Leading the Friday prayers from Tehran's Grand Mosalla Mosque, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed Iran's attack on Israel earlier this week, calling it "completely legal and legitimate work".

Khamenei delivered a part of his sermon in Arabic as a message for the entire Islamic world, "especially Lebanon and Palestine", as thousands gathered at the venue to hear him and also attend the commemoration ceremony of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in Israeli Air Force's strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, last week.

"The brilliant work of our armed forces two or three nights ago was completely legal and legitimate work," the Iranian Supreme Leader told the huge gathering which also included the country's President, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned German and Austrian ambassadors over their countries' summoning of Iranian envoys to protest Tehran's missile attack against Israel, reported their official news agency IRNA.

During talks with the envoys, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, director for Western European nations at Iran's Foreign Ministry, said that Iran was completely determined to defend its security and that Iran's military action against Israel was taken in line with the principle of legitimate defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, news agency reported.

Condemning certain European countries' positions in support of Israel, he said that "we would not have witnessed such disasters (in West Asia)" if the European sides had stopped Israel's "massacre machine and genocide" by taking effective and practical actions, including ceasing their financial and arms supports in a timely manner.

More than 5 million people in 16 countries in Africa have been impacted by floods so far this year.

In Africa, floods have reached catastrophic levels, with Chad, Niger and Nigeria among the hardest hit countries accounting for more than 80 per cent of people affected, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday.

More than 1,000 people have been killed, and at least 740,000 people have been displaced, the office said. In addition, hundreds of thousands of homes, more than 100 schools, and dozens of health facilities have been damaged. Nearly 500,000 acres of farmland have been affected, news agency reported.

OCHA said that without sufficient support, the floods threaten to hinder the reopening of schools, with the new school year set to begin this month. The floods could also aggravate existing food insecurity, particularly in Chad and Niger.

The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on different areas in Lebanon over the past 24 hours reached 37 while injuries stood at 151, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

The ministry said that nine people were killed and 24 others injured in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, news agency reported.

It added that two people were killed and 15 others injured in Mount Lebanon, while nine people were injured in the Baalbek Hermel governorate.

The ministry's report noted that two people were killed and 14 others wounded in the Bekaa region, while 19 were killed and 52 injured in the Nabatieh governorate.

It added that five people were killed and 37 injured in the South governorate.

Hezbollah said in a statement that the group killed 17 Israeli soldiers in border confrontations over the day.

Lebanese military sources and Hezbollah sources told that after clashes lasting for about 10 hours, Hezbollah combat groups were able to stop the Israeli advance towards the southeastern villages of Adaisseh and Kafr Kila.

"The intensity of the clashes between the two parties decreased after the Israeli force withdrew behind the borderline and were limited to exchanging rockets and artillery fire," said the sources.

Lebanese military sources said violent clashes broke out Thursday afternoon between Hezbollah and an Israeli force that entered the villages of Adaisseh and Kafr Kila, news agency reported.

Death toll exceeded 200 in hurricane-stricken southeastern US states, according to reports.

At least 204 people are known to have died across six states as a result of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene since it made landfall in Florida a week ago, as per NBC News, adding that hundreds are still missing and nearly a million customers remain without power, news agency reported.

Helene has become the deadliest hurricane to strike the US mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

More than half of the fatalities were confirmed in storm-ravaged North Carolina, with at least 98 deaths. In particular, Buncombe County, which is located in western North Carolina, reported 61 deaths.

Leader of Yemen's Houthi group, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, claimed that the group has targeted 188 vessels across the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean since last November.

In a televised speech aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Thursday, al-Houthi alleged that the attacks were launched in a military campaign to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

He also claimed success in air defence operations with the group's downing of 11 US drones so far, this year.

Meanwhile, the Houthi leader noted that US and Israeli forces have escalated military actions against Yemen, conducting 39 airstrikes this week, news agency reported.

When pointing to Israel's Sunday attack on Yemen's western port city of Hodeidah, which resulted in six deaths and scores of injuries, al-Houthi stressed that such attacks would not impede Houthi military operations.

A female body found off the coast of Japan has been identified as that of 14-year-old Hanon Kiso, who went missing during recent torrential rains in Ishikawa prefecture.

Kiso, a junior high school student from Wajima City in the prefecture, had been missing since the record-breaking rainfall on September 21, when her home was swept away by a mudflow amid the rain, the Japan Coast Guard said Thursday.

The body was found on Monday off the coast of the neighbouring Fukui prefecture on the Sea of Japan and was identified through DNA analysis, news agency reported.

The Lao government and international partners have joined forces to combat rabies in Laos, with a focus on eliminating the deadly disease by 2030.

Laos is seeking to adopt innovative tools, technologies and stronger surveillance systems to overcome challenges in rabies prevention and control, Lao News Agency reported.

Lao authorities urged stakeholders to work together to improve public knowledge and perceptions of rabies, news agency reported quoting Lao News Agency.

Authorities outlined a strategic plan to reduce rabies cases to zero by 2030 through three key goals, improving prevention and response efforts using vaccines and a multisectoral approach, generating reliable data to guide decision-making, and maintaining sustained commitment and resources to ensure progress.

At least 87 people have been reportedly killed after a ferry sank on Lake Kivu in the eastern Congo.

The ferry, coming from the town of Minova in the South Kivu province, capsized on Thursday near the port of Kituku, on the outskirts of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province.

In a report addressed to the Central government in Kinshasa, the provincial government also spoke of 78 people still missing. The 87 bodies recovered were transported to the morgue of the general hospital in Goma and nine other survivors were taken to hospital, news agency reported.

The number of passengers aboard the boat remains unknown.