The death toll from the heavy floods in central Vietnam has risen to 13, with 11 others still missing, the government said on Friday.

More people are dying from flu than COVID-19 in Australia in a disturbing turning point for the nation’s health.

A severe cyclone that battered India’s eastern coast this week caused damage estimated at nearly 53 billion rupees ($603 million), as farms, roads and buildings were flooded in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, authorities said on Thursday.

Australia’s first treaty legislation has been passed, marking a historic milestone following a late-night parliamentary debate.

FBI investigations have been slowed or stalled by the second-longest U.S. government shutdown in history, leaving the bureau without funds to pay informants or make undercover drug or gun buys, gaps that an FBI spokesperson said are putting national security at risk.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is delaying flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport due to air traffic control staffing issues as a government shutdown hits its 30th day.

Britain’s King Charles has stripped his younger brother Andrew of his title of prince and forced him out of his Windsor home, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, seeking to distance the royals from him over his links to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Australia remains the largest foreign aid donor in the Pacific as other Western partners including the US, the UK and New Zealand cut funding.

Hurricane Melissa tore through the northern Caribbean and was seen picking up speed as it churned across open ocean towards Bermuda on Thursday, leaving a trail of high winds and destruction from Jamaica to Cuba and Haiti in its wake.

President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military on Thursday to immediately resume testing nuclear weapons after a gap of 33 years, in what appeared to be a message to rival nuclear powers China and Russia.

The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Friday on a resolution stating that genuine autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty “could constitute a most feasible solution” to the 50-year-long conflict.

Palestinian militant group Hamas handed over two bodies it said were of deceased Israeli hostages on Thursday, a day after the tenuous Gaza ceasefire was shaken by a series of deadly Israeli strikes across the enclave.