The plane laden with vaccines had just rolled to a stop at Santiago's airport in late January, and Chile's president, Sebastián Piñera, was beaming. "Today," he said, "is a day of joy, emotion and hope."

The source of that hope: China – a country that Chile and dozens of other nations are depending on to help rescue them from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Iraq on Tuesday received 50,000 Sinopharm vaccines donated by China, the health ministry announced, launching a long-awaited vaccination campaign.

Asian markets struggled Tuesday to maintain a global rebound from last week's rout as the improving economic outlook and vaccine rollouts were offset by lingering worries that valuations may have run too far.

Myanmar security forces fired live rounds at anti-coup protesters on Tuesday in the northwestern town of Kalay, with three demonstrators sustaining critical injuries, medics told AFP.

All 279 Nigerian students kidnapped from their boarding school in the northern state of Zamfara have been released and are on government premises, the governor of the state told AFP Tuesday.

Global CO2 emissions have returned to pre-pandemic levels and then some, threatening to put climate treaty targets for capping global warming out of reach, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

A US father-son pair accused of helping former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn in his audacious escape from Japan arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday after losing their battle against extradition, local media said.

Former US special forces member Michael Taylor and his son Peter allegedly staged the operation that saw former international jet-setter Ghosn packed into an audio-equipment case and onto a private jet to jump bail in December 2019.

Lebanon's central bank was to start reviewing the country's banks Monday as it faces international pressure for banking sector reform amid its worst economic crisis in decades.

Israel considers Iran an "existential threat" but the two countries were once long-time allies under the shah.

Spain suffered its second-worst month for coronavirus deaths in February with 10,528 fatalities, the worst figure since April last year, government figures showed on Monday.