* The World Health Organization said on Monday the coronavirus variant first identified in India last year was being classified as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily.
* The head of the World Trade Organisation said she hoped that by December the body's members will have reached a "pragmatic" solution over whether to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents.
* China's population on the mainland reached 1.41178 billion, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday, citing data from the seventh national census. The figure does not include Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents and foreigners who live in the mainland's 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, according to the NBS.
* As its vaccination drive reaches a third of adults and COVID-19 infections ease, Europe is starting to reopen cities and beaches, raising hopes that this summer's holiday season can be saved before it is too late.
* The US Treasury on Monday opened access to US$350 billion in COVID-19 aid for state, local, tribal and territorial governments, but 30 states with faster-recovering employment are likely to see their funds split into two payments a year apart.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that about 21.5 million people in Russia have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, the TASS news agency reported. Putin said he had a high level of antibodies following his vaccination and urged Russians to get inoculated as soon as possible.
* China remained the biggest sales market for raw timber from Germany in 2020 as around half, or 6.4 million cubic meters, of total timber exports went to China, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Monday.
* Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the Southeast Asian country under a state of calamity for one year to address the impact from the outbreak of African swine fever, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday.
* Singapore still expects to complete its COVID-19 inoculation programme by the end of the year, the health minister said on Tuesday, though the city-state is also looking to secure more sources of vaccines as global supplies become more stretched.
* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Monday that the coronavirus lockdown in England will be further lifted from next week.
* The rate of average daily new COVID-19 cases in the United States dropped below 41,000 over the weekend, down 30 percent from two weeks ago and reaching the lowest level since September, Johns Hopkins University data has shown.
* Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday called for waiving intellectual property rights protected by patents for COVID-19 vaccines in order to speed up production to assist countries in need.
* Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Monday urged the public to vote in upcoming elections in which voters will for the first time cast ballots for members of the body that will draft a new constitution. The May 15 and 16 elections will also see voters elect local mayors and councilors.
* Iran's Ministry of Interior Affairs on Tuesday officially started registering candidates for the 13th presidential race, state TV reported. The registration will last for five days and each candidate will be scrutinized by the country's highest legislative body, the Guardian Council of the Constitution (GCC).
* US regulators authorized Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12 and said they could begin receiving shots as soon as Thursday, widening the country's inoculation program as vaccination rates have slowed significantly.
* Brazil's government will direct an extra BRL5.5 billion (US$1.05 billion) of federal spending towards the production, supply and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, President Jair Bolsonaro's office said in a statement.
* Argentina's Health Ministry confirmed its first cases of the more contagious COVID-19 variants discovered in India and South Africa in three travelers returning to the South American country from Europe.
* Egypt's Eva Pharma signed an agreement to provide India with 300,000 doses of remdesivir, used in the treatment of COVID-19.
* Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets into Israel and Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday, and unrest also spread within Israeli Arab communities in Jerusalem.
* US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged all sides to de-escalate in Israeli-Palestinian clashes while recognizing Israel's right to self-defense in the face of rocket attacks.
* Republic of Korea's government tax revenue grew in the first quarter as an economic recovery from the pandemic-hit slump raised income and corporate taxes, the finance ministry said Tuesday.
* The European Union is willing to see its COVID-19 vaccine contract with AstraZeneca fulfilled three months later than agreed, providing the company delivers 120 million doses by the end of June, a lawyer representing the bloc said on Tuesday.
* Germany hopes for a COVID-19 certificate that could allow citizens to travel more easily in the European Union to be agreed within weeks.
* Novavax Inc again delayed its timeline for ramping up COVID-19 vaccine production and said it does not expect to seek regulatory authorization for the shot in the United States, Britain and Europe until the third quarter of 2021, sending its shares tumbling.
* BioNTech SE said its order backlog for delivery of COVID-19 vaccines this year together with partner Pfizer Inc had grown to 1.8 billion doses.
* Data from the rollout of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shows one dose of the shot results in 80% less risk of death from the disease, Public Health England said.
* The operator of a main US fuel pipeline that was forced to shut down due to a cybersecurity attack said Monday night that one of its lines has been partially restored.
* Sudan is struggling to provide hospital beds, drugs and medical oxygen to COVID-19 patients hit by a third wave of infections.
