GERMANY: Berlin today agreed on a budget for 2025 and a stimulus package for Europe’s largest economy, ending a squabble that threatened to derail Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition.

Mr Scholz, a Social Democrat, and leaders of the Free Democrats and Greens agreed on the budget after marathon talks, German news agency dpa reported, citing party sources. 

PAKISTAN: A roadside bomb planted on a bridge struck a rickshaw in north-west Pakistan on Friday, killing at least two people and wounding eight others, officials said.

The attack happened in Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police official Sabir Khan said. He said police transported the wounded people to a hospital where two were in critical condition.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

CHINA: A tornado swept through China’s eastern province of Shandong today, killing one person and injuring scores of others, officials said.

The tornado swept through the town, uprooting trees and tearing off store signs, according to videos on state media. Large amounts of debris swirled in the air.

Officials are assessing the extent of the damage, state media said.

IRAN: Iranians voted in a run-off presidential election today between a hard-line former nuclear negotiator and a reformist lawmaker, with both men trying to convince a sceptical public to cast ballots after years of economic woes and mass protests roiling the Islamic Republic.

The race between hardliner Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian,  a heart surgeon and long-time member of parliament, comes after a first round of voting saw the lowest turnout ever for an Iranian election.