Indonesia’s Mount Semeru erupted on Saturday, spewing out a tower of smoke and ash that plunged local communities into darkness and forced thousands of nearby residents to flee. There were no immediate reports of casualties, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said. But rescuers moved to evacuate local residents as lava …

Alexander Schallenberg has announced he is resigning as Chancellor of Austria, just two months after taking office. He said he would remain in the post until his party agrees on a new leader in the wake of Sebastian Kurz’s departure. Just hours earlier, Schallenberg’s predecessor and People’s Party leader Kurz …

The European Union’s public health agency said on Thursday that the Omicron variant could be responsible for more than half of all COVID-19 infections in Europe within a few months, but no cases of the severe disease had yet been identified in the region. The estimate could lend weight to …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Moscow of the “severe costs” Russia would pay if it invaded Ukraine, urging his Russian counterpart on Thursday to seek a diplomatic exit from the crisis. Blinken delivered the warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at what he called a “candid” meeting …

The European Union said on Thursday it was injecting around $368 million (325 million euros) for refugees in Turkey, part of a huge funding plan for the country, which hosts the world’s largest refugee population. The EU approved a plan in June to provide Turkey with three billion euros from …

Germany decided on Thursday to bar the unvaccinated from all but the most essential businesses and the United States was due to announce further travel curbs as countries around the globe scramble to keep out the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the variant showed …

Iraqi coordination framework meeting today, Thursday, with the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, focused on the continuation of the legal and public steps to follow up on the issue of the election results, support for the Popular Mobilization (PMF), and confirm the exit of foreign forces according to …

Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a “call to get jabs in arms” on Wednesday as Britain stepped up its COVID-19 booster programme to fend off the Omicron variant after another 10 cases of the new strain were identified. Britain has now recorded 32 cases of the Omicron variant, which appears …

The European Union proposed on Wednesday curtailing some rights of migrants at its frontier with Belarus, a gesture towards member states Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, even as Brussels acknowledged border tensions were easing. The EU says Belarus has flown in migrants from the Middle East to push them to cross …

Iraq recorded 889 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said today, Thursday. The daily epidemiological report on the COVID-19 situation stated that 24 COVID-19 deaths were registered today. On the other hand, 1,203 patients have achieved full recovery. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in …

Hundreds of Ugandan soldiers in armoured vehicles crossed the border into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, two witnesses said, as a joint offensive against an Islamic State-linked armed group appeared to expand. Late on Tuesday Congo said special forces from both countries would be deployed to secure bases …

A boat carrying Nigerian students capsized in Kano state in northern Nigeria, killing at least 29, local officials told Reuters on Wednesday. The boat on the Watari dam was carrying roughly 40 students from an Islamic school, most of whom were under 18, and capsized around 5:30 local time Tuesday …

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok will quit if a political agreement he signed with the military last week is not implemented or fails to receive backing from political factions, a source close to him said on Wednesday. Hamdok was released from house arrest and restored to his job under thedeal …

China told Indonesia to stop drilling for oil and natural gas in maritime territory that both countries regard as their own during a months-long standoff in the South China Sea earlier this year, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The unprecedented demand, which has not previously been reported, …

Russia said on Wednesday it was ordering U.S. embassy staff who have been in Moscow for more than three years to fly home by Jan. 31, a retaliatory move for what Moscow said was a U.S. decision to limit the terms of Russian diplomats. The step, the latest in an …