Middle East

New York: The United Nations confirmed that the escalation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip forced growing numbers of civilians into repeated displacement, amid worsening humanitarian conditions. UN Secretary-General's Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a press briefing that 3,000 new displacement cases were recorded from northern Gaza to the south over the past two days. He also reiterated that the Israeli continues to obstruct and restrict the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. On developments in occupied West Bank, Dujarric reported that 2,780 Palestinians have been injured there by Israeli occupation forces and settlers since January 2025. He noted that this represents a 39 percent increase in Israeli assaults on Palestinians compared to 2024. The death toll from Israel's ongoing aggression against Gaza since October 7, 2023, has so far risen to 64,300 martyrs, with 162,005 wounded, amid an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

Europe

Vatican City: An Italian teenager dubbed "God's Influencer" for his efforts to spread the Catholic faith online will become the first millennial saint Sunday at a canonisation attended by thousands of pilgrims. Computer whiz Carlo Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 aged 15, will be raised to sainthood by Pope Leo XIV in a solemn ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. The teenager's body, dressed in jeans and a pair of Nike trainers, lies in a glass-walled tomb in Assisi, visited by hundreds of thousands of people a year. His canonisation, initially set for April but postponed when Pope Francis died, will be watched by faithful on giant screens in Assisi, a medieval city and pilgrimage site in the central region of Umbria. 'Exemplary life' Acutis, born in London in 1991 to Italian parents, had an ardent faith, though his parents were not particularly devout. He grew up in the northern city of Milan, where he attended mass daily and had a reputation for kindness to bullied children and homeless people, bringing the latter food and sleeping bags. A nun prays at the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis, an adolescent who spent his life spreading his faith online, earning the moniker "God's Influencer", in the Shrine of the Renunciation in Assisi, part of the Church of Saint Mary Major, on April 3, 2025.Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP A fan of computer games, Acutis taught himself basic coding and used it to document miracles and other elements of the Catholic faith online. Domenico Sorrentino, bishop of Assisi, called on young people on Friday to follow Acutis's example. "Today more than ever we need positive examples, exemplary life stories that can help our young people avoid following discouraging images, violent examples, and fleeting fads that leave nothing behind," he said in a statement published by the diocese. Acutis's mother Antonia Salzano said her son's gift was in seeing that "each person is unique and unrepeatable, originals and not photocopies, as Carlo used to say". The Vatican has recognised Acutis as performing two miracles since his death -- a necessary step on the path to sainthood. A faithful holds a portrait of late Blessed Carlo Acutis, an adolescent who spent his life spreading his faith online, earning the moniker "God's Influencer", during a Jubilee audience at the Saint Peter's Square in The Vatican on September 6, 2025.Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP The first was the healing of a Brazilian child suffering from a rare pancreatic malformation, the second the recovery of a Costa Rican student seriously injured in an accident. In both cases, relatives had prayed for help from the teenager, who was beatified in 2020 by Pope Francis. Over 800 people will be travelling to Rome on a special train from Assisi for the canonisation of the so-called "cyber-apostle", which begins at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on Sunday. A large tapestry featuring a photograph of the saint-to-be hung on the facade of St. Peter's Basilica ahead of the ceremony. 'To the heights' Canonisation is the result of a long and meticulous process, involving an investigation by the Vatican and specialists who assess whether the obligatory miracles have taken place. Final approval rests with the pope. Italian Pier Giorgio Frassati, a mountaineering enthusiast who died in 1925 and was known for his social and spiritual commitment, will also be made a saint on Sunday. His casket is inscribed with the words "Verso l'alto" ("To the heights"), a phrase he wrote on a photograph taken of him looking up to the summit while mountaineering. An engineering student who made it his mission to serve the poor and sick of his city, he was held up by the Church as a model of charity after his death of polio aged 24. He was beatified by John Paul II in 1990. The Vatican recognised the necessary second miracle to put him on the path to sainthood in 2024, with the unexplained healing of a young American man in a coma. Sunday's canonisation ceremony will be Pope Leo XIV's first since his election in May, when he became the first pontiff from the United States. It falls during the Jubilee, a Catholic "Holy Year" which has already drawn over 24 million people to Rome, according to the Vatican.

Asia

Dhaka: For more than a century, the fate of the dazzling Darya-e-Noor diamond has been sealed inside a bank vault -- a mystery that haunts Khawaja Naim Murad, descendant of the former princes, or Nawabs, of Dhaka. Locked away in 1908, were the family's heirlooms lost during the violence at the end of British rule in 1947? Did they surviveBangladesh's war of independence in 1971 and the string of coups that followed, or are they still safe, dusty but untouched? Many suspect the jewels are long gone, and officials at the state-run bank hesitate to simply open the vault, fearing they'd carry the cost if it is empty. But the cash-strapped South Asian government have now ordered a committee unseal the vault -- and Murad clings to hope. "This is not a fairytale," said Murad, 55, recounting a story passed down from his father about the giant diamond dubbed the "River of Light", the centrepiece rock of glittering armband. "The diamond was rectangular in shape and surrounded by more than half a dozen smaller diamonds," Murad told AFP. It was part of a trove of 108 treasures. According to original court documents, they include a gold-and-silver sword encrusted with diamonds, a bejewelled fez with cascading pearls, and a fabulous star brooch once owned by a French empress. Khawaja Naim Murad shows plates bearing emblems of different Nawabs during an interview with AFP at his house in Dhaka. (Photo by Munir UzZaman/ AFP) History and myth The nawab's riverside pink palace of Ahsan Manzil is now a government museum. Murad, a former popular film star, lives in a sprawling villa in a wealthy Dhaka suburb. He flourished a sheaf of documents, including a family book with detailed paintings of the treasures. "It is one of the most famous diamonds in the world, and its history is closely associated with that of the Koh-i-Noor," the book reports, referring to the shining centrepiece of Britain's crown jewels -- a gem also claimed by Afghanistan, India, Iran and Pakistan. "It is absolutely perfect in lustre." Another diamond of the same name, the pink-hued Daria-i-Noor, is in Tehran as part of Iran's former royal jewels. Murad maintains that the family's diamond, too, was once owned by Persia's shahs, then worn by Sikh warrior-leader Ranjit Singh in 19th-century Punjab. It was later seized by the British and eventually acquired by his ancestors. But fortunes shifted. In 1908, the then-nawab -- Murad's great-grandfather -- faced financial trouble. Read Also Seoul says over 300 South Koreans held in US battery plant site raid Sudan gold mine collapse kills six, traps others: officials Ministry of Endowments calls for performing eclipse prayer 'Sailing Through Time' Exhibition opens at Liwan Design Studios and Labs Sir Salimullah Bahadur borrowed from British colonial powers -- mortgaging his vast Dhaka estates and placing the treasures in a vault as collateral. That was their last confirmed sighting. Since then, myth and history merge. Murad believes his uncle saw the jewels in the bank in the 1980s, but bank officials say they do not know if the vault has ever been opened. Chairman of theBangladesh's Land Reforms Board, AJM Salahuddin Nagri, says the government body inherited custody of the trove, held in a state-owned bank. "But I haven't seen any of the jewels yet," he told AFP. 'Vault is sealed' The 1908 court papers did not specify the diamond's carat weight but valued it at 500,000 rupees -- part of a hoard worth 1.8 million rupees. By today's conversion, that equals roughly $13 million, though experts say the market value of such rare and large jewels has since sometimes soared many times higher. Today's guardian, Shawkat Ali Khan, managing director of Sonali Bank, said the safe remains shut. "The vault is sealed," Khan said. "Many years back, an inspection team came to check on the jewels, but they never really opened it -- they just opened the gate that held the vault." He is keen for the vault to be opened at last, though no date yet has been given. "I am excited," he said with a brief smile. The family hope to discover if any of the century-old debt remains, and whether they could reclaim the jewels. Murad dreams of diamonds, but says his real wish is to simply see the treasure for himself. "We believe that if anyone dies in debt, his soul never finds peace," he said.