Unemployment claims rise as US battles Covid-19 surge

"I didn't know what a marathon was until today", says one of a group of Syrian orphans taking part in a race in the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib. The event has been organised by an NGO in a bid to introduce children who have lost their parents in Syria's ongoing conflict to different kinds of sports. Nearly 500,000 people have died in the conflict since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations.

In the quiet Texas town of Rockdale, North America's largest bitcoin mine is part of an already bustling US business now boosted by Beijing's intensified crypto crackdown that has pushed the industry west.

Austria's new National Exhibition at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial underscores one main point: the country has dropped its victim myth.

Pakistan is setting up a new religious body as part of efforts to push for an "Islamic welfare state." But activists warn that the new authority could jeopardize the lives of women and religious minorities.

Monday's preliminary hearing is expected to look at the police investigation into the Amsterdam shooting of the crime reporter rather than the evidence itself.

Heavy rains have triggered flooding and landslides that swept through towns in the Indian state of Kerala. The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian army have been deployed to assist with rescue efforts.

The campaign will be the first polio inoculation drive to take place in three years. The Taliban had previously told communities that vaccines were a conspiracy against Muslims.

Moscow is also closing the alliance's liaison mission. The announcement comes after NATO expelled eight members of the Russian mission to the military alliance.

"The world lost one of the greatest leaders that we have ever witnessed," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says in Tbilisi, Georgia, after former US Secretary of State Colin Powell died of complications from Covid-19.

Myanmar starts to release prisoners detained for taking part in anti-coup protests from Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where they are greeted by tearful relatives. The head of the country's military junta announced Monday the release of more than 5,000 people jailed for protesting against February's coup, days after he was excluded from an October summit by regional bloc ASEAN.

Amnesty said that many governments had used the pandemic as an opportunity to further restrict freedom of expression. It also cited the role of social media in the spread of misinformation.

Scotland’s Northern Isles, Orkney and Shetland, have long benefited from North Sea oil revenues. But with reserves declining, and climate change forcing a transformation of energy policy around the world, the islands have become a hotbed of renewable energy innovation. As Scotland prepares to host the COP26 UN climate summit in November, the Northern Isles could serve as an example for other nations, both of cutting edge technologies, and of difficult political choices.