The number of people killed in the powerful earthquake that struck the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan climbed to 18 while 24 people remain missing, the government said on Friday.

Brazil's front-running far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed during a rally while campaigning for next month's election.

An Indian-origin "serial prank caller" in Singapore who repeatedly made nuisance calls to the police, despite being jailed for the same offence previously, was jailed for three years on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump has once again threatened to shut down the federal government over border security this time.

"If it happens it happens. If it's about border security, I'm willing to do anything," Trump told the media at the White House on Wednesday.

As many as 100 passengers and crew reported feeling ill on Wednesday during an Emirates flight from Dubai to New York, and health workers were evaluating them as the airplane sat on the tarmac of JFK International Airport, authorities said. About 100 people complained of feeling sick on Emirates Flight 203, which landed with at least 521 passengers shortly after 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement. Their symptoms included cough and fever.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on Wednesday appeared before the US Congress, admitting to the lawmakers that they were "too slow to act" and "ill-prepared" to tackle foreign interference on their platforms.

Poonam Khetrapal Singh on Wednesday was elected as Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia for a second five-year term, World Health Organisation said.

An Emirates airline flight from Dubai was quarantined at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday morning after passengers became ill during the flight, the airline and New York news media said.