China's capital Beijing has begun offering booster shots against COVID-19, four months before the city and surrounding regions are to host the Winter Olympics.

Anyone 18 or older who have received two-dose Chinese vaccines and belong to at-risk groups, including those participating, organizing or working on games facilities, would be eligible for the additional shot, state media reported Friday.

The Turkish lira has plunged to a record low against the U.S. dollar after a harsher-than-expected cut in interest rates.

The decision by the Central Bank's monetary committee to cut the rate from 18% to 16% surprised analysts. The lira dropped to 9.45 against the dollar, compounding a long run of losses.

A Palestinian held without charge by Israeli authorities is in "extremely dangerous" condition more than three months into a hunger strike to protest his detention, a group representing detainees said Thursday.

Miqdad al-Qawasmi, 24, is the least healthy of six incarcerated Palestinian hunger strikers who are demanding their release from so-called administrative detention, according to Anani Sarahneh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Prisoners Club. The policy allows Israel to hold Palestinians for months or years without charge.

British police have charged a 25-year-old man with the murder of a Conservative lawmaker, alleging that the killing was an act of terrorism by a supporter of the Islamic State group.

Prosecutors said Ali Harbi Ali, a man from London with Somali heritage, had "religious and ideological motivations" when he attacked David Amess last week in the town of Leigh-on-Sea. Prosecutors allege Ali targeted Amess because the lawmaker had voted for air strikes on Syria.

Authorities are investigating after confirming that a prop firearm discharged by actor Alec Baldwin, while producing and starring in a Western movie, killed the cinematographer and wounded the director.

Santa Fe County Sheriff's officials said Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer on the movie "Rust," and director Joel Souza were shot Thursday on the rustic film set in the desert on the southern outskirts of Santa Fe.

Carlos Ghosn, the former auto industry superstar whose career screeched to a halt with his arrest three years ago, isn't about to settle into quiet retirement.

The former head of the Nissan-Renault alliance fled to Lebanon in late 2019, while out on bail facing financial misconduct charges in Japan. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Ghosn was confident, energized and determined to fight to restore his reputation.

Iran on Thursday awarded a prestigious prize in the study of science and technology to two physicists based in the United States.

Harvard University physics professor Cumrun Vafa received The Mustafa Prize in the field of "All Areas of Science and Technology." Vafa is an Iranian-American.

The United Arab Emirates' crown prince received a rare telephone call from Syrian President Bashar Assad in which they discussed strengthening relations and cooperation, Syria's state media reported Wednesday.

The call between Assad and UAE's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed came as some Arab countries are improving relations with Syria, a decade after the country's civil war began.

The judge leading Lebanon's probe into last year's massive port explosion has renewed his summonses of two former ministers for questioning, a judicial official said.

The decision by Judge Tarek Bitar came despite intense criticism from the country's powerful Hizbullah of the direction of the long-running investigation.

A boast by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that he commands 100,000 fighters came as a surprise to many Lebanese, not least because it was addressed to a domestic audience rather than the group's archenemy Israel.

Experts say the figure, which exceeds the size of Lebanon's army by about 15,000 troops, is an exaggeration. But Nasrallah's brag is likely to further ratchet up anxiety about a return to sectarian fighting in the small country roiled by a series of devastating crises.