SYRIA: The Syrians gave a green light on Thursday for the United Nations to use a key crossing from Turkey to the country’s rebel-held north-west that was closed earlier this week, but it wants to take away UN control over aid deliveries to the region.

Syria’s UN ambassador Bassam Sabbagh said that the government is granting the UN and its agencies “permission” to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing for six months, starting on Thursday.

UNITED STATES: This year was the deadliest six months of mass killings recorded in the US since at least 2006, it was reported on Friday.

From January 1 to June 30, the nation suffered 28 mass killings, all but one of which involved guns, beating the previous record of 27 mass killings, which was only set in the second half of 2022. 

CANADA: Dock workers reached a tentative deal with employers on Thursday after a strike that halted shipments in and out of ports in the country’s west-coast region of British Columbia for nearly two weeks.

The strike by 7,400 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union began on July 1 and shut down more than 30 west-coast ports, including Canada’s largest, the Port of Vancouver.

GERMANY: Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed optimism on Friday that support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been surging in the polls lately will shrink to previous levels again by the time of the next national election in 2025.

Recent polls have shown support for the AfD at about 20 per cent and ahead of Mr Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats.