FRANKFURT — The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is likely to protect against a more infectious variant of the virus discovered in Britain which has spread around the world, according to results of further lab tests released on Wednesday.

SHANGHAI/BEIJING — China plans to impose strict COVID testing requirements during the Lunar New Year holiday season, when tens of millions of people are expected to travel, as it battles the worst wave of new infections since March 2020.

KATHMANDU — Trash collected from Mount Everest is set to be transformed into art and displayed in a nearby gallery, to highlight the need to save the world's tallest mountain from turning into a dumping site.

JOHANNESBURG — The new COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa can evade the antibodies that attack it in treatments using blood plasma from previously recovered patients, and may reduce the efficacy of the current line of vaccines, scientists said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — The press secretary of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., held her first news conference on Wednesday, seven hours after Mr. Biden’s inauguration, vowing to bring truth and transparency back to government.

WASHINGTON — The recently updated website for the White House of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., carried an invitation for tech specialists savvy enough...

BRUSSELS — The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to approve several COVID-19 vaccines from Western and Chinese manufacturers in coming weeks and months, a...

WASHINGTON — Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.

SEOUL — North Korea is imposing stiff fines or prison for anyone caught enjoying South Korean entertainment or copying the way South Koreans speak as leader Kim Jong Un steps up a war on outside influences and calls for better homegrown entertainment.

SHANGHAI —  Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma met 100 rural teachers in China via a live video meeting on Wednesday morning, in the businessman’s first appearance since October, triggering a sharp jump in the Hong Kong listed shares of the e-commerce giant.

WASHINGTON — Janet L. Yellen, US President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, urged lawmakers on Tuesday to “act big” on coronavirus relief spending, arguing that the economic benefits far outweigh the risks of a higher debt burden.

LONDON — Failure to stem climate change poses as serious a global risk as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in both the scale of impact and level of threat, top business and other leaders warned on Tuesday.