By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The host broadcaster of the next Eurovision Song ​Contest, Austria's ORF, will not ban the ​Palestinian flag from the audience or drown out booing during Israel's performance as has happened ⁠at previous shows, organisers said on Tuesday.

The 70th edition of the contest in May will have just 35 entries, the smallest number of participants since 2003, after ​five national broadcasters including those of Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands ‍said they would boycott the show ​in protest at Israel's participation.

KABUL, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The U.N. World Food Programme is ​unable for the first time ​in decades to provide effective aid to millions of Afghans ⁠suffering from malnutrition, with deaths especially among children likely to rise this winter, the WFP said on Tuesday.

International aid to ​war-torn Afghanistan has dwindled significantly since 2021, ‍when U.S.-led forces exited the ​country and the Taliban regained power. The crisis has been compounded by multiple natural calamities such as earthquakes.

By Rishika Sadam

HYDERABAD, India, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Indian police said ​on Tuesday that the dead ​gunman in Australia's Bondi beach shooting incident, Sajid Akram, was ⁠originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad but had limited contact with his family in India.

The attack on ​Sunday was Australia's worst mass shooting in ‍nearly 30 years, and is ​being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.

NICOSIA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The key U.N. envoy seeking to ​break a deadlock in Cyprus's ​long-running division said she was cautiously optimistic about a ⁠breakthrough but that it would be premature to convene a multi-nation summit on the conflict.

SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - While a Sydney shopowner is being hailed as a hero after ​disarming one of the gunmen shooting at a ​Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, a couple and another man who died after physically confronting ⁠the attackers are also being remembered for their heroic efforts to save those around them.

Reuven Morrison, 62, was shot dead after trying to halt the bloodshed, his daughter Sheina Gutnick told ​American broadcaster CBS News in a report published on Monday.

NAJAF, Iraq, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi wheat farmer Ma'an al-Fatlawi has long depended on the nearby Euphrates River to feed his fields near the city of Najaf. But this ​year, those waters, which made the Fertile Crescent a cradle of ancient civilisation 10,000 years ​ago, are drying up, and he sees few options.

"Drilling wells is not successful in our land, because the water is saline," al-Fatlawi said, as he stood by an irrigation canal near his parched fields ⁠awaiting the release of his allotted water supply.

SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Flowers were laid on Tuesday in front ​of the shuttered shop of Ahmed ​al Ahmed, the 43-year-old tobacco shop owner who locals hailed as ⁠the “Bondi hero” after he wrestled a gun from one of the attackers during a mass shooting on Sydney's Bondi Beach.

Ahmed was ​identified on social media as the bystander who ‍hid behind parked cars before ​charging at the gunman from behind, seizing his rifle and knocking him to the ground. The act saved several lives, authorities have said.

MANILA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The Philippines Bureau of Immigration ​said on Tuesday that the ​two alleged gunmen behind the mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi ⁠Beach travelled to the Philippines on November 1 aboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR212 from Sydney to Manila and ​onward to Davao.

A spokesperson for the bureau ‍said that Sajid Akram, ​50, an Indian national and Australian resident, travelled on an Indian passport, while his son Naveed Akram, 24, an Australian national, used an Australian passport. Both arrived ⁠together on that flight.

WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Sudan has once again topped a watchlist ​of global humanitarian crises released ​by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization, as warring sides press ⁠on with a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

It is the third time in a row Sudan has ​headed the list, which was published on Tuesday. ‍It highlights the 20 countries ​most at risk of new or worsened humanitarian emergencies.

By Christine Chen and Tom Bateman

SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Government authorities have not done enough to stamp ​out hatred of Jews in Australia, which has allowed ​it to fester in the aftermath of October 7, said the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded ⁠at the Bondi shootings on Sunday.

Victoria Teplitsky, 53, a retired childcare centre owner, said that the father and son who allegedly went on a 10-minute shooting spree that killed 15 people had been "taught ​to hate," which was a bigger factor in the attack than access to guns.