The top US counterintelligence official on Friday warned that Russia, China and Iran will all try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, with Russia already trying to undercut Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Brazil on Friday hailed figures showing a reduction in July of deforestation that has spooked international investors, though environmentalists warned it was too early to proclaim success.

Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong yesterday said that sanctions imposed by Washington on senior Hong Kong and Chinese officials were “clowning actions” that would not frighten or intimidate Chinese people.

Seated on the last row of the plane, Muhammed Junaid sensed something was amiss when Air India Express flight IX 1344 from Dubai was jerked around by strong winds as it approached the southern Indian city of Kozhikode late on Friday.

As Beirut mourned its dead and grappled with the scale of rebuilding after this week’s massive blast, some Lebanese angered by their government’s response called on foreign states yesterday to topple their leaders and run the country.

Bangladesh has expressed deep condolences over the loss of lives in the plane crash in Kozhikode, India, and conveyed its sympathies to the families of the deceased.

“I am really afraid. I don’t want to fly again,” says 28-year-old Muhammad Shafaf, who was returning home from Dubai on board the Air India Express flight IX 1344 which skidded off the runway amid heavy rains, hurtling down a sharp slope and breaking in two, leaving 18 people dead and scores injured, at Calicut International Airport in the southern Indian city of Kozhikode.

Lebanese protesters have stormed government ministries in Beirut and trashed the offices of the Association of Lebanese Banks as shots were fired in growing protests over this week’s devastating explosion.

A massive search operation using man and machine, is underway to find 50 odd people reported missing after a landslide in Kerala’s Idukki district.

At least 26 people have died after 46 days of heavy rains in South Korea, with the country's longest monsoon in seven years causing more flooding, landslides and evacuations.

A group of independent human rights experts at the United Nations have called on countries to lift -- or at the very least, ease -- sanctions to allow affected nations and communities to access vital supplies during the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

A huge blast has rocked a military base in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu near a stadium, killing at least eight people and injuring 14. The militant group al Shabaab has claimed responsibility.

More than 160,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States, a Reuters tally showed on Friday, as President Donald Trump said he would unilaterally grant financial relief to Americans after talks with congressional Democrats stalled.

Roberto Vargas was heading to buy flour with his children in Caracas on Thursday when he lowered his face mask to wipe sweat from his face, he said. A National Guard officer noticed and ordered him to spend 50 minutes sat on the roadside with several dozen others, the builder recounted.

Lebanon’s president has said its investigation into the biggest blast in Beirut’s history would examine whether it was caused by a bomb or other external interference, as residents sought to rebuild shattered homes and lives.

Sri Lanka’s ruling Rajapaksa brothers secured a two-thirds majority in a parliamentary election that will allow them to rewrite the constitution and increase their power, final results showed yesterday.

A former senior Saudi intelligence official said in a US lawsuit Thursday that the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tried to have him assassinated in 2018, just weeks after dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Turkey.

The envoy leading President Donald Trump’s hardline push on Iran quit on Thursday, months before an election that could reorient US policy.

Even as Pakistan this week drew international attention to the plight of Muslims in Indian Kashmir, Islamabad stayed conspicuously silent about another embattled Muslim community -- China’s Uighur population.

The World Health Organization has warned against “vaccine nationalism,” saying vaccine-hogging richer countries would not be safe coronavirus havens if poor nations remained exposed.