United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed his "grave concern" over the dangerous escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that President Donald Trump remains optimistic about the prospects of denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula.

Twenty-one Indian-origin persons have been sentenced here to up to 20 years for their role in a massive India-based call centre scam which defrauded thousands of US residents of hundreds of millions of dollars, the Justice Department said.

The sentences which range from 4 years to 20 years were announced earlier this week, the department said in a press release on Friday.

 Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz are unlikely to be transferred to the Sihala Rest House owing to its lack of proper security arrangements needed for the high-profile prisoners, media reports said on Saturday.

Nine of the 17 people who died when a tour boat sank in a Missouri lake in the US on Thursday were from the same family, according to the state's governor.

Governor Michael Parson said that he spoke to the woman who has also accused the boat's captain for putting the lives of the passengers in danger by suggesting "not to put on life jackets", the BBC reported.

The personal collection of US astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon 49 years ago on July 20, will be auctioned by his family.

Containing over 2,000 items, the collection will go on sale in a series of three auctions with the first in November 2018 and other two in May and November 2019, Efe news quoted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

In a move to counter Moscow's influence in Ukraine, the US has announced $200 million in security assistance to Kiev.

The aid will fund additional training, equipment and advisory efforts to build the defensive capacity of Ukraine's forces, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.

A cardiologist who treated former US President George H.W. Bush, has been killed in a bicycle-to-bicycle drive-by shooting near Texas Medical Center in Houston, authorities said.

Mark Hausknecht, 65, was killed on Friday around 9 a.m. It could have been either a random or a targeted incident, the Houston Police Department said as a probe got underway.