United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that the world could be fighting the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic for decades to come even if vaccines are quickly approved.Opening a special UN summit on the virus, being held virtually as a safety precaution, Guterres hailed the quick scientific progress but cautioned that vaccination was not a panacea for the ills affecting the planet."Let's not fool ourselves.

Still irate and bitter one month after his election defeat to Joe Biden, Donald Trump is openly musing about a second run at the United States (US) presidency in 2024.Refusing to accept defeat, Trump's lawyers and supporters continued Wednesday to file lawsuits and even call for extraordinary intervention, such as martial law, to force a new vote.And Trump released an extraordinary 46-minute video in which he again claimed that he was robbed of victory in a "rigged" election.&a

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha survived a legal challenge Wednesday over his living arrangements that could have seen him thrown out of office, in a court ruling that prompted anger among thousands of pro-democracy protesters.The kingdom's nine-judge constitutional court ruled that Prayut - already under pressure after months of street protests calling for him to quit - was not guilty of conflict of interest by living in an army residence after leaving the military.Thousands of pr

Thai authorities urged calm on Tuesday as they scramble to trace a potential coronavirus outbreak after at least four women tested positive on returning from neighbouring Myanmar.Since detecting the first case outside of China back in January, Thailand has managed to keep COVID-19 infections low, at just over 4,000 cases, in part by imposing strict entry rules.But it shares an extremely porous 2,400-kilometre (1,500 mile) border with Myanmar, where the virus is rampant, with more than 1,000 n

Thai police charged five key leaders of the country's pro-democracy protest movement Monday under the kingdom's tough royal defamation laws, the first such use of the controversial legislation in two years.Section 112 of the Thai penal code is one of the world's toughest lese majeste laws, shielding the ultra-powerful King Maha Vajiralongkorn from criticism.But in recent months, leaders of the pro-democracy movement have called for reforms to the monarchy - including for the la

In the first TV interview since losing his re-election bid, President Donald Trump indicated Sunday that he will never concede to Joe Biden and abandon his conspiracy theory about mass ballot fraud."It's not like you're gonna change my mind. My mind will not change in six months," Trump told Fox News interviewer Maria Bartiromo."This election was rigged. This election was a total fraud," he claimed, again without backing this up.

Hundreds of protesters marched on a barracks of Thailand's royal guards unit on Sunday hoisting inflatable rubber ducks high above their heads, a whimsical show of force by a pro-democracy movement calling for curbs to the power of the monarchy. The yellow toy has been harnessed as a symbol by the protesters, whose leaders have emphasised peaceful tactics despite recent use of water cannon and tear gas by security forces. But their demands to reform the kingdom's u

The world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume said Saturday it would apply for an emergency licence for a coronavirus vaccine within two weeks, and that confusion over the efficacy would not delay its distribution. Serum Institute of India chief executive Adar Ponnawala also confirmed that the Pune-based giant would be able to produce at least 100 million doses a month from early 2021 of Covishield, which was developed by Astrazeneca and Oxford University.Poonawalla spoke a

Malaysia will go to the polls when the coronavirus pandemic is over, the prime minister said Saturday, two days after winning lawmakers' backing for his government's 2021 budget.Muhyiddin Yassin took power in March after pulling his party from Anwar Ibrahim's ruling coalition to ally with the scandal-tainted United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and others.Since then, his administration has been hobbled by constant infighting.In a speech at a virtual annual general meeting

Germany, once a beacon of hope in Europe's coronavirus nightmare, logged its one millionth case on Friday, while Russia signed up India to mass produce its controversial Sputnik vaccine.Although the virus spread is slowing thanks to weeks of tough restrictions, Europe remains at the heart of the pandemic, recording more cases than the United States (US) in the past week.The pandemic is gaining strength fastest in Asia and Latin America, and is up by a worrying 113 percent over the week i