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A small study found hugs lasting five to 10 seconds are associated with being the most pleasant.

Israel’s military was trying to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza, but Hamas was effectively using Palestinian civilians as human shields, the Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson has said. “Hamas, purposely embeds its military infrastructure within the civilian population creating an almost impossible situation where they are using Palestinian civilians as their human shields while they fire…

Halima Aden, the world’s first hijab-wearing supermodel, meets US fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger in a BBC 100 Women exclusive to talk about why she quit the industry, and how to tackle racism and discrimination in fashion. See the full programme here World Service Global Religion Reporter: Sodaba Haidare Produced and directed by: Joanne Whalley UK…

Hamas is co-operating with international mediators to achieve a ceasefire and calm, a spokesperson for the Islamist militant group which runs Gaza has said. Bassem Naeem told BBC World News: “The key is very simple, to withdraw the security forces from the al-Aqsa compound and to stop ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people from Sheikh Jarrah.”…

World Health Organization (WHO) special envoy on Covid-19, Dr David Nabarro, has called on G7 leaders to take responsibility, “beyond positioning”, and form a worldwide coronavirus response programme. The issue needs to be dealt with as a global challenge, Dr Nabarro told BBC World News, with a adequate finance, vaccines, diagnostics, treatment and political support….

There is excitement in Ghana at becoming the first country to receive coronavirus vaccines through the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative, the One campaign’s executive director for Africa has said. Edwin Ikhuoria told BBC World News the delivery of the vaccine had been long awaited and was welcome news. The Covax programme was set up by World…