Rescuers in Nepal pulled two workers alive from an underground tunnel at a hydropower plant Friday, raising hopes of reaching dozens of others believed to be trapped nine days after deadly floods swept away villages and submerged the Himalayan region in mud and debris.

Search teams first heard voices from inside the tunnel in the morning, allowing them to locate the two men, Nepalese lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane said. Images showed a rescuer carrying one of the workers, covered in mud, on his back, while soldiers on either side helped.

The Sultan of Oman will visit Britain for a three-day state visit next month as the Arab nation that controls the southern shore of the Strait of Hormuz comes under pressure from both the U.S. and Iran.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla will host Sultan Haitham bin Tarik at Windsor Castle from Oct. 20 to Oct. 22, Buckingham Palace said in a statement Thursday. Details of the visit were not released.

Confronted by an intransigent Iranian government that has refused to back down in the face of a massive military campaign, President Donald Trump appears to have settled on a dual-prong approach that combines economic pressure with the potential of a devastating escalation in force.

Having launched "Operation Economic Outcast" just last week to try to isolate Iran from its remaining global trade partners, the Trump administration also resumed strikes in recent days, prompting Iranian retaliation that has renewed concerns of an all-out regional war.

Malaysia declared an emergency Friday in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo Island after air pollution breached the country's emergency-level threshold linked to fires in neighboring Indonesia.

The Air Pollutant Index in Serian, a small agricultural town of just under 90,000 near the border of Indonesia's Kalimantan province, surged to 521 on Friday, according to Malaysia's environment department. Sarawak's much-larger capital, Kuching, also showed a hazardous reading of 311.

France recorded its hottest summer since measurements began more than a century ago, the environment minister said on Thursday.

Firefighters relentlessly tackled wildfires throughout the summer, even in normally cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany, as France experienced one of its driest years ever. A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux and forced a quarter of a million people to evacuate from their homes.

Ten research teams were honored Thursday at a satirical science awards ceremony that was hosted outside the U.S. for the first time due to travel concerns.

Researchers who studied milk from cockroaches and analyzed soil health using underwear received Ig Nobel prizes celebrating unusual and imaginative contributions to science.

Russian attacks overnight killed at least three people in Ukraine, local officials said Friday, after President Volodymyr Zelensky said U.S. envoys are expected to visit Kyiv within the coming days as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as the conflict stretches into its fifth year following Moscow's invasion of its neighbor. Russian forces have relentlessly struck civilian areas.

Diesel hit a new record price in the U.S. on Friday, soaring to an average of $5.85 a gallon for the first time ever as the six-month war with Iran disrupts the world's flow of fuel.

Because diesel is used for many freight and delivery networks, higher diesel prices mean higher transportation costs for a long list of everyday goods.

President Joseph Aoun thanked the "United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump" in a statement Friday after the Red Cross transferred to Lebanon four more people detained by Israel, a day after a first person was freed.

Aoun in a statement expressed his gratitude "for all the efforts exerted, particularly by the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump, and by international bodies, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross".

Four prisoners from Lebanon held in Israel were released and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross Friday as part of a deal between the two countries. In return, Lebanon agreed to search for the bodies of Jewish Lebanese citizens who went missing during the country's civil war decades ago.

Dozens of Lebanese prisoners are believed to be held in Israeli detention centers, including civilians as well as Hezbollah militants captured during fighting in southern Lebanon. A total of five detainees are being released under the current deal, all civilians.