UNITED STATES: The Supreme Court has begun considering when doctors can provide abortions during medical emergencies in states where terminations have been banned following its overturning of the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling.

The Biden administration argues that all states are required by federal healthcare law to allow hospitals to end pregnancies where a patient’s life or health is at serious risk.

The case comes from Idaho, one of 14 states that now ban all abortions except when needed to save a life, which claims that allowing it in more medical emergencies would turn hospitals into “abortion enclaves.”

CHINA: The country’s space agency made final preparations today to send the Shenzhou-18 crew into low-Earth orbit as part of a programme to put people on the moon by 2030.

At a press conference, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) introduced the three astronauts whose spacecraft is set for lift-off at 8.59pm local time from a site on the edge of the Gobi Desert.

They will relieve the Shenzhou-17 team, who have manned China’s Tiangong space station since last October, and stay in space for about six months.

SRI LANKA: Visting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated a hydropower and irrigation project today.

“The Western countries tried to convince all others that knowledge and technology is exclusive to those countries,” Mr Raisi told Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe and other top officials.

He added that the “idea” was rooted in “colonialism and arrogance” and that Iran was now able to share its knowledge with others, currently having projects in 20 countries.

INDONESIA: The electoral commission formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in a ceremony today, after the highest court rejected challenges to his landslide victory from two defeated rivals.

Mr Subianto, currently defence minister, won the February election with 58.6 per cent of the votes, but his rivals complained of large-scale fraud and widespread state interference. He will take office in October.