China has reported 206 new COVID-19 cases, including 158 domestically transmitted ones, in a sudden spike ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics which will be held in February next year, the country's health commission said on Sunday.

Bangkok: Myanmar government troops rounded up villagers, some believed to be women and children, fatally shot more than 30 and set the bodies on fire, a witness and other reports said Saturday.

Johannesburg (PTI): Narandran 'Jody' Kollapen, who is Indian origin, has been appointed to South Africa's highest judicial bench, the Constitutional Court.

At least 36 people died and nearly 200 others were injured on Friday after a massive fire ripped through a packed passenger ferry on the Sugandha river in southern Bangladesh, officials said.

Antananarivo: Madagascar's police minister and an air force mechanic succeeded in swimming for 12 hours to safety after their helicopter crashed in the Indian Ocean.

The death toll rose to more than 200 following the strongest typhoon to batter the Philippines this year, with 52 people still missing and several central towns and provinces grappling with downed communications and power outages and pleading for food and water, officials said Monday.

Manila: The governor of an island province in the central Philippines said Sunday at least 72 people died in the devastation wrought by Typhoon Rai in more than half of the towns that managed to contact him, bringing the death toll in the strongest typhoon to batter the country this year to at least 146.