More than 16,000 cases have now been reported from 75 countries and there had been five deaths so far as a result of the outbreak.

US President Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 and is experiencing "very mild symptoms", the White House said on Thursday, becoming the second sitting American president to be hit by the virus.

Th report predicted that the world population is to reach eight billion by mid-November 2022.

Leaders of India, Australia and the United States -- countries that make up the Quad with Japan -- expressed shock at the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying he played a 'formative role' in the founding of the partnership and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open strategically-important Indo-Pacific region.

A new sub-lineage BA.2.75 of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in countries like India and the World Health Organisation is following this, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

A resolution commemorating the life of Indian human rights defender Father Stan Swamy and seeking an independent investigation into the death of the Jesuit priest has been introduced in the US Congress, Congressman Juan Vargas has said.

Satnam Singh was sitting behind the wheel of a black Jeep Wrangler Sahara that was parked in South Ozone Park when a gunman approached and started shooting at him around 3.45 pm on Saturday, a report in The New York Daily News said.

In the historic ruling on Friday, the US Supreme Court decided by six votes to three to overturn the 50-year-old Roe v Wade judgement that guaranteed access to abortion across the country.

Makki is a US-designated terrorist and brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

"The largest displacements in the context of disasters in 2021 occurred in China (6.0 million), the Philippines (5.7 million) and India (4.9 million). Most disaster displacements during the year were temporary," it said.

Foreign Direct Investment inflows to India declined $19 billion to $45 billion in 2021 but the country still remained among the top 10 global economies for FDI last year, the United Nations said on Thursday. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report, flows of foreign direct investment recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year, hitting nearly $1.6 trillion. However, the prospects for this year are grimmer as global FDI in 2022 and beyond will be affected by the security and humanitarian crises caused by the Ukraine war, by macroeconomic shocks set off by the conflict, by energy and food price hikes, and by increased investor uncertainty.

The spokesperson was responding to a question by a Pakistani journalist on the condemnation by several Muslim nations over remarks by BJP's former national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal against the Prophet and the Secretary General's response to it.

The 13th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team cites a UN Member State as saying that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Deobandi group ideologically closer to the Taliban "maintains eight training camps in Nangarhar, three of which are directly under Taliban control."

A change in the name of the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) magazine 'suggests a refocusing' of the terror group from Afghanistan to Kashmir, a United Nations report has said.

In a significant push to popularise cricket in the US, a $120 million funding has been secured from prominent Indian-American business leaders, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, to launch the first professional T20 league in the US. Major League Cricket (MLC), the first professional Twenty20 Cricket League in the US, announced Thursday that it has completed an initial close of a $44 million Series A and A1 Fundraising Round led by a group of America's leading business leaders. It said that with an additional commitment of $76 million in further fundraising over the next 12 months in place, MLC plans to deploy more than $120 million to launch the country's first-ever professional T20 league.

As the Ukraine conflict impacts the global GDP, India is projected to grow by 6.4 per cent in 2022, slower than the last year's 8.8 per cent but still the fastest-growing major economy, with higher inflationary pressures and uneven recovery of the labour market curbing private consumption and investment, according to a UN report. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said in its World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report released on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine has upended the fragile economic recovery from the pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and globally exacerbating inflationary pressures. The global economy is now projected to grow by only 3.1 per cent in 2022, down from the 4.0 per cent growth forecast released in January 2022.

The minister emphasised that India will play its due role in advancing global food security and it will do so in a manner in which it upholds equity, displays compassion, and promotes social justice.

The US hopes India will "reconsider" its decision to ban wheat exports, with Washington "encouraging" countries not to restrict exports as that will exacerbate food shortages, amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine. India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, has banned wheat exports in a bid to check high domestic prices amid concerns of wheat output being hit by scorching heat waves. The decision would help control retail prices of wheat and wheat flour, which have risen by an average 14-20 per cent in the last one year, besides meeting the foodgrain requirement of neighbouring and vulnerable countries.

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 33 in favour, China and Eritrea voting against and 12 abstentions, including India, Armenia, Bolivia, Cameroon, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.

The Dutch envoy said to Tirumurti "You should not have abstained in the GA. Respect the UN Charter."