A Sanesh, principal photographer with The New Indian Express, has been selected for the award for the best photographer in the 26th Leela Menon Media Awards that were announced on Nov 26 . The award was instituted by the International Book Festival Committee.

Sanesh won the award for his photograph of a girl who was part of a team of tourists crying in pain after hitting her head on a signboard placed unscientifically on the street in Kochi. Senior journalist G K Suresh Babu was awarded for his overall contribution to journalism. 

The awards will be presented by former minister of state for external affairs M J Akbar at the Kochi International Book Festival to be held on December 2 at Ernakulathappan Grounds.

The government has decided to rename the Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres as 'Ayushman Arogya Mandir' and the Union Health Ministry has sent a letter to the states and Union territories to implement the rebranding exercise by end of this year.

The ministry has asked states to upload photographs of rebranded primary health facilities on the Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) portal.

It has underlined that the National Health Mission (NHM) logo is to be retained in the rebranded centres. The rebranded AB-HWCs will also have a new tagline -- 'Arogyam Parmam Dhanam'.

The new name 'Ayushman Arogya Mandir' and the tagline 'Arogyam Paraman Dhanam' should replace the existing title 'Ayushman Bharat - Health and Wellness Centre' across all operationalised AB-HWCs.

The funds required for renaming the existing facilities have been proposed at Rs.3,000 per facility.

Under the Government of India's flagship Ayushman Bharat Yojana, more than 1.6 lakhs AB- HWCs have been successfully established across states and UTs over the last five years with 219 crore footfalls so far.

AB-HWC aims to provide comprehensive primary healthcare, including both maternal and child health services, and free essential drugs and diagnostic services close to people's homes through AB-HWCs.

Over 53.36 crore screenings for hypertension have been done at the AB-HWCs, 46.49 crore for diabetes, 31.48 crore for oral cancer, 14.33 crore for breast cancer and 9.68 crore for cervical cancer till November 24. More than 2.71 crore wellness sessions have been held at these centres.

Members of Hindu outfits and civic body officials sprinkled 'Ganga Jal', water from river Ganga on a  temple in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthnagar in an effort to 'purify' it after the visit by a Muslim MLA of the Samajwadi Party.

SP MLA from Domariaganj, Saiyada Khatoon, claimed that she was invited by the administration of Samya Mata temple in Balwa village in her constituency to attend ‘Maha Chandi Yagya’ on Nov 27 . After she left, some people not in favour of her visit purified it with 'Ganga Jal' amid the chanting of mantras.

However, the MLA asserted that she won’t stop going to temples because of controversies created by “misguided” people.

A similar incident happened in Bihar last year after a Muslim minister entered the Vishnupad temple along with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, prompting the temple staff to “purify” the premises.

Thirty years ago, Palestinian actor Hiam Abbass left her home to pursue her dreams of being in the movies, joining generations of women in her family who were shaped by exile and “learned to leave everything and start anew.”

That’s one of the stories told in her director daughter Lina Soualem’s documentary “Bye Bye Tiberias,” which received a standing ovation and shouts of “Long Live Palestine” at the Marrakech International Film Festival for the film’s first screening in the Arab world.

The documentary, the Palestinian entry for next year’s Academy Award for Best International Feature, follows Abbass and Soualem as the mother-daughter pair laugh, cry and tell the story of four generations of women in their family.

“Bye Bye Tiberias” first premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, more than a month before the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the militant group’s deadly incursion into Israel on Oct. 7.

It is the only Palestinian film in competition in Marrakech, where festival organizers have, unlike past years, not held screenings in a popular square that has seen protests against the war.

A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas has been extended for two more days, the key mediator Qatar announced on Nov 26 , which would have been the final day of the cease-fire.

The extension came as 11 more hostages were freed from Gaza, along with the release of another 33 Palestinian prisoners -- the last exchange under the existing deal.

In the fourth swap under the original four-day truce, 11 Israeli hostages, all women and children, were released from Hamas captivity Nov 27  night in the Gaza Strip. Early Nov 28 , 33 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons were freed and driven to the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Nov 28  releases bring the number of Israelis freed to 50, along with 19 hostages of other nationalities. So far, 150 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons.

Roughly 240 hostages were captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. One was freed by Israeli forces and two were found dead inside Gaza.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson denounced the leader of the far-right party propping up his government after he called for some mosques to be torn down.

Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie Akesson called for some mosques to be seized and leveled during a speech at his annual party conference.

Kristersson, whose coalition government does not include SD but relies on its support, condemned the statements as "disrespectful".

Akesson's speech sparked anger both in Sweden and abroad and forced Kristersson to issue a statement on X, formerly Twitter, reiterating Sweden's "constitutional right to freedom of religion".

Former Social Democrat prime minister Magdalena Andersson called for Kristersson to remove all SD officials working at the cabinet offices in Stockholm.

Sweden, whose NATO application still needs ratification from Hungary and Muslim-majority Turkey, has seen a slew of incidents spark tensions with countries around the Middle East.

A series of Koran burnings earlier this year led to protests and widespread condemnations of Sweden, with several Middle Eastern countries summoning Swedish envoys.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound during the second incident.

Last year Sweden was the target of a vast disinformation campaign claiming its social services were "kidnapping Muslim children" and placing them in Christian homes, forcing the authorities to publicly deny the allegations.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said Turkey should approve Sweden's stalled bid for membership "as soon as possible".

Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members to not yet have ratified Sweden joining the alliance more than 18 months after it applied for membership.

The Turkish parliament started this month to debate Sweden's bid to join after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched the process following a deal at a NATO summit in July.

NATO's other 29 allies had hoped to be able to formally welcome Sweden into the alliance at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels this week.

However, the process is still at the committee level in the Turkish parliament.

New Zealand's plans for world-leading anti-smoking laws will be revoked, Christopher Luxon confirmed  that after being sworn in as prime minister, in a move described as a "huge win for the tobacco industry".

Former airline boss Luxon took over six weeks after his conservative National Party won national elections, ending a six-year Labour Party reign ushered in by Jacinda Ardern.

Luxon, 53, was sworn in as head of a new coalition government by New Zealand's governor-general in a ceremony in the capital Wellington.

The conservative said he would prioritise taming inflation and bringing down interest rates and also confirmed he would scrap a so-called "generational smoking ban" adopted last year that stops sales of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.

Luxon said the tax revenue from ongoing cigarette sales would generate welcome income for the government but also voiced concern that the ban would create a flourishing -- and untaxed -- black market.

The move was criticised by anti-smoking groups as a step back for the country.