Flash floods in northern Iraq killed at least eight people on Friday, Iraqi Kurdish authorities said.
Another three people were missing after heavy rain caused the floods in remote areas south of the city of Erbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, the Kurdish civil defence first responders said.
Flooding and intense storms often hit parts of Iraq during the winter, especially in the north, but are rarely so deadly.
Several people were killed and thousands fled their homes in flash floods in northern Iraqi in 2018.
Large parts of Iraq's infrastructure remain decimated by decades of war and sanctions under former ruler Saddam Hussein, and since the U.S. invasion of 2003 which unleashed civil war.
Despite relative peace since the defeat of IS in 2017, neglect and widespread corruption have prevented meaningful rebuilding, Iraqi officials say, with funds squandered in areas destroyed by fighting.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.
US President-elect Donald Trump said at his sentencing on Friday for his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to an adult movie star that the case has been a "terrible experience."
Wildfires menacing Los Angeles have killed at least 10 people and devoured nearly 10,000 structures, with five fires burning into a third night into Friday as dry desert winds fanning the flames again gathered strength.
An official Palestinian tally of direct deaths in the Israel-Hamas war likely undercounted the number of casualties by 41 per cent through the middle of 2024 as the Gaza Strip's healthcare infrastructure unravelled, according to a study published on Thursday.
Israel confirmed that a hostage found killed in Gaza was Hamza Ziyadne, the son of another hostage, Youssef Ziyadne, found dead alongside him in an underground tunnel near the southern city of Rafah.