Chip giant Qualcomm is reportedly laying off at least 226 employees in the US later this year as part of its business diversification strategy.

As per reports, the upcoming layoffs by Qualcomm on November 12 were announced in a California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice. The layoffs were first reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The layoffs will reportedly affect employees at 16 facilities across San Diego, including the company’s headquarters.

A Qualcomm spokesperson was quoted as saying that their leading technology and product portfolio “has positioned us to execute on our diversification strategy”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned Tuesday's terrorist attack in Bamako, Mali.

"The secretary-general strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Bamako, Mali, on September 17," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN chief, in a statement on Thursday.

The statement said that Guterres extended his sincere condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the transitional government and the people of Mali and wished a speedy recovery to those injured, including one UN guard unit member, news agency reported.

Venezuela has been designated a member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the period of 2024-2026.

Venezuela's designation to the board's Latin American and Caribbean regional group took place during the 68th IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan posted on social media Telegram on Thursday.

"Our Bolivarian Peace Diplomacy proudly assumes this role, with the objective of continuing to promote the use of technologies and nuclear energy in favour of peace and human development," Gil said on Thursday.

The Quad group of India, Australia, Japan and the US may appear to have whittled down the security cooperation part of its remit but increased cooperation in maritime security had picked up pace out of public limelight as has defence cooperation bilaterally and multilaterally between them, the United States said ahead of a meeting of the leaders of the group here in the US on Saturday.

A senior White House official, Mira Rapp-Hooper, who is with the National Security Council, said on Thursday at a news conference to preview the meeting, that the leaders could discuss Bangladesh developments as a "plan to focus on each neighbourhood in the region".

US President Joe Biden is hosting a meeting with foreign leaders for the first time in his hometown Wilmington, which Rapp-Hooper said, reflected how deeply invested the President is in the Quad personally.

Three Palestinian gunmen were killed by the Israeli army on Thursday in the town of Qabatiya, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, said Palestinian sources.

Israeli forces stormed the town and surrounded a house, killing three gunmen inside the house,

Video footage widely circulated on social networks showed Israeli soldiers shooting from a short distance while the three Palestinians were on the roof of the house.

The death toll in explosions targeting pagers and handheld radios across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday has risen to 37, whereas the injuries came at 2,931, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said on Thursday.

Tuesday's pager explosions in Lebanon killed 12 people, with 2,323 others injured, Abiad told a news conference, adding that 226 people injured on Tuesday are still hospitalised.

Meanwhile, the death toll in explosions of wireless communication devices across the country on Wednesday afternoon rose to 25, with injuries up to 608, Abiad said.

A total of 64 hospitals received the injured,news agency reported.

Pulasan, the 14th typhoon of this year, made landfall in China's Zhejiang Province at about 6:50 P.M. on Thursday, according to provincial authorities concerned.

The typhoon, with the maximum wind force near its centre reaching 25 meters per second, struck Daishan County in the coastal city of Zhoushan,news agency reported.

Typhoon Pulasan is expected to enter Hangzhou Bay and make a second landfall along the coastal region between Zhejiang's Pinghu and Shanghai's Pudong area, according to the provincial meteorological observatory. Its intensity is forecast to gradually weaken as it moves inland.

A 3.9 magnitude earthquake struck North Korea's province bordering China on Thursday, which is believed to be a natural one, the South Korean weather agency said.

The quake struck an area seven kilometres northeast of Ryongrim in Jagang Province, at 7:41 p.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The epicentre was at a latitude of 40.54 degrees north and a longitude of 126.75 degrees east, the KMA said.

The quake is believed to have occurred naturally, news agency reported.

Earlier on January 17, 2024, a 2.4 magnitude earthquake hit near a North Korean nuclear test site, according to South Korea's state weather agency, which analysed the quake as having occurred naturally.

The Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), in partnership with the International Labour Organization, discussed developing mutually beneficial business models for the animal husbandry sector, boosting employment opportunities in rural areas.

According to a report from the LNCCI on Thursday, the discussion was held in Laos capital Vientiane on Wednesday and chaired by Vice President of the LNCCI Xaybandith Rasphone, news agency reported.

During the meeting, Xaybandith emphasised the importance of addressing challenges and identifying opportunities across various business types, from large corporations to small manufacturers and enterprises, in both urban and rural areas.

Turkey National Intelligence Organisation "neutralised" a senior member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported on Thursday.

The report, quoting anonymous Turkish security forces, said that Halil Yigit, code-named "Hogir Pirosi," who was a responsible member of the PKK unit in the Gara region, organised attacks against Turkish security forces there, news agency reported.

The man joined the PKK in 2007 in southeastern Türkiye's Sirnak province, where he participated in "terrorist attacks with weapons and improvised explosive devices" in the Silopi district, the report said.