New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged countries in South-East Asia to strengthen surveillance in view of the increasing cases of respiratory diseases, including due to COVID-19 and its new sub-variant JN.1, and influenza.

London: British Home Secretary James Cleverly was under fire Sunday for joking about date rape just hours after announcing plans to crack down on what he had dubbed a "perverse" offence.

Bethlehem (West Bank): The normally bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus resembled a ghost town on Sunday, as Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem were called off due to the Israel-Hamas war.

Rafah: More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the UN chief warned again that nowhere is safe in Gaza and that Israel's offensive is creating "massive obstacles" to distribution of humanitarian aid.

Kabul: Afghan girls of all ages are permitted to study in religious schools, which are traditionally boys-only, a Taliban official said Thursday.

Rafah (Gaza Strip): A report released Thursday by the UN finds that more than half a million people in Gaza are "starving" because of not enough food entering the territory since the outbreak of war more than 10 weeks ago.

Prague: Prague's police chief says an armed man who killed at least 15 people was a student at a university where the mass shooting took place.

Lahore: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has held the military establishment responsible for the country's economic woes, saying the countries around us have reached the Moon but Pakistan is not rising from the Earth.