event at the city’s National Stadium in preparation for the main spectacle. About 1,600 athletes, organizers and media got an early look Sunday at what the games will be like when they kick off on July 23. There was a full day of 100-meter heats, hammer throws and pole vaulting to make sure the Omega clocks, jumbo displays...

Queen Elizabeth's cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, has been caught offering investors access to the Kremlin in exchange for personal gain, according to a Sunday Times and Channel 4 investigation. The embarassing claims come at a time of disastrous relations between London and Moscow, notably after the 2018 poisoning of a former Russian spy in England. Prince Michael told undercover reporters pos...

BEIJING (Reuters) -- Remnants of China's biggestrocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with the bulk ofits components destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, according to Chinese state media, ending days ofspeculation over where the debris would hit. The coordinates given by state media, citing the ChinaManned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, wes...

SEATTLE (AP) -- Bill and Melinda Gates said Monday that they are divorcing but would keep working together at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. In identical tweets, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said they had made the decision to end their marriage of 27 years. "We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation t...