Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris will meet in their first and perhaps only debate on Tuesday, a clash that could prove pivotal in their pitched battle for the White House.

The United States and China held theatre-level commander talks for the first time yesterday, Chinese authorities said, amid efforts to stabilise military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hot spots such as the South China Sea.

India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi yesterday said he did not view this year’s two-month general elections as a free exercise, but rather as one structured to deliver an advantage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without citing evidence.

Severe floods are expected to inundate parts of Vietnam’s north, including the capital Hanoi, government officials said, as the aftermath of typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit Asia so far this year, continues to extract a deadly toll.

Pakistani police arrested several lawmakers and leaders of ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s party in midnight raids a day after it held a major rally in the capital to demand his release, the party and police said yesterday.

Israeli strikes tore a huge crater, set tents ablaze and buried Palestinian families alive under sand in a supposedly safe zone of southern Gaza before dawn yesterday, killing or wounding scores of people, according to Palestinian officials.

India’s strife-torn northeastern state of Manipur ordered an internet blackout yesterday, after imposing a curfew following days of deadly ethnic violence and clashes between protesters and police.

Russia has received ballistic missiles from Iran and will likely use them in Ukraine within weeks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday, warning that cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatens wider European security.

About 60 countries including the United States endorsed a “blueprint for action” to govern responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military yesterday, but China was among those which did not support the legally non-binding document.

Australia yesterday said it planned to introduce legislation this year to ban children from using social media platforms, citing the risks it could pose to physical and mental health.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday warned the United States against trying to outgun Moscow in Asia as Russian and Chinese warships held joint drills as part of the biggest Russian naval exercises since the Soviet era.

In late 2023, the first specimens of Pinctada radiata, a pearl oyster native to the Red Sea, were spotted in the Gulf of Poets, a popular tourist area around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Genoa on Italy's north-western coast.

Schengen's rules allow this "as a last resort" to avert serious threats to internal security or public policy.

Marshall, chief investment officer of the $66.6 billion global hedge fund Marshall Wace, will add the magazine, bought by his Old Queen Street Media vehicle, to his existing right-wing media outlets.

Nguyen Vu Binh, a political activist who wrote about corruption, land rights and the environment, was accused of producing propaganda against the state.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in 2021, sparking armed uprisings across the country.

Israel, which has been at war with Palestinian fighters in Gaza since Hamas's October 7 attack, is also engaged in near-daily clashes with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement on its northern border with Lebanon.

The crew, led by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Iscaacman, is also aiming to fly deeper into space than any other manned mission in more than half a century, reaching a peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers).

The verdict was slightly more lenient than the three years in prison -- half suspended -- requested by the prosecutor in the appeals case in May.

US Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin has expressed his support for Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and urged US President Joe Biden to support him as well.