HELSINKI/VILNIUS, Oct 20 (Reuters) - An investigation into the damage to the Balticonnector gas pipeline is currently focused on the role of the Chinese NewNew Polar Bear container vessel, Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Friday.

Early on Oct. 8, a gas pipeline and a telecoms cable connecting Finland and Estonia were broken, in what Finnish investigators said may have been sabotage, though they have yet to conclude whether it was an accident or a deliberate act.

RIYADH, Oct 20 (APP): The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders on Friday came together to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) on the invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

JERUSALEM (AP) — There’s a saying among us videojournalists: May the news stay far from your home. But on Saturday, Oct. 7, it came terrifyingly close to my hometown.

While I live in Jerusalem, where I work as a cameraman for The Associated Press, I was raised in Ofakim, a city a half-hour drive from the border with Gaza. My mother, parents-in-law and siblings still call it home. I met my wife there.

It was a tight-knit and safe community, made up of some 13,000 working-class Jews of North African descent. Everybody knew everybody.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, inciting wide criticism amid mounting global concern over the escalating crisis there.

The Brazil-drafted proposal, if adopted, would have condemned all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism, and called for protecting all medical, humanitarian personnel, and medical facilities, in accordance with international humanitarian law.

BEIJING, October 20. /TASS/: Russian-Chinese trade turnover is rapidly increasing and this year could reach $215-220 bln, according to Russia’s Minister of Economic Development of Maxim Reshetnikov.

"We will undoubtedly surpass the $200 bln mark this year. Some estimates range from $215 to $220 bln. We'll see closer to the end of the year," he told reporters.

MOSCOW, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday that remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Palestinian militant group Hamas were "unacceptable".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the current moment was a potentially dangerous one, and that the threat to Russian citizens would grow exponentially once Israel started its expected ground operation in Gaza.

OTTAWA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday the Indian government's crackdown on Canadian diplomats was making normal life difficult for millions of people in both countries.

Trudeau spoke a day after Canada said it had withdrawn 41 diplomats following an Indian threat to unilaterally revoke their status. New Delhi is angry that Trudeau last month suggested Indian agents might have been involved in the June murder of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.

LAHORE, Oct 20 (APP): Lawmakers and human rights (HR) activists told the international community on Friday that damning war crimes were enough evidence to impose economic and defence sanctions on Israel for unleashing the reign of terror against innocent Palestinians.

Talking to APP, Special Assistant on Human Rights Mushaal Hussein Mullick said that war crimes and genocide were taking place in the Palestinian territory, regretting that nobody was punishing Israel for its crimes. She said the perpetrators of war crimes should be prosecuted.

NEW YORK (AP) — A limited number of journalists in Gaza are trying to report on the war with Israel while facing the same problems as the besieged Palestinian population there — wondering where to live, where to get food and water, and how to stay safe.

The aftermath of Tuesday’s explosion that killed hundreds at a Gaza City hospital is the latest example of how that reality hinders the world’s ability to get a full picture of what is happening to the Palestinian population In Gaza.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 20 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentine health authorities approved a booster Covid-19 vaccine fully developed in the South American country, it was announced in Buenos Aires. The “ARVAC Cecilia Grierson” drug is said to be effective against the latest versions of the disease for patients over 18 years of age.

20 October 2023; MEMO: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has told Israel that the British  government and leadership “want you to win” in the conflict against the Palestinian resistance, vowing London’s support for Tel Aviv along the way.

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Norma weakened slightly but remained a major storm Friday as it took aim at the twin resorts of Los Cabos at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula in the Pacific.

In the Atlantic, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Tammy had grown into a hurricane, with winds of 75 mph (120 kph). Hurricane warnings were issued for the islands of Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, and St. Kitts and Nevis.