A man accused of blasphemy for claiming that he was a prophet has been shot dead in a courtroom in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, police officials say, the latest violence associated with Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws.

Thousands of migrants have died after suffering “extreme” abuse while crossing Africa, according to a UN report that estimated 72 people perish each month on the continent’s routes.

The first five Rafale fighter jets bought from France in a multi-billion-dollar deal landed in India yesterday and the defence minister used their arrival to launch a veiled warning to neighbouring China over territorial tensions.

Top US officials yesterday hailed a three-day ceasefire proposed by the Taliban and agreed by Kabul, raising hopes that the long-delayed peace talks between the two foes could begin next week.

At least 212 environmental campaigners worldwide were murdered in 2019, making last year the deadliest on record for frontline activists battling the destruction of Nature, watchdog group Global Witness reported yesterday.

Turkey’s parliament yesterday passed a controversial bill which would give the government greater control of social media, the official Anadolu news agency reported.

Coronavirus infections in India passed 1.5 million and deaths neared 35,000 yesterday, but test results in Mumbai slums cast further doubt on official data in the world’s second-most populous nation.

The chief executives of four of the world’s largest tech companies, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O), Apple (AAPL.O) and Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O), plan to argue in a congressional hearing on antitrust on Wednesday that they face intense competition from each other and from other rivals.

One in five patients hospitalised in Germany over the coronavirus succumbed to the disease, with the fatality rate rising to 53 percent for those who received ventilation, a study showed Wednesday.

Mask-clad Muslim pilgrims have began the annual hajj, dramatically downsized this year as the Saudi hosts strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will give much-anticipated testimony this week over his role in awarding a government contract to a charity that paid members of his family large sums of money, the House of Commons said Monday.

Nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced by Australia’s unprecedented 2019-20 wildfires in “one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history”, according to a report released yesterday.

A man in Florida who received nearly US$4 million (S$5.5 million) in federal loans intended to help struggling businesses - and spent the money on a new Lamborghini Huracán sports car and other fraudulent purchases - was arrested and charged with three felonies, officials said on Monday.

President Donald Trump mounted a strident defense of his wavering reelection bid with less than 100 days to go in a campaign that has seen him underwater in the polls -- and banking on the “silent majority” he vowed will bring him victory.

Chinese and Indian troops have “completed disengagement” on most parts of the disputed border between their two countries, China’s foreign ministry said yesterday, after violent clashes broke out earlier this year.

An Egyptian court has sentenced five female social media influencers to two years in jail each on charges of violating public morals.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held the first joint virtual conference with his counterparts from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal during which he proposed a four-point plan to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic, boost economic recovery and resumption of the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) infrastructure projects.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called his country’s nuclear weapons a solid security guarantee and a “reliable, effective” deterrent that could prevent a second war on the Korean Peninsula.

The unprecedented social and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic will see nearly seven million more children experience stunting as a result of malnutrition, the United Nations said yesterday.

China yesterday announced the suspension of Hong Kong’s extradition treaties with Canada, Australia and Britain in a tit-for-tat move following similar decisions by those countries over a controversial new security law.