A 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook a remote area of central Ecuador Thursday, causing minor damage and regional blackouts and injuring one person, Reuters reports.

The earthquake struck the South American country about 94 km (58 miles) south of the city of Ambato and at a depth of 112 km (69 miles), according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The quake was felt in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, and in the industrial port city Guayaquil, Reuters reports, and was followed by five smaller aftershocks, according to Ecuador’s geological institute.

The earthquake also caused damage to homes and toppled power lines in the country’s sparsely populated central regions, disrupting electricity in Puertas Negras, Guano and Chunchi, Ecuador’s Risk Management Secretariat said. Landslides hit a road, and one person suffered a broken bone in Babahoyo, the capital of Ecuador’s central Los Ríos province.

Read more: Ecuador’s 2016 Earthquake: See Photos of the Destruction

South America’s ..

A U.S. advisor warned Thursday that there is “lots of evidence” that Syria is preparing chemical weapons as it gears up for an assault on Idlib, the country’s last major rebel-held enclave, Reuters reports.

“I am very sure that we have very, very good grounds to be making these warnings,” said Jim Jeffrey, who was named the State Department’s special adviser on Syria last month. “There is lots of evidence that chemical weapons are being prepared,” Jeffrey told reporters, according to Reuters.

The White House said that the U.S. would respond “swiftly and vigorously” if Syrian forces used chemical weapons in Idlib.

Syrian rebels and civilian refugees fled to Idlib as forces loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad retook other “de-escalation” zones in Aleppo and eastern Ghouta. Now, the northwestern territory is the only remaining holdout, and Syrian forces have been observed preparing for what could be the final assault of the country’s seven-year civil war. Approximately..

Last year, Naomi Osaka commanded the world’s attention when she bested the U.S. Open’s defending champion Angelique Kerber in a stunning upset in the very first round. This year, the 20-year-old upstart has a shot at claiming the title herself as she challenges six-time champion Serena Williams in a historic final on Saturday.

In what Osaka termed her “dream match” against her idol, Saturday’s game pits tennis’ rising star against one of the game’s ultimate greats — if Williams wins she would tie Margaret Court for the overall record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. And while this isn’t the first time two black players have competed for the women’s singles title, it is the first time both of their last names were not Williams.

The two have competed only once before, and it’s the newcomer who holds the upper hand. As Serena herself put it, Osaka is “a really good, talented player. Very dangerous.”

Ahead of Saturday’s face off, here’s what to know about the new kid on the block.

Harr..

(UNITED NATIONS) — Eight European countries are urging Syrian allies Russia and Iran to uphold the cease-fire in Syria’s last major rebel-held province of Idlib and avoid putting at risk the lives of 2 million adults and 1 million children.

In a statement Thursday on the eve of a meeting in Tehran of the presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey, which supports Syria’s opposition, the eight nations warned that a full-scale military offensive in Idlib would have “potentially catastrophic humanitarian consequences for civilians.”

The statement from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom also urges Syria “to exercise restraint.”

The eight nations say that “only a U.N.-led political process can bring a solution to the conflict that respects the freedom and the dignity of all Syrian people.”

(SAPPORO, Japan) — Searchers used dogs, backhoes and shovels to dig through mud and debris Friday looking for survivors beneath the landslides caused by a powerful earthquake in northern Japan that left at least 16 people dead or presumed dead.

The magnitude 6.7 quake early Thursday unleashed scores of landslides that buried homes in avalanches of soil, rock and timber on the country’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido. In Atsuma, a town of 4,600 people, 26 were still unaccounted for.

The landslides ripped through some homes and buried others. Some residents interviewed by national broadcaster NHK described awakening to find their relatives and next-door neighbors gone.

“The entire thing just collapsed,” said one. “It’s unbelievable.”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said nearly half of the nearly 3 million households on the island had their power restored after a day of island-wide blackouts.

“The forecasts are for rain, and that could bring more landslides, so please continue to exe..

In a ruling that could open the door for the first criminal prosecution of the Myanmar military’s ethnic cleansing campaign, the International Criminal Court said Thursday that it has jurisdiction to probe the forced expulsion of Rohingya as a possible crime against humanity.

More than 700,000 people from the stateless Muslim minority were driven from their homes in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state and into neighboring Bangladesh since last August. Survivors described fleeing a military-led frenzy of gang rapes, arson and mass murder.

Thursday’s decision offers the opportunity for chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to examine whether there is sufficient evidence of forced deportations, or other crimes against humanity, to press charges.

“The decision represents a significant moment in the search for accountability for international crimes allegedly committed against the Rohingyas,” says Kingsley Abbott, senior legal adviser at the International Commission of Jurists. “The onus is now o..

After the U.K. named two alleged Russian intelligence agents as the poisoners of Russian ex-double agent Sergei Skripal, Moscow initially shrugged its shoulders. The names of the agents identified by British authorities “do not mean anything to us,” the Foreign Ministry said according to the RIA news agency.

But when Prime Minister Theresa May claimed the attempted killings were almost certainly signed off “at a senior level” of the Russian state, diplomats began engaging in new attempts on social media to ridicule, discredit and sow doubt about Russia’s involvement in the attack.

In one tweet posted Thursday morning, the Russian Embassy in the U.K. contrasted a photo released by British police, of the two alleged GRU agents walking down a U.K. street, with one of investigators in HAZMAT suits. “Men ‘working with the most deadly military grade toxin of high purity,’” read the tweet. “How many differences can you spot?”

Men „working with the most deadly military grade toxin of high p..

The siren song of free pizza is strong. In Russia, in fact, it has turned out to be too strong: due to overwhelming participation, Domino’s Pizza has had to shut down an offer of 100 years of free pizza for customers who got the Domino’s logo as a tattoo.

Vice reports that the Domino’s franchise for Russia offered up the special deal about a week ago, advertising it on the Russian version of Facebook. If a customer got the logo tattooed on their person, they would be eligible for up to 100 free pizzas every year for 100 years, effectively providing for a lifetime supply of cheesy pies, all gratis. (Or, rather, just for the cost of that initial ink.)

But the promotion proved to be so popular, with hundreds of people sharing their fresh tats on social media to prove that they were ready to be walking, talking Domino’s billboards in exchange for their discount slices, that the offer was ended early after just a week. It was intended to run through October.

Local news reports that Domin..

Families are “living in fear” after a week of fighting and indiscriminate shelling in Tripoli, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Libya said Sept. 2. At least 61 died, 159 were wounded, and some 400 inmates escaped a prison as rival militias battled for territory in Libya’s capital city. The violence was a reminder that the chaos unleashed by the removal of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 is far from contained.

Combustible Mix
Since 2014, Libya has been divided in two. A U.N.-backed unity government has kept a fragile hold over Tripoli and much of the west of the country, while a rival government claims the east, including the city of Benghazi. But hundreds of armed groups that rose up against the government during the Arab Spring continue to clash regularly over territory. The fighting in late August and early September was between at least two of these competing militias. Adding to the turmoil, militants from the Islamic State continue to carry out attacks even after losing the..

A crisis is looming in developing economies, or what investors know as emerging markets. An economic crisis in Turkey has pushed inflation to new heights and the value of the lira to new lows. Argentina’s peso is in trouble as President Mauricio Macri reaches to the International Monetary Fund for emergency help. South Africa’s rand, Mexico’s peso and Indonesia’s rupiah are all under pressure. India and Brazil are looking volatile too.

The risk of contagion to other emerging markets is real. In part, that’s thanks to investment vehicles that allow investors to buy debt and equities of multiple countries in a single bundle. In some cases, investors–spooked by weakness in one market–sell shares in all of them to reduce risk.

It might be tempting to blame President Donald Trump for this turmoil. He’s declared trade wars on countries large and small. Looming tariffs on another $200 billion in U.S. and Chinese goods mark the latest use of heavy weapons in an escalating fight between the w..

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un still has faith in President Donald Trump’s commitment to ending their nations’ hostile relations, but he’s frustrated by questions about his willingness to denuclearize and wants his “goodwill measures” to be met in kind, South Korean officials said Thursday.

The trove of comments from Kim, including his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and to the suspension of all future long-range missile tests, were relayed by top South Korean security officials returning from meeting him in Pyongyang as well as the North’s propaganda specialists.Even in their indirect form, each statement will be parsed for clues about Kim’s mindset as North Korea and the U.S. move forward with efforts to resolve a nuclear standoff that just a year ago many feared could lead to war. Some of his reported comments were reiterations of past stances, but there will be sharp interest in whether they push negotiators back to diplomacy after recriminati..

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula amid a growing standoff with the United States, his state-controlled media reported Thursday after a South Korean delegation met him to set up an inter-Korean summit.

The statement from the Korean Central News Agency wasn’t new information — Kim has repeatedly declared similar intentions before — but allows hopes to rise that diplomacy can get back on track after the recriminations that followed Kim’s meeting in June with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. The impasse between North Korea and the United States, with neither side seemingly willing to make any substantive move, has generated widespread skepticism over Trump’s claims that Kim is intent on dismantling his nuclear weapons program.

The South Korean envoys who met Kim on Wednesday finalized the dates for a summit later this month between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the driving force behin..

(SEOUL, South Korea) — Seoul says the leaders of the two Koreas will meet Sept. 18-20 in Pyongyang to discuss how to achieve the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Senior presidential official Chung Eui-yong told reporters Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also reaffirmed his “firm resolve” to realize denuclearization when he met him in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

Chung’s trip came amid deadlocked diplomacy over North Korea’s nuclear program. North Korea has taken several steps such as dismantling its nuclear testing site this year, but the U.S. wants it to take more serious disarmament measures.

Chung says Kim’s summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in will focus on what specific steps must be taken to realize the denuclearization.

He says the Koreas will hold talks next week to prepare for the summit.

The Japanese government has recognized for the first time that a worker at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has died as a result of radiation exposure. The power plant suffered a severe meltdown during the devastating Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

The man, who was in his 50s, died of lung cancer as a result of being exposed to radiation, Japanese national broadcaster NHK reports. He had been measuring radiation levels at the plant in the immediate aftermath of the meltdown. It is not known when he died.

On Friday, Japan’s health ministry said the man, who continued working at the plant until 2015, would be eligible for workers’ compensation, according to NHK.

The ministry said he had been exposed to about 195 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation. The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends avoiding more than 1-20 mSv per year, and according to Reuters, exposure to 100 mSv a year is “the lowest level at which any increase in cancer risk is clearly..

Welcome to The Breakdown, where each week, Neha Joy brings the chyron to the water cooler with quick dives into the essential corners of the 24-hour news cycle. Featuring conversations with writers and editors from TIME, Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated, here is everything you need to know to stay on top of the national conversation.

This week on “The Breakdown” episode 19: TIME looks at how big tech is addressing the global war against misinformation, MONEY re-evaluates the 40-hour work week, Sports Illustrated asks, will Serena Williams or Madison Keys continue American women’s dominance at the U.S. Open? and Fortune senior writer, Robert Hackett, discusses the new frontier in disinformation campaigns: deep fakes.

China’s Communist Party has snuffed out rumors President Xi Jinping will attend a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, which satellite images show could be the largest celebrations of their kind since North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011.

Speculation had been rife that Xi would travel to Pyongyang to observe the annual Foundation Day celebrations on Sept. 9, but analysts told the Associated Press that Beijing’s decision to send a Li Zhanshu, the party’s third-ranking official, reflects Beijing sentiments over the lack of progress Pyongyang has made toward denuclearization.

Photographs published by Pyongyang-monitoring site 38 North show a larger build-up of shelters near the parade training ground than ever observed under Kim. In a blog post accompanying the images, analyst Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. writes that while the high number of shelters is not a definitive measure of its eventual size, it “suggests that Sunday’s parade will lik..