* In a major shift for a country long closed to immigrants, Japan is looking to allow foreigners in certain blue-collar jobs to stay indefinitely starting as early as the 2022 fiscal year, a justice ministry official said on Thursday.
* The United States and Malaysia plan to sign a cooperation agreement by early next year towards improving transparency, resilience and security in the semiconductor and manufacturing sector supply chains, the two countries said on Thursday.
* Brazil registered 11,977 new coronavirus cases and 373 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
* Indian states are sitting on more than 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines due to a reluctance among people to get inoculated, the chief executive of top vaccine maker the Serum Institute of India said.
* A subvariant of Delta that is growing in Britain is less likely to lead to symptomatic COVID-19 infection, a coronavirus prevalence survey found, adding that overall cases had dropped from a peak in October.
* Germany's coronavirus situation is dramatic Chancellor Angela Merkel warned, calling for an extra push on vaccinations a day before federal and regional leaders meet to agree on measures to curb a fourth wave of the virus.
* Spain is now offering third doses of vaccines to people aged 60 and over, expanding the booster shot programme from the previous age threshold of 70 as infections rise.
* The UK Health Security Agency said children aged between 12 and 15 should delay getting a COVID-19 vaccine if they've recently had COVID to at least 12 weeks after they were infected.
* Canada is set to announce on Friday that it is no longer obliging Canadian travellers returning from short foreign trips to take expensive molecular COVID-19 tests, a government source said on Wednesday.
* Melbourne's pubs and cafes can have unlimited patrons from Thursday night, while stadiums can return to full capacity as authorities lifted nearly all remaining COVID-19 restrictions for the vaccinated residents in Australia's second-largest city.
* Mexico's health ministry reported 332 more deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the overall death toll in the country since the pandemic began to 291,573.
* The Republic of Korea reported a record high 3,292 new COVID-19 cases, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said, as the country moves into the first phase of its "living with COVID-19" with loosened restrictions.
* The Czech Republic reported 14,119 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, the fourth highest count in the past two weeks and coming one day after a record daily tally, Health Ministry data showed on Thursday.
* AstraZeneca on Thursday cemented its lead in bringing a preventative COVID-19 shot for the non-infected to market for people who do not respond well to vaccines, saying its antibody drug cocktail offered 83% protection over six months.
* Overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs during the pandemic is helping bacteria develop resistance that will render these important medicines ineffective over time, the Pan American Health Organization warned.
* Moderna Inc said it had applied with the US Food and Drug Administration for authorisation of its COVID-19 booster vaccine for all adults aged 18 and older.
* Emirati and Israeli state-owned weapons makers on Thursday signed a strategic agreement in Dubai to jointly design unmanned vessels capable of carrying out anti-submarine warfare.
* Ukraine's energy ministry said on Thursday it would be included in consultations by the European Commission on giving a legal opinion to Germany on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
* Oil and gas firms in Norway have increased their 2022 investment forecasts during the last three months as the industry prepares to take advantage of tax incentives designed to boost activity, a national statistics office (SSB) survey showed on Thursday.
* New Zealand's near-term inflation is expected to rise in the fourth quarter, a central bank survey showed on Thursday, as the country battles labour and goods shortages from closed borders in response to the pandemic.
* Prosecutors in Kuwait have detained 18 people suspected of financing Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, the newspapers Al-Qabas and Al-Rai reported on Thursday.
* The United Arab Emirates signed 23 agreements with local and international companies worth around 22.5 billion dirhams (6.1 billion USD) during the first four days of the Dubai Airshow, the Ministry of Defence said on its official Twitter account on Thursday.
* Turkey has released an Israeli couple who it had detained over espionage charges for allegedly taking photographs of President Tayyip Erdogan's residence during a trip to Istanbul, Israel's prime minister and foreign minister said on Thursday.
* Security forces shot dead at least 15 people and wounded dozens as thousands of Sudanese took to the streets on Wednesday on the deadliest day in a month of demonstrations against military rule, medics said.
