India-China app war, US marine in Philippines jail, Thai royal consort, Pliscova out of US Open, Facebook grilled – top news in pictures today

INDIA CHINA BORDER WAR ON APP: China denounced a fresh ban by India on 118 new Chinese mobile apps - including the hit game PUBG. Internet giant Tencent is among the Chinese makers targeted in the latest Indian ban, which followed a territorial clash along a disputed Himalayan frontier. At least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat during a battle in June. India has hit back by pulling scores of Chinese apps from its massive domestic market, including video-sharing platform TikTok. An Indian Air Force (IAF) Chinook helicopter is seen flying in the Ladakh region, in Leh, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020.

PHILIPPINES DELAYS RELEASE OF US MARINE: US Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton convicted of killing a transgender will stay in detention in the Philippines while a court reviews its earlier ruling to free him halfway into his 10-year jail term, officials said Thursday. US marine has been in prison since the October 2014 killing of Jennifer Laude, whom he met at a bar while on a break from military exercises in the northern city of Olongapo. He has served half of a 10-year sentence for homicide.

INDIA ACCELERATES COVID TESTING: India conducted a record 1.17 million tests in the past 24 hours, the government said in a statement Thursday, taking the total number to more than 45.5 million so far. The increase follows longstanding criticism that India was not testing enough to map the true extent of the outbreak. India is battling the third-largest outbreak in the world as the virus spreads deeper into its rural hinterland. New cases topped 80,000.

SHIP MISSING WITH 43 SAILORS AND 5,800 COWS: Japanese coast guard rescuers searched Thursday for the remaining 42 crew of a ship believed to have sunk in a typhoon, after a lone survivor was found bobbing in a lifejacket. The Gulf Livestock 1, which was carrying a cargo of nearly 6,000 cows, issued a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday. Japan's coast guard dispatched planes and rescue boats to hunt for the ship and late Wednesday found a sole survivor - the ship's 45-year-old Filipino chief officer.

THE KING AND THE ROYAL CONSORT: Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn reinstated his royal consort, after she was stripped of her rank last October for trying to elevate herself to "the same state as the queen". According to a Royal Gazette, the King returned Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi's rank and titles earlier in the day, reports the BBC. She was the first royal consort after almost a century in Thailand, where the term refers to a companion or partner in addition to the king's wife.

KILLED IN POLICE ACTION: A Black man died of suffocation in Rochester, New York, after police officers who were taking him into custody put a hood over his head and then pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, according to video and records released by his family. Daniel Prude, 41, died March 30, seven days after his encounter with the police, after being removed from life support. His death occurred two months before the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis set off protests across the US.

PLISKOVA HUMBLED BY GARCIA: Top seed Karolina Pliskova suffered a shock 6-1 7-6(2) loss to Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in the second round of the U.S. Open. Pliskova, a former world number one, had no answer to the power of Garcia, who sent down 30 winners to the Czech's 13. Garcia raced out of the blocks, opening up a 5-0 lead in the first set and Pliskova was helpless in the face of her unseeded opponent's relentless onslaught.

FACEBOOK INDIA GRILLED: Facebook India top executives were grilled Wednesday by members of a parliamentary committee on information technology over allegations of political bias and a role in spreading hate speech in India. The closed-door hearing followed accusations that Facebook was allowing anti-Muslim hate speech on the platform and that its top policy official in India had shown favouritism toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. The social media giant has denied the allegations. In the photo, Ajit Mohan Managing Director of FaceBook India is seen coming out after his meeting.

RUSSIA REJECTS NAVALNY POISONING CHARGE: The Kremlin rejected accusations that Russia had been responsible for the poisoning of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier that Navalny had been poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to murder him. Navalny is an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was airlifted to Germany last month after collapsing on a domestic Russian flight after drinking a cup of tea that his allies said was poisoned. Alexei Navalny is seen speaking to the media prior to a court session in Moscow, Russia, in this file photo.

DP WORLD, CANADA FUND IN $4.5B INVESTMENT: DP World and Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec have agreed to invest an additional $4.5 billion in their global portfolio of port terminals. The Dubai-based ports operator and Canadian pension fund manager announced the injection of the funds into their existing venture in a statement Thursday

BLAZE REINED IN ON SUPERTANKER OFF SRI LANKA: A fire that broke out on a fully loaded supertanker off the east coast of Sri Lanka has been brought under control, a spokesman for the navy of the Indian Ocean nation said on Thursday. The New Diamond, chartered by Indian Oil Corp, was headed for the Indian port of Paradip, carrying the equivalent of about 2 million barrels of oil.