War-torn Syria on Sunday set May 26 as the date for presidential elections expected to give incumbent President Bashar al-Assad a new term in office.

Iran has started the process of enriching uranium to 60% fissile purity at an above-ground nuclear plant at Natanz, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Saturday, confirming earlier statements by Iranian officials.

The global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million people Saturday amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France.

The United States and China, the world’s two biggest carbon polluters, agreed to cooperate to curb climate change with urgency, just days before President Joe Biden hosts a virtual summit of world leaders to discuss the issue.

Queen Elizabeth II bids a final farewell to her late husband, Prince Philip, on Saturday, at a funeral restricted by coronavirus rules but reflecting his long life of military and public service.

President Joe Biden and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga showcased the alliance between their two countries as well as their shared resolve in dealing with China as they met at the White House on Friday in Biden’s first face-to-face talks with a foreign leader as president.

Raul Castro said Friday he is stepping down as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of formal leadership that began with his brother Fidel and country’s 1959 revolution.

Russia on Friday responded to a barrage of new US sanctions by saying it would expel 10 US diplomats and take other retaliatory moves in a tense showdown with Washington. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Moscow will move to shut down those US nongovernment organizations that remain in Russia to end what he described as their meddling in Russia’s politics.

Norway, which shares a short border with giant neighbour Russia, said on Friday it has signed a revised agreement with the United States on how to regulate US military activity on its soil.

China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Germany and France to cope with climate change, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a Video Summit on Climate among the three countries in Beijing on Friday, according to state television.