Calm returned yesterday after a two-day flare-up in and around Gaza as a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad appeared to take hold after initial jitters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday rejected calls for a halt to a Russia-backed Syrian offensive in Idlib in northwest Syria.

Australia’s wildfires have destroyed more than a fifth of the country’s forests, making the blazes “globally unprecedented” following a years-long drought linked to climate change, researchers said Monday.

German authorities yesterday scrambled to determine the motives of a man who ploughed his car into a carnival procession, injuring dozens and further unsettling a country rocked by a fatal mass shooting last week.

A Japanese man recently named the world’s oldest living male has died aged 112, a local official said yesterday. Chitetsu Watanabe, who was born on March 5, 1907 in Niigata, north of Tokyo, died on Sunday at his nursing home in the same prefecture, the official said.

The guilty verdict in the sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein energized Hollywood celebrities and activists who said it was just the start of their movement to hold abusers accountable.

Saudi officials have ordered the arrest of a female rapper who appeared in a music video for her song Bint Makkah, or Girl from Makkah, stating that it is offensive to the customs and traditions of the holy city.

Saudi officials have ordered the arrest of a female rapper who appeared in a music video for her song Bint Makkah, or Girl from Makkah, stating that it is offensive to the customs and traditions of the holy city.

Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) took a violent turn in northeast Delhi, killing seven people so far, just as US President Donald Trump is completing his first official visit to the country, reports The Statesman. Reader discretion is advised, as some of the images may disturb or offend some people.

Iran's deputy health minister confirms that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, amid a major outbreak in the Islamic republic.

A four-star hotel in Spain's Canary Islands was put on lockdown today, its guests barred from leaving, and staff at reception wore face masks after a coronavirus case was identified there, a hotel guest told Reuters.

Egypt's ousted former President Hosni Mubarak has died at the age of 91, state television said today weeks after undergoing surgery.

The Seoul City government said it will financially support 1,500 households living in semi-basement apartments like the one depicted in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, to improve their living conditions.

Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein is convicted of sexual assault and rape by a New York jury and handcuffed in court, a milestone verdict for the #MeToo movement that inspired women to go public with misconduct allegations against powerful men.

The lockdown of Guo Jing’s neighbourhood in Wuhan -- the city at the heart of China’s new coronavirus epidemic -- came suddenly and without warning.

Libya’s warring sides have proposed a draft ceasefire agreement that would see the United Nations monitor the safe return of civilians to their homes, the UN said yesterday.

A gunman opened fire at a flea market in Houston on Sunday, wounding seven people in an area known for its Hispanic community, with a suspect being taken into custody at the scene.

A team of four Sherpas yesterday set off to attempt a record winter ascent of Mount Everest in just five days, which would also be the first winter climb of the peak in more than quarter of a century.

Iran’s conservatives claimed victory Sunday in a general election marked by the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid public anger against the government, an economic downturn and the disqualification of half the candidates.

The sharp rise in cases and the geographical spread of the coronavirus outside China confirm WHO fears over dealing with the crisis, experts warned Sunday as they appealed for ever greater vigilance.