News Brief: Big stories of the day

Russia's decision toexpel 60 American diplomats and order closer to the US Consulatein St Petersburg marks a further deterioration in bilateral ties, the White House said today.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Papua New Guinea`s New Britain island on Friday, initially triggering a tsunami warning for surrounding coastlines, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that US forces would pull out of Syria "very soon" and lamented what he said was Washington`s waste of $7 trillion in Middle East wars.

At least eight people, including civilians, were killed late Thursday in a suicide car bombing of a security barricade in the east of Libya, the second such attack in less than a month, local security and hospital sources said.

Comedian Siddharth Sagar has been missing for the past four months. The actor,who has appeared in several comedy shows on TV including The Kapil Sharma show,has been untraceable since November 2017, a friend has alleged.