The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un mocked South Korea's ability to detect weapons launches by the North on Sunday, as she denied Seoul's claim that North Korea fired artillery shells into the sea the previous day.

Bangladeshis began voting on Sunday in the general elections, which is likely to be won by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a fourth straight term, amid pre-poll violence and a boycott by the main opposition party BNP and its allies.

Rescue teams worked through snow to deliver supplies to isolated hamlets, six days after a powerful earthquake hit western Japan, killing at least 126 people. Heavy snowfall expected in Ishikawa Prefecture later Sunday and through the night added to the urgency.

Seoul: North Korea conducted a new round of artillery drills near the disputed sea boundary with South Korea on Saturday, officials in Seoul said, a day after the North's earlier exercises prompted South Korea to respond with its own drills in the same area.

Portland: An Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Oregon on Friday after a window and chunk of its fuselage blew out in mid-air, media reports said.

Singapore: Doctors in Singapore believe the latest COVID-19 wave has peaked in the country, even as some clinics still face higher than usual patient loads, and doctors are watching out for possible surges in the coming months.

Dhaka: At least four people, including two children, were killed and many injured here on Friday when suspected arsonists set on fire a passenger train coming from Benapole, a port city bordering India, officials said, a day ahead of Bangladesh's general elections that have been boycotted by the main opposition BNP.

 A woman was pulled carefully from the rubble 72 hours after a series of powerful quakes started rattling Japan's western coast.