International

(BBC) China has summoned a senior US envoy in protest after Washington announced it would sell two warships to Taiwan. Vice-Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang made "solemn representations" with Kaye Lee, the US charge d'affaires, China's…

The US and Russia say world powers will meet in New York on Friday to pass a UN resolution endorsing the Syria peace process. It follows talks in Moscow between US Secretary of State John Kerry, his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and…

(BBC) Shia Muslims are protesting in six northern Nigerian cities against a military crackdown they allege has left hundreds of their members dead. Many businesses have shut in Kaduna, one of the cities worst-affected by the…

(BBC) Los Angeles schools have been closed as an unspecified threat emailed to the school district is being investigated. The threat against the second largest school system in the US led to 640,000 pupils being told to stay away, while…

(BBC) Bill Cosby, accused by more than 40 women of sexual assault, has filed a lawsuit claiming that several of them lied about him for financial gain. Mr Cosby, 78, is seeking unspecified monetary damages and said the women inflicted…

(BBC) The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has described the migrant crisis as a "historic test" for Europe. Defending her policy on migrants at the annual conference of her CDU party, Mrs Merkel said that Germany was standing by its…

(BBC) Nigeria's main Shia Muslim sect says the wife and son of its leader have been killed in clashes with the military in the northern Kaduna state. The clashes came after allegations that members of the sect had attempted to assassinate…

(BBC) US and other diplomats joined a rally in Hungary against a planned statue honouring a pro-Nazi minister who fomented anti-Semitism in the 1930s. The diplomats were with several hundred Hungarians at a candle-lit protest in…

(BBC) President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to take "extremely tough" action against any threat to its forces in Syria. Such targets must be "immediately destroyed", he told defence officials in televised comments. Mr…

(BBC) Convicted terrorists in Australia could be kept in jail after completing their sentences, under new proposals. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said state and territory leaders had agreed to work towards bringing in the laws. Several…

(BBC) A lake in California is being searched by police investigating last week's shootings in San Bernardino, in which 14 people were killed. Divers from the FBI began searching the waters of Seccombe Lake Park, two miles (3km) from the…

(BBC) Venezuelan electoral authorities have confirmed that the opposition has won a key two-thirds majority, enabling it to challenge President Nicolas Maduro. The opposition said it would work to release jailed opposition leaders and…

(BBC) The decision by South Africa President Jacob Zuma to sack the finance minister has been widely criticised. South Africa's currency fell close to a record low against the dollar on Thursday morning as the markets were digesting the…

(BBC) German police have arrested five relatives of South Korean woman who died in an apparent exorcism ritual, prosecutors say. The 41-year-old woman was found dead in a Frankfurt hotel room after being gagged and severely beaten. Chief…

(BBC) "We have an opportunity in this country not to go down the American path." Those were the words of former Australian Prime Minister John Howard before he radically changed Australia's gun laws and - many believe - rid the country of…