WORLD

Mexico City has launched a test-and-trace approach to containing the coronavirus, after a rise in hospitalizations that has raised fears of a new economic lockdown in one of the world's largest urban centers.

Argentina football legend Diego Maradona said his hero, late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro - whom he considered a "second father" and whose face he had tattooed on his leg - once urged him to go into politics.

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China pledged on Thursday to work together to advance bilateral ties and tackle regional and global issues including stalled nuclear talks involving North Korea and the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico captured a gang leader accused of being the mastermind behind the massacre of nine women and children of U.S.-Mexican origin, authorities confirmed on Wednesday, a move that Washington hailed as a victory for bilateral cooperation.

South Korea reported 583 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest since March, as it grapples with a third wave of infections that appears to be worsening despite tough new social distancing measures.

A South Korean court on Thursday sentenced the leader of an online sexual blackmail ring to 40 years in prison, the Yonhap news agency reported.

African envoys went to Ethiopia to plead for peace on Wednesday, hours before an ultimatum was to expire for Tigrayan forces to surrender or face an assault on the northern region's capital that rights groups fear could bring huge civilian casualties.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's government is to declare a climate emergency in a symbolic step to increase pressure for action to combat global warming.

A severe cyclone slammed into India's southern coast early on Thursday, uprooting trees and power lines but there were no immediate reports of loss of life or extensive damage to property.