Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, the principal figure in a galvanised protest movement against the country’s leadership, was detained on Friday ahead of a rally.

Turkey says it would release American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been detained for nearly a year, if the United States extradited Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for last year's failed coup attempt.

 The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a major oil supplier seeking to transform itself into a digital economy, has seen investments into Artificial Intelligence (AI) growing by 70 percent over the past three years, UAE state news agency WAM reported. According to Xinhua, the value is projected to reach 33 billion dirhams (nine billion dollars) by the end of 2017, WAM cited the Ministry of Economy in the Gulf state as saying.

At least 22 people were killed in a stampede on a bridge near a railway station in Mumbai on Friday after heavy rains, officials said.

China on Thursday, ordered North Korean-owned businesses to close, cutting foreign revenue for the isolated North under U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile programs.

King Salman issued a decree Tuesday, allowing women to be given driving licences, the Saudi Press Agency said. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that has forbidden women from driving. Rights groups have campaigned for years to allow women in Saudi Arabia to drive. Some Saudi women have been fined and imprisoned for daring to get behind the wheel.