At a meeting of Catholic and Protestant leaders in Pakistan, the senior clergy agreed to tighten surveillance and take additional security measures, especially during Sunday services. With the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, there are serious concerns of extremist incidents aimed at minority communities, especially the Christians as Christmas draws near. ....

Indian-origin Anil Menon, a lieutenant colonel with the US Air Force and SpaceX's first flight surgeon, has been selected by NASA among the 10 new astronauts who could fly to the Moon someday. ....

Early data on the Omicron Covid-19 variant is "a bit encouraging" and does not indicate a great degree of danger, says Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert. ....

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has expressed disappointment over some countries' continued ban of direct flights from southern Africa due to the Omicron Covid variant ....

Pakistan is the largest recipient of eye donations from Sri Lanka, having received at least 35,000 corneas since 1967, says Dr Niaz Brohi, a leading ophthalmologist of Pakistan, Samaa TV reported. ....

The Taliban have been accused of killing an Afghan over a critical Facebook post three days after he was taken into custody, RFE/RL reported. ....

Pakistan confirmed 431 new Covid-19 cases and eight more deaths on Friday, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Saturday. ....

The Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada on Friday issued a special decree regarding women's rights and directed relevant authorities to take actions to safeguard these rights. ....

Bangladesh's Covid-19 vaccination drive has achieved a historic milestone of administering more than 100 million vaccine doses, officials said. ....

New Zealand reported 146 new Delta variant cases of Covid-19 in the community on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country's current community outbreak to 8,574. ....