Briefly

ALGERIA

Voters cast ballots to elect president

Algerians headed to polls on Saturday to elect their next president, with more than 23 million citizens eligible to cast ballots. Voting began early in the day, with polling stations nationwide opening at 8 am. Mobile polling stations have been in operation since Wednesday to facilitate voting in remote areas, while overseas voting commenced on Monday. The race involves three candidates: President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 78, seeking a second term as an independent candidate with broad support; Abdelaali Hassani Cherif, 57, head of the Movement of Society for Peace; and Youcef Aouchiche, 41, secretary-general of the left-wing Socialist Forces Front.

UNITED STATES

Beleaguered Starliner returns to Earth empty

Boeing's first astronaut mission ended on Friday with an empty capsule landing and two test pilots still in space, left behind until next year because NASA judged their return too risky. Six hours after departing the International Space Station, Starliner parachuted into New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range, descending on autopilot through the desert darkness. It was an uneventful close to a drama that began with the June launch of Boeing's long-delayed crew debut and quickly escalated into a dragged-out cliff-hanger of a mission stricken by thruster failures and helium leaks. For months, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' return was in question as engineers struggled to understand the capsule's problems.

VIETNAM

Typhoon kills 14 as heavy rain warned

At least 14 people have died and 176 others injured in Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi slammed the country's north, state media said on Sunday, as officials warned of heavy downpours despite its waning power. Described by Vietnamese officials as one of the most powerful typhoons to hit the region over the past decade, Yagi left more than 3 million people without electricity in northern Vietnam. Hundreds of flights were canceled after four airports were closed. While Vietnam's weather agency downgraded the storm to a tropical depression on Sunday, several areas of the port city of Hai Phong were under half a meter of floodwaters.

Agencies - Xinhua