International

The US will help South Korea deploy an advanced missile defence system as soon as possible, officials from the Pentagon have said. They say the shield will help South Korea offset the growing threat posed by North Korea following its…

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket. After an urgent meeting in New York, the council said it would soon adopt a new sanctions resolution in response. Pyongyang said it fired the…

Twitter says it has suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 "for threatening or promoting terrorist acts". In a blog, the US-based firm said the accounts "primarily related to ISIS" (the so-called Islamic State group). "We…

An earthquake has toppled a number of buildings in the south Taiwanese city of Tainan, killing at least one person. Rescue teams are trying to reach people trapped in rubble after the magnitude 6.4 quake struck early on Saturday as people…

Rescuers are searching the rubble of a high-rise residential building in southern Taiwan after an earthquake that killed at least 14 people. Some 30 people are still missing from the 17-storey block, one of several buildings that collapsed…

A blast that punched a large hole in the fuselage of a passenger plane at Somalia's Mogadishu airport on Tuesday was caused by a bomb, officials say. "It was a bomb that exploded in the Daallo Airlines flight. It was meant to kill all…

US prosecutors can proceed with a sexual assault charge against comedian Bill Cosby, a judge has ruled. Mr Cosby is accused of drugging and fondling a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, in 2004. His lawyers had argued in…

The UN has suspended peace talks aimed at ending Syria's five-year civil war, just days after they began. But the organisation's special envoy Staffan de Mistura insisted negotiations had not failed and would resume on 25 February. Each…

None of David Cameron's fellow EU leaders are happy with his reform proposals as they stand, an EU source has told the BBC. The PM has been meeting key European Union figures over the deal aimed at keeping Britain in the EU. He faces two…

Spain has confirmed that a pregnant woman has been diagnosed with the Zika virus - the first such case in Europe. The health ministry said the woman had recently returned from Colombia, where it is believed she was infected. Zika, which…

Republicans and Democrats vying for their party's ticket for November's US presidential election have been arriving in New Hampshire ahead of the next vote. Monday's caucuses in Iowa were won by Senator Ted Cruz for the Republicans and…

A rare case of the Zika virus being transmitted through sex, not a mosquito bite, has been reported in the US. A patient infected in Dallas, Texas, is likely to have been infected by sexual contact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)…

A suicide bomber has killed 20 people at a police headquarters in the Afghan capital Kabul, officials say. At least 29 others were wounded in the blast in the west of the city, the interior ministry said. Some reports suggest most of…

There is no chance that the Rio Olympics will be cancelled because of a Zika virus outbreak, Brazil has said. The authorities said there was no risk to athletes and spectators - except pregnant women - at the August event. Earlier, the…

At least 50 people have died in blasts near the Shia shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, south of Syria's capital Damascus. A bus station and a building housing military headquarters were hit by the blasts, which mangled nearby vehicles. It…