After catastrophic year, Bollywood hopes for a 2021 comeback

Yemen is in "imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades," UN Secretary-General Guterres has warned. He called for urgent action from the international community to "stave off catastrophe."

With its dance numbers and peppy songs, Bollywood movies offer millions an escape from the drudgery of daily life, but deaths, drugs scandals and deserted cinemas have left India's film industry desperate for a happier plotline in the new year.

It's not just boy meets girl but also Bollywood meets Nollywood in a film released by Netflix on Valentine's Day, and created by an Indian-Nigerian restaurateur.

UNICEF, the UN's Children's Fund, says schools for more than 168 million children have been shuttered entirely by the coronavirus pandemic, with countries in the Caribbean and Latin America among the worst affected.

A torrential downpour along Australia's populous eastern coast has forced thousands to flee the worst flooding in decades. Even as the rains ease, waters may recede slowly.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has vowed to prevent a "catastrophic flood" near the major city of Tampa. A leaking toxic wastewater reservoir has the potential to cause an environmental crisis in the region.

Aastha Khanna is working on setting ground rules on Bollywood film sets, focusing on making a safe space for consent during intimate scenes. The industry has a long way to go on building awareness around intimacy.

Cinema complexes are shutting down nationwide, while hundreds of films have been indefinitely postponed. Bollywood has estimated losses in the millions.

With untreated sewage in the water and rubbish piled on the sand, pollution on Tripoli's Mediterranean coast is denying many residents of the war-torn Libyan capital a much-needed escape.

Residents carry out rescue missions in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida made landfall, killing two and stranding many in rising floodwaters. Ida, which has been downgraded to a tropical depression, knocked out power for all of New Orleans, with more than a million properties across Louisiana without power, according to an outage tracker.

India was recently gripped by a controversy involving the family of one of its most famous actors, Shahrukh Khan. In October 2021, Khan's son was arrested for alleged narcotics consumption. But according to his lawyer, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing. Many Indians believe the arrest was in fact orchestrated by India's Hindu nationalist government as a way of targeting the actor. In recent years, the government has become increasingly hostile towards some members of the country's powerful film industry. Our correspondents report.

Airlines are concerned that the technology, which is planned to be rolled out as early as Wednesday, could have serious consequences. They warn if implemented near airports, 5G could interfere with gauging altitude.