French President Emmanuel Macron comfortably won reelection to a second term Sunday, triggering relief among allies that the nuclear-armed power won't abruptly shift course in the midst of the war in Ukraine from European Union and NATO efforts to punish and contain Russia's military expansionism.

China's capital Beijing has gone on high alert as the situation turned grim following the emergence of clusters of COVID-19, while the country's financial hub Shanghai reported 39 more deaths due to the virus, the highest in a day so far during the current outbreak since last month.

The US discourages India to rely on Russia for its defence needs, the Pentagon has said.

 prominent American Congressman has expressed concern over the human rights situation in Kashmir and emphasised that the US government must make clear that it expects better of democracies like India.

Colombo: India on Thursday said it has delivered one more consignment of 40,000 MT of diesel to Sri Lanka under the Indian credit line to help ease the acute power crisis in the island nation.

Kabul: A series of explosions across Afghanistan on Thursday killed at least 10 people and wounded scores more, according to police and hospital officials.

Sri Lanka's Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa on Wednesday claimed that Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene had assured that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ready to resign if all political parties request him, media reports said on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is under pressure to resign, was dealt a further blow on Wednesday when three more parliamentarians withdrew their support to the government.