World

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" author John le Carre, who cast flawed spies on to the bleak chessboard of Cold War rivalry, has died aged 89.

The first shipments of COVID19 vaccine left on trucks and planes early on Sunday, kicking off a historic effort to stop a surging pandemic that is claiming more than 2,400 lives a day in the United States.

The United States expects to have immunized 100 million people with the coronavirus vaccine by the end of the first quarter of 2021, the chief U.S. adviser for efforts on COVID19 vaccines said on Sunday.

A Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the moon has begun its journey back to Earth, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, putting China on course to become the first country to successfully retrieve lunar samples since the 1970s.

Indonesian police said they have arrested one of the seniormost members of the Al Qaedalinked militant group Jemaah Islamiah who is said to be behind the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed over 200 people.

President Donald Trump lambasted the Supreme Court on Saturday for declining to take a case he hoped would overturn Presidentelect Joe Biden's election victory and called Attorney General William Barr a "disappointment."

Italy reported 649 new coronavirusrelated deaths on Saturday compared with 761 the day before, the health ministry said. The daily tally of new infections was 19,903, up from 18,727.

Supporters of President Donald Trump are returning to Washington for a pair of rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost.

The idea is that by using different vaccines, each shot may prompt a stronger immune response. AstraZeneca, the bio-pharmaceutical major which produces the Oxford University's vaccine, has agreed to collaborate with Sputnik in a deal apparently sealed aft...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to discuss on Sunday a tightening of lockdown restrictions with state leaders as coronavirus infections rise and amid growing calls for action, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has spent years, if not decades, telling his fellow Democrats they needed to do more to aid rural communities and reach out to them. But he has often lamented that no one listened.

Sleuths hoped the coded message contained the identity of the killer, who committed at least five murders in 1968 and 1969 but claimed 37 in total and inspired other serial killers.

The Latest on Presidentelect Joe Biden (all times local):

The World Health Organization expects to make decisions on whether to give emergency use approval to COVID19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in coming weeks, its chief scientist said on Friday.

Time magazine has named Presidentelect Joe Biden and Vice Presidentelect Kamala Harris its Person of the Year.

Singapore has approved Advanced MedTech Holdings' COVID19 kit for use in testing saliva from deep within the throat, the company said, as the country looks to ramp up testing to help reopen its borders and resume more economic activity.