From ISIS resurgence to Kim's reappearance: non-coronavirus news you may have missed

Militants stage deadliest attack in Iraq in months and North Korea releases first news of its leader in weeks

Fighters from Iraq's Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitaries advance towards the city of Tal Afar during the battle against ISIS in 2017. Ahmad Al Rubaye / AFP

Joe Biden publicly denies sexual assault claim

US presidential candidate Joe Biden broke a month of silence over an accusation of sexually assaulting a former aide, saying the alleged incident "never happened"

"It is not true. I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened, and it didn't," Mr Biden told the MSNBC channel on Friday .

Former staff member Tara Reade said on a podcast in March that Mr Biden, then a senator, sexually assaulted her in a Capitol Hill corridor in 1993, when she was 29.

"I don't know why after 27 years all of this gets raised," Mr Biden said. "But I'm not going to question her motive. I'm not going to attack her."

But "I have a right to say, look at the facts. Check it out," the former vice president said.

Mr Biden, 77, is the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in the November elections.

Mr Trump, who himself faced more than a dozen accusations of sexual harassment and assault before he became president, came out on the side of Mr Biden on Friday.

"I would just say to Joe Biden: Just go out and fight it. It's, you know, it's one of those things," Mr Trump told a right-wing radio host.

"I've been a total victim of this nonsense false accusations," he said.

Deadly ISIS attacks in Iraq

Ten Iraqi paramilitaries were killed in overnight attacks by ISIS north of Baghdad, security forces said Saturday, the deadliest operation by the extremist group in months.

Iraq declared ISIS defeated in late 2017 but sleeper cells still carry out hit-and-run attacks on security forces in remote areas of the north and west.

The extremist militants attacked members of the Hashed Al Shaabi, a paramilitary force mobilised to fight ISIS, outside a town in Salahaddin province about 180 kilometres north of Baghdad, according to a statement by Iraq's security forces.

"Six fighters were killed. As another unit was dispatched to reinforce them, an explosive device detonated on that convoy and killed three fighters," the statement said.

Another fighter was killed in a separate ISIS attack on nearby unit from the Hashed.

Attacks by ISIS have been more growing frequent and deadly in recent months amid a political deadlock in Baghdad and the withdrawal of the US-led global anti-ISIS coalition from several Iraqi bases.

The US blames hardline Hashed factions for deadly rocket attacks on its troops while the Hashed and allied politicians have demanded US troops leave the country. The coalition is still backing Iraqi troops with air strikes, intelligence and surveillance.

Canada bans assault weapons

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared an immediate ban on the use and sale of assault-style weapons on Friday, less than two weeks after the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history.

The ban includes the AR-15 family of weapons, which have been used in several high-profile mass shootings in the US.

"You don't need an AR-15 to bring down a deer…Effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country,” Mr Trudeau said.

He said assault weapons were designed for one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time.

Twenty-two people were killed in the shooting rampage in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19.

North Korean leader reappears

North Korea's state television on Saturday showed leader Kim Jong-un making his first public appearance after a weeks-long absence that fuelled speculation about his health and possible death.

The footage showed Mr Kim walking, waving to cheering workers and cutting a ribbon at what state media said was the opening of a fertiliser plant on Friday in Sunchon, north of Pyongyang. At one point he sat in front of a sign that described the event as a factory opening ceremony for May 1, 2020.

Mr Kim has not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers' Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported on him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit.

Conjecture about his health grew after he failed to attend celebrations of the birth anniversary of his grandfather Kim Il-sung, the North's founder, on April 15 – the most important day in the country's political calendar. Rumours that he was ill or incapacitated raised speculation about who might take charge of the rogue nuclear state, which severely limits access to information about its activities and leadership.