Gunmen opened fire on passenger vehicles carrying Shiite Muslim civilians in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, and injuring 20 others. The attack is one of the deadliest in the region in recent years, according to police, news agency PTI reported. The

Britain’s former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has died following a battle with Alzheimer’s, his family announced. Prescott, an ex-merchant seaman who became a key figure in Tony Blair’s New Labour government, died “peacefully” in a care home at the

Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged “more voices” to end the Ukraine war and a ceasefire in Gaza, as he conducted a state visit to Brazil’s capital, Chinese state media said. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva echoed those points as he met with Xi in a

Unicef has said more than 200 children have been killed and 1,100 injured in Lebanon in just two months, as US special envoy Amos Hochstein met officials in Beirut on Tuesday to discuss a truce plan with claims that an end to the war is “now within our grasp”. Unicef

Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to jail terms of up to 10 years in a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city’s once feisty democracy movement and drawn international condemnation. A total of 47 pro-democracy

Sri Lanka’s Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has reappointed educationist Harini Amarasuriya as the country’s prime minister after sweeping the snap parliamentary elections last week. Dissanayake on Monday picked a 21-member cabinet, retaining the key

An Israeli air strike on a five-storey residential block in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza has killed at least 34 people, the local civil defence agency says. The agency, quoted by AFP, said many of the dead were women and children, with dozens stilled feared to be under the rubble. Seven

Hezbollah's media chief Mohammed Afif has been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut, the Lebanese militant group has confirmed. A strike hit the headquarters of the Baath political party in the densely populated Ras al-Naba neighbourhood on Sunday, according to

Indian security forces have killed five Maoist rebels in jungle clashes, an officer said Sunday, as security forces seek to quash the decades-long insurgency in the resource-rich central regions. Gun battles took place in the Abujhmad forests of Chhattisgarh state on Saturday, taking

The situation remains calm but tense in Manipur's Imphal Valley, where an indefinite curfew has been imposed and internet services suspended following violent protests on Sunday.  The demonstrations started after the discovery of the bodies of women and children allegedly

Saudi authorities arrested 20,124 people in one week for breaching residency, work and border security regulations, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday. According to an official report, a total of 11,607 people were arrested for violations of residency laws, while 5,285 were

Thousands of protesters marched in the western German city of Cologne on Saturday to demand the release of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish PKK militant group who was arrested 25 years ago. Amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK, the

Eight people have died and 17 others have been injured following a stabbing incident outside a school in eastern China. A 21-year-old man was arrested at Wuxi Yixing Arts and Crafts Vocational and Technical College in the city of Wuxi at about 18:30 local time (10:30 GMT), according to

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pledged to work with incoming President Donald Trump in his final meeting with current US leader Joe Biden. The two met on Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Peru where they acknowledged "ups and

Gunmen stormed a paramilitary checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan, killing seven troops, the latest in a string of attacks by insurgents, police has said. The early-morning attack in the mountainous Kalat district, some 150 km south of Quetta, the capital of the southwestern

Donald Trump has announced that he will appoint Karoline Leavitt, his campaign spokeswoman, to serve as White House press secretary in his next administration. At 27, Leavitt will be the youngest White House press secretary in US history. The president-elect said in a statement that

At least 10 newborns have died in a fire at a hospital in northern India after a blaze broke out in the neonatal ward. Staff at the hospital in the town of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh state were able to break in and rescue 44 infants, but at least 16 are in a critical condition,

Fire ripped through a retirement home in the town of Villafranca del Ebro in northern Spain early on Friday, killing at least 10 people, the regional government of Aragon said. The blaze started in a residence for elderly called “Jardines de Villafranca” around 5 a.m. (0400

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) coalition was set for a sweeping victory in the country’s general election, local media reported Friday. The NPP has secured 62.82% of the vote with a total of 6.6 million ballots, gaining

The Republican Party has achieved full control of the US government, after media projected wins for the party in a handful of close races in the House of Representatives. Republicans won the majority in the Senate earlier this week, while Donald Trump won the race for the presidency.