Europe's Covid-19 death toll surpassed one million on Monday, as the WHO warned that infections are rising exponentially despite widespread efforts aimed at stopping them, news wires reported.  The death toll across Europe's 52 countries, compiled by AFP from official sources, totalled at least 1,000,288 by 1830 GMT.

Iran charged on Monday that its arch-enemy Israel was "of course" behind an attack on its main nuclear site, the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, and vowed "revenge... in due time".

Guillermo Lasso, a conservative former banker, has surprisingly won Ecuador's presidential election run-off, news wires reported. His opponent, the left-wing economist Andrés Arauz, conceded defeat hours after polls closed on Sunday. With almost all the ballots counted, Lasso had got 52.5% of the vote compared to Arauz's 47.5%.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel on Sunday on the first visit by a senior representative of the Biden administration, whose stance on Iran has worried PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Reuters reported.

Several thousand people in Serbia rallied on Saturday demanding that the government protect the environment in a Balkan nation that has seen record levels of air pollution and scores of other ecological problems following decades of neglect, AP reported.

Fresh lockdowns and curfews were imposed on tens of millions of people from India to Argentina on Saturday, as Covid-19 infections surged again and vaccine roll-outs were hampered by shortages and scares over side effects, AFP reported.

A first round of talks between top diplomats to try to save the Iranian nuclear deal concluded in Vienna on Friday and will be resumed next week, with participants sounding cautious optimism about the progress made so far, dpa reported.

The Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg was fined over violation of country’s quarantine rules, Reuters reported. Solberg organized a party to celebrate her birthday but thus violated rules for social distancing. The fine is $2,352, police chief Ole Saeverud elaborated at a news conference. The two-term Prime Minister apologised last month for organising an event for her 60th birthday with 13 family members at a mountain resort in late February, despite a government ban on gatherings of more than 10 people.

Britain's Prince Philip, a constant presence at Queen Elizabeth II's side for decades, died Friday at age 99, Buckingham Palace announced. The death of the Duke of Edinburgh is a profound loss for the 94-year-old monarch, who once described him as her "strength and stay all these years". The outspoken former navy commander devoted much of his life as the queen's consort to charity work, AFP noted.

The WHO reiterated on Friday there was "no adequate data" on switching Covid-19 vaccines between doses, after France said under-55s who received an AstraZeneca first jab should get their second from a different vaccine, AFP reported.