GENEVA – COVID-19’s impact on efforts to combat gross human rights violations will be a major focus of the 46th regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The four-week session, which starts Monday in Geneva, will be held virtually because of th…

JERUSALEM – Israel has reopened many schools, malls and gyms that were closed for several weeks. Some venues, however, are open only to those with a “green passport,” a document showing they have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The open…

The World Health Organization says it welcomes the recent pledges of coronavirus vaccines from several Western countries to the international health group that will help ensure an equitable allocation of vaccines to countries around the world.“There is…

PARIS – Every Tuesday evening, Moroccan student Chaimae Irfaq hands out food parcels to dozens of hard-up students in the foyer of her Paris university residence and takes one home for herself. Irfaq arrived in France in October to complete her busines…

JOHANNESBURG – Two?South African?medics?are?swapping their?medical gear?for oars as they?train for a risky 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) journey?by rowboat through the Arctic Northwest Passage.If the?14-member?team?finishes the?trip —?across?the?north o…

Pharmaceutical partners Pfizer and BioNTech said Friday a new study the companies conducted indicates their COVID-19 vaccine can remain effective when stored in standard freezers for up to two weeks. In a statement posted on Pfizer’s website, the compa…

As vaccination efforts ramp up in the United States, experts say efforts to deal with doubters need to increase along with them.Some are predicting that as soon as April, there may be more vaccines available than people who want to take them.A recent K…

Humans are making Earth a broken and increasingly unlivable planet through climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, so the world must make dramatic changes to society, economics and daily life, a new United Nations report said.Unlike past U.N. …

The U.N. secretary-general called on the world’s largest economies Wednesday to create a task force to plan and coordinate a global COVID-19 vaccination plan.? “The world urgently needs a global vaccination plan to bring together all those with the req…

With a pandemic gutting the economy and a family to feed, Pah – a single mother – works odd jobs by day and sells drinks in Bangkok’s entertainment industry at night, one of an untold number of women at the sharpest end of Thailand’s unprecedented eco…

Sixty-six million years ago, a huge celestial object struck off the coast of what is now Mexico, triggering a catastrophic “impact winter” that eventually wiped out three-quarters of life on Earth, including the dinosaurs. A pair of astronomers at Harv…

TOKYO – Yoshiro Mori’s replacement as president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee is expected to be named very quickly. The 83-year-old former prime minister was forced to step down last week after making demeaning remarks about women. Basicall…

SYDNEY – The information technology giant Google has agreed to pay an Australian media company to host news material ahead of a planned mandatory bargaining code. Google’s deal with Seven West Media, which publishes the Perth-based West Australian news…