Geneva, April 8 The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to wipe out 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020 - equivalent to 195 million full-time workers, which far exceeds the effects of the 2008-09 financial crisis, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned on Tuesday.

London - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been moved to intensive care in a London hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened, was not "on a ventilator", but has "received some oxygen support", said Cabinet Minister Michael Gove on Tuesday.

Kabul (Afghanistan) - A group of gunmen stormed Afghanistan’s minority Sikhs' place of worship (gurdwara) in the heart of Kabul’s old city on Wednesday, killing 25 people.

Islamabad - The Pakistan government has declared a national emergency to eliminate the attacking swarms of desert locusts which are destroying crops on a large scale in Punjab after wiping it out in Sindh, the media reported on Saturday.

Sydney - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged foreign tourists not to be deterred by deadly wildfires that have razed large swathes of the country and sent smoke palls as far as South America, even as authorities warned of revitalised blazes. Morrison made the plea for international visitor support on Wednesday as he visited Kangaroo Island, a usually wildlife-rich tourist drawcard off Australia's south coast that has been hit twice in recent weeks by fierce fires.

Iran has launched missile attacks on US targets in Iraq in response to the US assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani last week. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran had taken what it considered to be proportionate measures and did not seek an escalation of war.