PAKISTAN: An explosion ripped through a rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader in the country’s north-western Bajur district that borders Afghanistan today, killing at least 40 people and wounding more than 100. 

Senior police officer Nazir Khan said that the workers’ convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place.

PALESTINE: Palestinian groups kicked off a meeting in Egypt today to discuss reconciliation efforts as violence in the occupied West Bank surged between Israel and Palestinian militants.

According to official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the gathering in the Egyptian city of el-Alamein on the Mediterranean Sea was discussing “ways to restore national unity and end the division.”

THAILAND: A large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand on Saturday killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens, officials said.

The Narathiwat province’s Public Relations Department also said that at least 118 people were hurt, and that residents of more than 200 households were affected. 

Officials believe there are still people trapped under the debris waiting for rescue.

AUSTRALIA: Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday that the United States’s case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has dragged on too long and must be concluded.

Mr Assange, an Australian citizen, has been detained in Belmarsh prison in Britain since 2019 and is fighting extradition to the US.

The demand was rebuffed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said Mr Assange’s actions “risked very serious harm” to US national security.