UNITED NATIONS -- In tackling the global challenges posed by COVID-19, the world must not ignore the perils of endemic hatred and division, a senior UN judge told the Security Council on Monday.

Carmel Agius, president of the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, briefed the Council by webcast on the mechanism's caseload developments. (UN-Judge-Coronavirus)

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PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will cut off all inter-Korean communication lines at noon Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday morning.

The relevant field of DPRK side will "completely cut off and shut down the liaison line between the authorities of the north and the south, which has been maintained through the north-south joint liaison office" starting from 12:00 (0300 GMT) on June 9, the report said. (DPRK-Communication-Cut)

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ISLAMABAD -- Three laborers were killed and five others were injured when fire erupted in an oil refinery in Faisalabad district of Pakistan's east Punjab province on Monday night, local media reported.

The factory was housing about 100,000 liters of oil when fire erupted in one of its chambers, ARY news reported, adding that several laborers are still feared to be trapped inside the building. (Pakistan-Oil Refinery-Fire)

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ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases will continue to rise in the country, and a peak will be witnessed by the end of July or beginning of August.

In a televised address on Monday, the prime minister said that there might be difficult times ahead for the country if the people keep on taking COVID-19 as common flu, and do not follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) formed by the government to control the spread of the disease. (Pakistan-COVID-19)

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NEW DELHI -- India's federal health ministry Tuesday morning said that 331 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 9,987 positive cases were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 7,466 and total cases to 266,598.

This is the highest spike both in terms of deaths and fresh cases in the country so far. (India-COVID-19)