World

Following the release of the recording, Democrats and a few Republicans heaped scorn on the outgoing president, who fired off a tweetstorm of unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the November 3 election.

OPEC and its allies, led by Russia, stand ready to adjust their plans for a gradual increase in oil output by 2 million barrels per day in the next months depending on market conditions, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on Sunday.

Medical companies and shippers in Canada are racing to transport timesensitive radiochemical materials used to treat cancer, as a pandemicinduced drop in passenger flights has narrowed transportation options and created cargo delays.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday tougher lockdown restrictions were probably on the way as COVID19 cases keep rising, but that schools were safe and children should continue to attend where permitted.

Kenya is extending its nightly curfew to March 12 as part of measures aimed at taming the spread of COVID19, President Uhuru Kenyatta's office said on Sunday.

World number one badminton player Kento Momota has tested positive for COVID19, prompting the withdrawal of all Japan's players from this month's tournaments in Thailand, the Badminton World Federation said on Sunday.

The doctor, whose name has not been released, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a public hospital in the northern state of Nuevo Leon after she experienced seizures, difficulty breathing, and a skin rash.

South Korea will expand a ban on private gatherings larger than four people to include the whole country, and extend unprecedented social distancing rules in Seoul and neighbouring areas until Jan. 17, the health minister said on Saturday.

AstraZeneca expects to supply two million doses of the vaccine in total by next week, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca team.

Democratic Republic of Congo's president has pardoned at least 26 men convicted of plotting the 2001 assassination of thenleader Laurent Kabila, the presidency said.

Residents of the eastern Caribbean island chain of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were advised to evacuate their homes on Thursday after a volcano, dormant for decades, came back to life and began spewing ash.

The top Democrat in the Kansas House has refused to give an incoming lawmaker any committee assignments over issues that include an antistalking court order filed against him after he won his seat.

Pope Francis, suffering a flareup of a sciatica condition that causes pain in his right leg, missed a New Year's Eve service on Thursday and will also not preside at a New Year's Day Mass.

Global crude prices slipped on Thursday and lost more than a fifth of their value in volatile trade in 2020, as lockdowns to combat the novel coronavirus depressed economic activity and slammed fuel demand.

Moldova's new President Maia Sandu appointed Foreign Minister Aureliu Ciocoi as interim prime minister on Thursday, but pushed on for a snap election in a bid to overhaul the whole government and strengthen her grip on power.

Turkish police detained people suspected of ties to the Islamic State militant group in an operation targeting a total of 35 foreign suspects in Istanbul on Thursday, stateowned Anadolu news agency reported.