MEXICO CITY (AP) — The brazen assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio at a crowded political rally Wednesday night deepened the country’s sense of vulnerability to the crime that’s spread across the country in recent years.

BEIJING, August 11. /TASS/: The US’ actions against China demonstrate that this country is the largest source of instability in the world, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a meeting with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

TEHRAN, August 11. /TASS/: Pretoria fully supports Iran’s accession to the BRICS, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

"South Africa is interested in Iran being accepted as a friendly country by the BRICS," Ramaphosa said as quoted by Mehr News.

The President of South Africa also expressed hope that during the official visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to the African country, a number of documents on cooperation between the two countries would be signed.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A rocket carrying a lunar landing craft blasted off Friday on Russia’s first moon mission in nearly 50 years, racing to land on Earth’s satellite ahead of an Indian spacecraft.

The launch from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in the Far East of the Luna-25 craft to the moon is Russia’s first since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union.

11 August 2023; AA: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday struck down a law concerning court judgements, terming it unconstitutional.

The decision on the Supreme Court (Review of Judgements and Orders) Act 2023 was reserved by a three-member bench on June 19. The law provided a right to appeal under Article 184(3), which gives the court power to assume jurisdiction over any “question of public importance.”

BEIJING, Aug 11 (Reuters) - China's coast guard held joint drills with its counterparts from Russia and South Korea from Aug. 7 to 10, according to an official statement from the China side.

Maritime law enforcement from countries including Russia and South Korea took part in the annual North Pacific coast guard drills in eastern Chinese city Ningbo, the Chinese coast guard said in the statement on Friday. The drills targeted drug trafficking at sea.

10 August 2023; MEMO: Iraq's Prime Minister, on Thursday, inaugurated a hospital that was built by a Turkish construction company in the south-eastern Maysan province, Anadolu Agency reports.

Premier Mohammed Shia Al-Sudan participated in the opening of Al-Hekim Training and Research Hospital, which was constructed by the Turkish company, Universal Acarsan, and has a capacity of 600 beds.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired missiles at western Ukraine that killed an 8-year-old boy, local officials said, and drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted Moscow for a third straight day but reportedly didn’t cause significant damage.

Also Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the firing of all the heads of regional conscription centers, part of his crackdown on corruption since the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine more than 17 months ago.

10 August 2023; MEMO: The US and Iraq have reiterated their commitment to strengthening dialogue,security and military cooperation, Anadolu Agency reports.

The move came in a statement, released on Wednesday, at the conclusion of a two-day US-Iraq security cooperation dialogue in Washington between US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, and Iraqi Defence Minister, Thabit Muhammad Al-Abassi.

10 August 2023; MEMO: Russia's embassy in Cyprus is extending its Consulate to the Turkish-controlled north of the island in an effort to serve Russian citizens in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

According to the Russian news agency, TASS, an anonymous source from the Russian diplomatic mission in Cyprus stated that "We will begin providing Consular services in the northern part of the city of Nicosia in the near future. We will be working on a regular basis."

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California judge accused of killing his wife texted his court clerk and bailiff afterward to say he had shot her, prosecutors said Friday as they charged him with murder and sought new bail conditions.

A court filing from prosecutors says Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson texted: “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.”

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s plan to house asylum seekers on a barge moored off the south coast of England ran into another hurdle on Friday as authorities were forced to evacuate the first residents after legionella bacteria was found in the water system.

The move came just days after the first men were moved onto the Bibby Stockholm, a floating hostel that can accommodate up to 500 people, as part of a government effort to cut the cost of sheltering the growing number of people applying for asylum in Britain.