Beijing: Shanghai, the global financial hub and China's biggest city, has become the epicentre of COVID-19 cases in the country as it set a record of six-straight days of logging around 20,000 cases, as the city ramped up mass testing to tackle the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Istanbul: A Turkish court ruled Thursday to suspend the trial in absentia of 26 Saudis accused in the gruesome killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and for the case to be transferred to Saudi Arabia.

Washington: The United States has advised its citizens against travelling to Sri Lanka, pointing to the fuel and medicine shortages, as well as the COVID-19 and terror threats in the Island nation where the worst-ever economic crisis has triggered political unrest.

United Nations: The UN General Assembly will vote Thursday on whether to suspend Russia from the UN's premier human rights body.

Jerusalem: Israel's fragile government on Wednesday was reduced to a minority in the 120-member House with the ruling coalition's whip quitting on religious grounds, raising the possibility of elections in the Jewish nation in less than a year after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took charge.

It is becoming more and more difficult for Russian President Vladimir Putin to fund his war in Ukraine, the White House said Tuesday adding that more tough sanctions are to be announced on Wednesday.

Moscow/Islamabad: Russia has criticised the US for making another attempt of shameless interference into the internal affairs of Pakistan and asserted that Prime Minister Imran Khan was paying the price for being disobedient to Washington and being punished for visiting Russia in February this year.

Sri Lanka's new Finance Minister Ali Sabry on Tuesday resigned, a day after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed him after sacking his brother Basil Rajapaksa amidst the island nation's worst economic crisis.