Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents conducted raid at US President Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor (NSA) John Bolton's home on Friday in a high-profile security investigation, which coincides with his severe criticism of Washington's decisions to impose heavy tariffs on India for importing Russian oil.

As many as 12 people lost their lives and four others sustained injuries as a tractor slid into a river in the southern Afghanistan Helmand province on Friday, provincial Director for Information and Culture, Hafiz Abdul Bari Rashid said

At least 24 commuters were injured as a passenger bus collided with a truck in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan province on Thursday night, provincial police spokesman Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Burhani said Friday.

The mishap took place on a road linking the capital city of Kabul to the northern Mazar-i-Sharif city, leaving 24 travellers injured, some in critical condition, the official added, saying all the injured had been shifted to a hospital in the provincial capital, Pul-e-Khumri city, News Agency reported.

This is the second incident of its kind over the past couple of days. A previous accident occurred in the western city of Herat on Tuesday night, which killed 79 people.

The government here on Friday unveiled a plan to allocate a record-breaking 35.3 trillion won ($25.1 billion) for research and development (R&D) projects in 2026 in a move to enhance productivity and develop new growth engines.

The decision was reached at a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology chaired by President Lee Jae Myung, with details set to be submitted to the National Assembly in the near future.

The amount, the highest of its kind, marks a 19.3 percent spike from this year's 29.6 trillion-won R&D budget, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT, reports news agency.

Of the total, 2.3 trillion won will be spent on pursing "transformation of the economy and society through artificial intelligence (AI) technology," which is more than double from 2025.

Afghan counter-narcotics police have thwarted two major drug trafficking attempts and arrested three suspected smugglers in northern Takhar and southern Zabul provinces, the Ministry of Interior Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Wednesday relations with Japan are "very important" with many opportunities for mutual cooperation.

Kim made the remarks during a meeting with Japanese delegates visiting Seoul to attend the Korea-Japan Forum, as President Lee Jae Myung was set to visit Tokyo later this week for summit talks with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, News Agency reported.

"With the launch of the new administration, South Korea and Japan are moving forward on a future-oriented path," Kim said. "The two countries have a very important relationship with many areas of mutual cooperation, and the president's decision to visit Japan was made in that context."

The Japanese delegates expressed Tokyo's commitment to continue efforts in building "a more mature, robust and future-oriented" bilateral relationship.

Millions of residents of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) were on Wednesday told to prepare for possible flooding as a severe wet weather system hit the country's east coast.

Authorities in NSW on Wednesday issued heavy rainfall warnings for communities along almost 1,000 km of the state's coastline, including Sydney.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said that the significant rain event driven by three separate weather systems was expected to bring isolated rainfall totals of up to 75 millimetres on Wednesday night, followed by up to 120 millimetres on Thursday and another 60 millimetres on Friday.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, NSW State Emergency Service Deputy Commissioner Debbie Platz said that some communities that have been hit by heavy rainfall in recent months could experience flooding overnight.

At least 11 people were killed and 10 were injured in Pakistan's Karachi as heavy downpours flooded major roads, submerged underpasses, and paralysed daily life in the country, according to local media reports.

According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Inam Haider Malik, the torrential rainfall is likely to continue until Saturday, and another spell is to start by the end of the month.

In Karachi, eleven people lost their lives in rain-triggered incidents, including electrocution and the collapse of concrete structures, reports.

As the city's outdated sewerage and drainage system collapsed in the deluge, daily commuters were left stranded in rising floodwaters during peak hours, while power outages plunged multiple neighbourhoods into darkness, reports.

Afghan police have uncovered a quantity of weapons and ammunition during two separate operations in eastern Ghazni and southern Uruzgan provinces, the Ministry of Interior Affairs announced on Wednesday.

The contraband included 16 pieces of heavy and light arms, such as PK machine guns, M16 rifles, Kalashnikovs, assault rifles, and rocket launchers, discovered in Tirin Kot city, the capital of Uruzgan, and Jaghouri and Qara Bagh districts of Ghazni, the ministry said, News Agency reported.

Additionally, authorities confiscated a substantial amount of ammunition and military equipment, including communication devices, explosives, and a large quantity of cartridges and bullets during the operations, it added.

The operations are part of the Afghan interim government's ongoing efforts to stabilise security across the war-torn country, having recovered thousands of arms and vast quantities of ammunition over the past four years.

A man has died after being shot in the chest in Australia's Sydney.

Emergency services were called to reports of a shooting on a street in Winston Hills, 23 km northwest of central Sydney, at around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, News Agency reported.

A police statement on Wednesday said that officers arrived and were told that a 22-year-old man had been shot in the chest while in a car.

He was treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics before being taken to the hospital, where he later died.