Retailers on Tuesday stepped up their push for coronavirus-related restrictions to be eased in Germany so that shops can return to business, while several politicians also called for a gradual reopening of the country's schools.

A Spanish extradition request for three Catalan politicians who fled to Belgium with former separatist leader Carles Puigdemont was rejected by a Belgian court on Wednesday, the crown prosecutor announced.

Australian politicians will have to prove they are not foreign citizens under plans proposed on Monday as the conservative government grapples with a constitutional crisis that has cost it a majority in parliament.

Australia's widening citizenship crisis entangled a seventh politician on Friday, a key independent senator whose support is critical for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to pass legislation through a hostile Senate.

A liberal blogger was stabbed to death in the Maldives' capital on Sunday, his family and colleagues said, the latest media personality to be targeted in the troubled honeymoon destination.

The phone numbers of hundreds of Australian politicians, including former prime ministers Julia Gillard and John Howard, were available online for more than three months after an administrative error, media reported.

Australia toughened oversight of politicians' expenses on Friday after a senior minister quit over the purchase of a luxury flat during a taxpayer-funded trip.

In Japan, where women do five times as much housework as men, three male politicians have donned "pregnancy" vests in a campaign urging men to help out more at home.

Pakistani authorities on Tuesday arrested the mayor-elect of Karachi and two other prominent opposition politicians, police said, accusing them of aiding criminals and militants.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the Israeli army as controversy gripped the country over a soldier caught on video shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay on the ground.