By John Irish

PARIS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The brother and lawyer of ​Iranian human rights activist and Nobel ​Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi said on Tuesday they have no information ⁠on her whereabouts or health, four days after her arrest.

Mohammadi was arrested on Friday after denouncing the suspicious death of lawyer Khosrow ​Alikordi during his memorial ceremony in the northeastern city ‍of Mashhad.

Some pushed cars through the Gaza Strip's flooded streets, while others took to donkey-pulled carts to wade through the floodwaters after fresh winter rains lashed the war-battered Palestinian territory.

The rains have flooded tents and makeshift shelters in Gaza, where most of the buildings have been destroyed or damaged by two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said a two-week-old baby named Muhammad Khalil Abu Al-Khair died because of severe hypothermia caused by extreme cold.

By Mahmoud Hasano

NAYRAB, Syria, Dec 16 (Reuters) - As Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly ​30 years unfolded, a Sydney shopowner was ​captured on camera charging at one of the gunmen and disarming him. Halfway around ⁠the world in Syria, a group of men watching the footage recognised a familiar face.

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.