The United Nations says that the Ethiopian government is blocking aid from going to 2.3 million people in non-government-controlled rural areas in Tigray who are in dire need of assistance. (VOA)
A bombing targeting a Hindu shop in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills three people. Attacks against Hindu and Sikh minorities increased in the country in the last years, mainly by Islamic State militants. (Gandhara)
Eleven people are dead and three others have been rescued after their wooden boat overturns in a lake in Susong County, in east China's Anhuiprovince. (Sina)
The government eases the restrictions on business operating hours outside of the Seoul Capital Area, allowing those businesses to operate until 10 p.m. local time amid a backlash over prolonged restrictions. (The Korea Herald)
Governor Gavin Newsom issues revised COVID-19 mitigation guidelines for churches after the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the state's ban on indoor worship in areas hardest hit by the pandemic. The new guidelines limit indoor services to 25 percent of the church's capacity in hard-hit areas and restricts indoor singing and chanting. (ABC News)
An Australian economic advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi reveals that he has been detained by the Tatmadaw. He is the first foreign national confirmed to be in the custody of Myanmar's military. (AFP via The Star)
Egypt frees Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein after four years in detention. He had been held on charges of spreading false news, joining a banned group and receiving foreign funds. (VOA)
Politics and elections
French religious sister Nathalie Becquart is named by Pope Francis one of the Undersecretaries of the Synod of Bishops, becoming the first woman to reach that office and having a right to vote in the Synod. (CNN)