Chinese Visitors: US requires negative Covid test

The United States has become the latest country to require mandatory Covid tests for Chinese visitors from the fifth of January. This came as China announced it would reopen its borders despite the explosion of infections that followed the dismantling of Beijing's zero-Covid policy.

The United Nations has suspended some of its aid programmes in Afghanistan following the ban by the Taliban on female NGO workers. The UN and major aid groups said women's participation in aid delivery was not negotiable.

And a new Israeli government is set to be sworn in today, which will be the most religious and hard-line in the country's history.