Four astronauts blasted off aboard a massive Nasa rocket early yesterday on a long-anticipated journey around the Moon, the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.

A major 7.4-magnitude quake struck off the coast of eastern Indonesia yesterday, killing one person, damaging buildings and sending people running into the streets in panic.

Russian forces repelled a drone attack early yesterday on part of the TurkStream gas pipeline that connects southern Russia and Turkey, the pipeline’s operator Gazprom said in a statement.

Austria has rejected US requests for military overflights of its territory since the start of the conflict in the Middle East in line with its policy of neutrality, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP yesterday.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday fired his attorney general Pam Bondi and designated his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche as her replacement at the head of the Justice Department.

Out of a projected 299 trucks, 178 tankers arrived at Baniyas port refinery

The war, which erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread throughout the Middle East and roiled the global economy, impacting hundreds of millions worldwide.

Pakistan's ascension on the international stage is however causing heartburn in India, which has usually had the higher diplomatic profile of the two rivals.

Oil benchmarks rise after speech, stocks slide

'Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,' says Military

The third reported salvo came shortly after US President Donald Trump delivered an address to the American public about the Middle East war.

Trump gives a 19-minute speech amid high oil prices and low approval ratings.

"Attacking Iran's vital infrastructure -- including energy and industrial facilities -- directly targets the Iranian people," Pezeshkian said in an open letter, published to his website Wednesday.

Says Iran war's core objectives near completion

Trump gave Iran war updates from White House in primetime speech

"I call up France, Macron -- whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw," Trump said.

NASA teams and spectators alike were ecstatic as the spacecraft ascended into a radiant sky atop a cascade of flames.

Waves of 30 centimetres were recorded within 30 minutes of the quake in North Maluku province north of the island of Ternate, Indonesia's BMKG geological agency said in a statement.

Nasa is set to launch four astronauts as soon as 4:24am today on a 10-day flight around the moon, marking the most ambitious US space mission in decades and a major step toward returning humans to the lunar surface before China’s first crewed landing.

A Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed into a cliff in Crimea, killing 29 people on board, due to a possible technical malfunction, Russia’s defence ministry said early yesterday, according to news agencies.