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There have been 780 confirmed cases of monkeypox in countries where the virus is not usually found, the World Health Organization says, BBC reported.

That is roughly triple the 257 cases it reported a week ago.

It says the figure - for the past three weeks - is probably an underestimate and assesses the global risk level as "moderate".

The infection is usually mild, but this is the first time it has spread widely outside Central and West Africa.

The WHO said cases had been identified in 27 countries where it is not already "endemic" - meaning places it is expected to be found, according to BBC.

Most of these new cases are in Europe and North America as well as small numbers in Mexico, Argentina, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

The UK has the most cases, with 207, followed by Spain with 156 and Portugal with 138.

In its latest update, the WHO said some countries were reporting that new cases were appearing beyond known contacts of previously confirmed cases, which it said suggested chains of transmission were being "missed through undetected circulation of the virus".

"It is highly likely that other countries will identify cases and there will be further spread of the virus," it added.

While the current risk to human health for the general public "remains low", the public health risk could "become high" if the virus becomes widespread in countries where it is not normally found, it said. No deaths have been reported as a result of the current outbreak, BBC reported.

The global health body said most, but not all, of the reported cases so far have involved men who have sex with men. There is no evidence that monkeypox is sexually transmitted, but it is passed on through close contact.

The organisation said many cases were not presenting with the typical clinical picture for monkeypox, with some describing pustules appearing before symptoms such as fever.

Most cases of the virus clear up on their own within a few weeks. Symptoms include fever, headaches, swellings, back pain, aching muscles, as well as a rash which goes through different stages.

Monkeypox can sometimes be more severe, however, and has been reported to have caused deaths in West Africa in the past, according to BBC.

Australia has accused the pilot of a Chinese fighter jet of carrying out a dangerous manoeuvre near one of its aircraft over the South China Sea, BBC reported.

It says the Chinese aircraft released flares and cut in front of the Australian surveillance plane.

The Chinese jet then released "chaff" - an anti-radar device which includes small pieces of aluminium which entered the Australian plane's engine.

Beijing claims most of the region as its own territory.

The Royal Australian Air Force P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft was intercepted on 26 May by a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft, during what was a routine maritime surveillance activity, Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said.

"The intercept resulted in a dangerous manoeuvre which did pose a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew," he said, according to BBC.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Chinese jet flew very close in front of the RAAF aircraft and released a "bundle of chaff" containing the small pieces of aluminium that were ingested into the Australian aircraft's engine.

"Quite obviously this is very dangerous," Mr Marles told ABC television.

In a statement, Australia's defence ministry said it had "for decades undertaken maritime surveillance activities in the region" and "does so in accordance with international law, exercising the right to freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace".

Beijing has not commented on the incident. China has been building up military infrastructure there in recent years.

But the US, neighbouring countries and others, including Australia, dispute its claim, BBC reported.

In February, Australia accused a Chinese navy ship of shining a military grade laser towards one of its warplanes over the Arafura Sea off northern Australia.

Gunmen opened fire on worshippers and detonated explosives at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday, leaving dozens feared dead, state lawmakers said, Associated Press reported.

The attackers targeted the St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state just as the worshippers gathered on Pentecost Sunday, legislator Ogunmolasuyi Oluwole said. Among the dead were many children, he said.

The presiding priest was abducted as well, said Adelegbe Timileyin, who represents the Owo area in Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber.

“Our hearts are heavy,” Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu tweeted Sunday. “Our peace and tranquility have been attacked by the enemies of the people.”

Authorities did not immediately release an official death toll. Timileyin said at least 50 people had been killed, though others put the figure higher. Videos appearing to be from the scene of the attack showed church worshippers lying in pools of blood while people around them wailed.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said “only fiends from the nether region could have conceived and carried out such dastardly act,” according to a statement from his spokesman.

“No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome light. Nigeria will eventually win,” said Buhari, who was elected after vowing to end Nigeria’s prolonged security crisis, according to Associated Press.

In Rome, Pope Francis responded to news of the attack.

“The pope has learned of the attack on the church in Ondo, Nigeria and the deaths of dozens of worshippers, many children, during the celebration of Pentecost. While the details are being clarified, Pope Francis prays for the victims and the country, painfully affected at a time of celebration, and entrusts them both to the Lord so that he may send his spirit to console them,” the pope said in a statement issued by the Vatican press office. 

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on the church. While much of Nigeria has struggled with security issues, Ondo is widely known as one of Nigeria’s most peaceful states. The state, though, has been caught up in a rising violent conflict between farmers and herders.

Nigeria’s security forces did not immediately respond to questions about how the attack occurred or if there are any leads about suspects. Owo is about 345 kilometers (215 miles) east of Lagos, Associated Press reported.

“In the history of Owo, we have never experienced such an ugly incident,” said lawmaker Oluwole. “This is too much.”

The US and South Korean militaries launched eight ballistic missiles into the sea Monday in a show of force matching a North Korean missile display a day earlier that extended a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations, Associated Press reported.

The allies’ live-fire exercise involved eight Army Tactical Missile System missiles – one American and seven South Korean – that were fired into South Korea’s eastern waters across 10 minutes following notifications for air and maritime safety, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and US Forces Korea. 

The tit-for-tat missile launches were aimed at demonstrating the ability to respond swiftly and accurately to North Korean attacks, the South Korean military said. 

The South’s military on Sunday detected North Korea firing eight short-range missiles over 35 minutes from at least four different locations, including from western and eastern coastal areas and two inland areas north of and near the capital, Pyongyang, in what appeared to be a single-day record for the country’s ballistic launches.

It was North Korea’s 18th round of missile tests in 2022 alone — a streak that included the country’s first launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in nearly five years. South Korean and US officials also say North Korea is preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since September 2017 as leader Kim Jong Un pushes a brinkmanship aimed at cementing the North’s status as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength, according to the Associated Press.

US and South Korean forces conducted a similar live-fire exercise following North Korea’s previous ballistic launches on May 25, which South Korea’s military said involved an ICBM flown on medium-range trajectory and two short-range weapons. Those tests came as Biden wrapped up his trip to South Korea and Japan, where he reaffirmed the US commitment to defend both allies.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during a speech marking the country’s Memorial Day on Monday said his government would pursue “fundamental and practical security capabilities” to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear weapons and missile threat. 

“North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs have grown to a point where they are not only a threat to the Korean Peninsula, but to Northeast Asia and world peace,” Yoon said at the National Cemetery in Seoul, saying his government would “sternly respond to any kind of North Korean provocation.” 

Yoon, a conservative who took office in May, has vowed to strengthen the South’s defense in conjunction with its alliance with the United States. His goals include enhancing missile strike and interception capabilities and resuming large-scale military exercises with the United States, which were suspended or downsized in recent years to create space for diplomacy with Pyongyang or because of COVID-19, Associated Press reported.

Yoon’s dovish predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who had staked his five-year term on inter-Korean engagement, refrained from missile counter-drills after North Korea resumed ballistic missile tests in 2019 as its diplomacy with the U.S. fizzled.

North Korean state media have yet to comment on Sunday’s launches. They came after the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan concluded a three-day naval drill with South Korea in the Philippine Sea on Saturday, apparently their first joint drill involving a carrier since November 2017, as the countries move to upgrade their defense exercises in the face of North Korean threats.

North Korea has long condemned the allies’ combined military exercises as invasion rehearsals and often countered with its own missile drills, including short-range launches in 2016 and 2017 that simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean ports and US military facilities in Japan. 

Hours after the North Korean launches, Japan and the United States conducted a joint ballistic missile exercise aimed at showing their “rapid response capability” and “strong determination” to counter threats, Japan’s Defense Ministry said. 

The United States has vowed to push for additional international sanctions if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, but the prospects for meaningful new punitive measures are dim with the UN Security Council’s permanent members divided, according to Associated Press.

Russia took aim Sunday at Western military supplies for Ukraine, launching airstrikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad, as Vladimir Putin warned that any Western deliveries of longer-range rocket systems would prompt Moscow to hit “objects that we haven’t yet struck," Associated Press reported.

The Russian leader’s cryptic threat of military escalation did not specify what the new targets might be. It came days after the United States announced plans to deliver $700 million of security assistance for Ukraine that includes four precision-guided, medium-range rocket systems, as well as helicopters, Javelin anti-tank systems, radars, tactical vehicles and more.

Military analysts say Russia hopes to overrun Ukraine’s embattled eastern industrial Donbas region, where Russia-backed separatists have fought the Ukrainian government since 2014, before the arrival of any US weapons that might turn the tide. The Pentagon said last week that it will take at least three weeks to get the US weapons onto the battlefield.

Ukraine said the missiles aimed at the capital hit a train repair shop. Elsewhere, Russian airstrikes in the eastern city of Druzhkivka destroyed buildings and left at least one person dead, a Ukrainian official said. Residents described waking to the sound of missile strikes, with rubble and glass falling down around them.

“It was like in a horror movie,” Svitlana Romashkina said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said air-launched precision missiles were used to destroy workshops in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, including in Druzhkivka, that were repairing damaged Ukrainian military equipment, according to Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian forces fired five X-22 cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea toward Kyiv, and one was destroyed by air defenses. Four other missiles hit “infrastructure facilities,” but Ukraine said there were no casualties.

Nuclear plant operator Energoatom said one cruise missile buzzed close to the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear plant, 350 kilometers (220 miles) to the south, seemingly on its way to Kyiv. It warned of the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe if even one missile fragment had hit the facility.

The missiles that struck Kyiv destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by Eastern European countries and other armored vehicles, the Russian Defense Ministry said on the Telegram app.

Ukraine’s railway authority subsequently led reporters on a guided tour of a rail car repair plant in eastern Kyiv that it said was hit by four missiles. The authority said no military equipment had been stored there, and Associated Press reporters saw no remnants of any in the facility’s destroyed building.

“There were no tanks, and you can just be witness to this.” said Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s office.

However, a government adviser said on national TV that military infrastructure also was targeted. AP reporters saw a building burning in an area near the destroyed rail car plant. Two residents of that district said the warehouse-type structure that billowed smoke was part of a tank-repair facility. Police blocking access to the site told an AP reporter that military authorities had banned the taking of images there, Associated Press reported.

Nepal reported 13 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 579 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which nine returned positive. Likewise, 1, 055 people underwent antigen tests, of which four were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that nine infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 110 active cases in the country.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota held a meeting with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at the latter's residence in Baluwatar on Sunday.

During the meeting, the duo discussed appointment of chairman at the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives and the leadership of Public Accounts Committee.

Likewise, they also discussed the pending bills including the Citizenship Bill and the appointment of deputy speaker, the Speaker's Secretariat said.

The CPN (Unified Socialist) submitted the names of its new ministers to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

A Secretariat meeting held on Sunday recalled the ministers representing the party in the Deuba-led government and recommended the new names.

According to a leader, party Chairman Madhav Nepal submitted the list of the names to Prime Minister Deuba this afternoon.

Here is the list of new ministers: 

1. Metmani Chaudhary- Ministry of Urban Development 

2. Bhawani Khapung- Ministry of Health and Population 

3. Jeevan Ram Shrestha- Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation 

4. Sher Bahadur Kunwar- Ministry of Employment and Social Security

5. Hira Chandra KC- State Minister for Health

The party has recalled Ram Kumari Jhankri, Birodh Khatiwada, Kishan Shrestha and Prem Ale from the government.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at Sheetal Niwas tomorrow.