PAKISTAN: A Pakistani security raid on a militant hideout in the insurgency-hit south western Balochistan province this week left seven insurgents dead, the military said on Friday.

The raid on Wednesday in the remote Sherani district came a day after a powerful car bomb outside the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary security forces in Quetta, the Balochistan capital, killed at least 10 people and wounded 30.

SOMALIA: The United Nations food agency announced on Friday that it is cutting food assistance for hundreds of thousands of people in Somalia, where millions are facing devastating effects of climate change and acute levels of hunger.

The World Food Programme said the number of people receiving emergency food assistance in the country will decrease from 1.1 million in August to 350,000 in November due to “critical funding shortfalls.”

UNITED STATES: The Trump administration is cancelling $7.6 billion (£5.6bn) in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.

The Energy Department said in a statement on Thursday that 223 projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable. 

TURKEY: An imprisoned Turkish journalist appeared in court on Friday to defend himself against accusations that he threatened President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Fatih Altayl was detained at his home in June, and charged with issuing and publicly disseminating a threat against the president. He faces a minimum five-year prison sentence. Mr Altayli strongly denies the accusation.