Former top US health official Anthony Fauci has refused to answer questions at a tense US Senate hearing on COVID-19, saying he feared Republicans would try to use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.

The European Commission has confirmed that it will open a call for evidence and a public consultation on setting Maximum Permitted Levels (MPLs) for vitamins and minerals in supplements and fortified foods this year.

The United States is ending its health aid programs in Zimbabwe after Harare withdrew from talks over a bilateral deal with Washington.

A panel of South African judges have urged the European Union (EU) to ban chemicals and pesticides which have already been banned within the bloc from being exported overseas.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged Washington to share any intelligence it may be withholding on the COVID-19 pandemic's origins, despite the United States quitting the WHO.

The United Nations is at risk of "imminent financial collapse" due to member states not paying their fees, the body's head has warned.

The United States has officially withdrawn from the World Health Organization (WHO), leaving the United Nations agency without one of its biggest donors.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to millions of euros of illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.