Yangon - Defiant anti-coup protesters returned to cities and towns across Myanmar on Thursday after dozens of people were killed in the deadliest day of the junta's crackdown, with global powers condemning the "brutal violence".

Paris - A leading French daily has rattled the ruling party and sparked intense speculation about next year's presidential election by suggesting that voters won't come to Emmanuel Macron's aid if he finds himself in a rematch with the far-right.

Geneva - Switzerland votes Sunday on whether to ban full facial coverings in public places, despite women in Islamic full-face veils being an exceptionally rare sight in Swiss streets.

Yerevan - Relatives, friends and neighbours from the town of Hadrut gathered at a military cemetery overlooking Armenia's capital Yerevan to bury Arman Sarkisian, two days after his parents identified him.

Kabul - Afghan women are being cut off from crucial aid because of a growing Taliban crackdown in areas controlled by the insurgents, more than a dozen relief workers have told AFP.

Ten years after the Fukushima disaster, Japan's nuclear industry remains crippled, with the majority of its reactors halted or on the path towards decommissioning.

Ishinomaki - Yuto Naganuma looks silently as the cold sea breeze sweeps over the crumbling walls of the school where his little brother was lost in Japan's devastating 2011 tsunami.

Apo - Japan this month marks 10 years since the worst natural disaster in the country's living memory -- the massive earthquake, deadly tsunami and nuclear meltdown of March 11, 2011.

Tembisa - After a year battling coronavirus, exhausted health workers in South Africa are celebrating a drop in cases but dread another wave of infections -- a scenario that could strike just months from now.

Actress McKenzie Westmore chatted with Digital Journal's Markos Papadatos about fitness, married life, Westmore Beauty, "The Bay," and she recalled her time on "Passions" and several memorable co-stars. She also defined the word success.

Caracas - Dressed in camouflage, her face covered in mud, Ismaira Figueroa holds her position on a hill, rifle in hand, as she takes part in military exercises simulating an invasion."I feel like I was born to do this and if I had to die for this...

London - Members of the OPEC group of oil producers and allies are expected to raise output in a meeting Thursday, in response to a rebound in demand and prices.

Seoul - A transgender South Korean soldier who was forcibly discharged from the army after gender-reassignment surgery has been found dead, police said, prompting anger Thursday and calls for legal reforms.

Apo - A decade since Arab Spring protests rocked the Middle East and North Africa, many of its youth are in need and at risk, says the UN children's agency's regional director.

Mut - Surrounded by thousands of live scorpions in a laboratory deep in Egypt's Western Desert, Ahmed Abu al-Seoud carefully handles one of the curved-tailed arachnids before extracting a drop of its venom.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday agreed to gradually ease virus curbs in Europe's top economy, caving to political pressure and public discontent seven months before a general election.

New York - The Boy Scouts of America has said it will sell its vast collection of Norman Rockwell paintings as part of a multi-million-dollar victims' fund to settle sexual abuse lawsuits.

Washington - An unmanned SpaceX rocket exploded on the ground Wednesday after carrying out what had seemed to be a successful flight and landing.

Emmy award-winning actor and producer Eric Nelsen ("The Bay") was featured in the Internet radio show "Daytime After Dark." Digital Journal has the scoop.

Los Angeles - All 13 people killed when a packed vehicle collided with a truck in California are believed to have entered the US illegally through a nearby breach in the Mexico border fence, US authorities said Wednesday.