The Tel Aviv municipality on Friday evening issued an order to open public shelters following the strike on Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that there was a risk of all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel but added that a diplomatic solution was still viable."We now face the risk of an all-out war. Another full-scale war (could) be devastating for both Israel and Lebanon," Austin said after a meeting with his British and Australian counterparts in London."So let me be clear, Israel and Lebanon can choose a different path, despite the sharp escalation in recent days, a diplomatic solution is still viable," Austin said.Asked about red lines for US support to Israel, Austin said the United States would not change its commitment to help Israel protect itself and its sovereign territory.

At least four people have been reported dead following the sinking of an oil barge operated by a contractor of Venezuela's state-run energy company PDVSA at the country's Lake Maracaibo, according to a report of the accident on Thursday and sources.Another 19 people had been successfully rescued by Thursday morning at the accident site, the report added.Incidents involving barges that carry Venezuelan oil and fuel between domestic ports and to the Caribbean have become frequent. A large fuel oil spill near Tobago from a capsized barge navigating from Venezuela hit several Caribbean nations in March.PDVSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's potential involvement in the BRICS and ASEAN groups of nations was not an alternative to its NATO membership, and instead provided economic cooperation opportunities, broadcaster NTV and others reported on Thursday.Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent months voiced interest in joining BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) groups, both of which include China and Russia. It has also been keen to deepen ties with the ASEAN grouping of Southeast Asian nations.This has stirred U.S. and European fears that Ankara may be straying from its traditionally Western geopolitical orientation despite repeated denials from Ankara.Speaking to Turkish journalists in New York before leaving the UN General Assembly, Erdogan said Turkey, which is also a European Union candidate, could not determine its future based on its stalled EU membership bid and had to deepen its relations with all actors and regions."BRICS and ASEAN are structures that, for us, particularly boast opportunities to improve our economic cooperation," he was cited as saying."Being involved in these structures does not mean abandoning NATO. We do not think that this alliance and cooperation are an alternative to one another."