COVID-19 no longer represents a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
It's a major step towards the end of the pandemic that has killed more than 6.9 million people, disrupted the global economy and ravaged communities
The WHO's emergency committee first declared that COVID represented its highest level of alert more than three years ago, on January 30, 2020.
The status helps focus international attention on a health threat, as well as bolstering collaboration on vaccines and treatments.
Lifting it is a sign of the progress the world has made in these areas, but COVID-19 is here to stay, the WHO has said, even if it no longer represents an emergency.
The death rate has slowed from a peak of more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 in the week to April 24, according to WHO data.
Russia has opened a criminal case against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and put him on a wanted list, the state news agency TASS reported on Saturday, citing the Interior Ministry's database.
The death toll from rains in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul rose to 56, local authorities said on Saturday morning, while dozens still have not been accounted for.
Hamas has said it is sending a delegation to Cairo on Saturday to discuss a deal for a truce and the release of hostages in Gaza, hours after US CIA Director William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital, according to Egyptian sources.
NATO's four-month long military exercises near Russia's borders, known as Steadfast Defender, are proof the alliance is preparing for a potential conflict with Russia, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
Students at Trinity College Dublin protesting Israel's war in Gaza have built an encampment that forced the university to restrict campus access on Saturday and close the Book of Kells exhibition, one of Ireland's top tourist attractions.