News brief: Big stories of the day
Gaza violence
Read the five big stories of the day
After Supreme Court's 'surveillance state' remark, Centre says it is not setting up social media hub
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday that it was dropping its plan to set up a social media hub, which critics had alleged could be used to snoop on people's social media accounts.
A suicide bomb attack near a Shi’ite mosque killed at least 20 people during Friday prayers in eastern Afghanistan, police and health officials said.
Twelve schools, half of them all-girls', have been burnt down by unidentified militants in coordinated attacks in Pakistan's restive Gilgit-Baltistan, triggering protest by local residents who sought safety for educational institutions which are often attacked by terrorists, officials said today.
The leadership of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is to convene Friday for a rare meeting, officials said, amid speculation of a long-term truce between the Gaza Strip's rulers and Israel.
China is willing to resolve differences with the United States on an equal footing, the Chinese government's top diplomat said on Friday after meeting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, but added they did not address their trade war too specifically.