Islamic State group extremists attacked a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad, killing 30 people, just days after one of the deadliest ever bombings in the country, a security spokesman said on Friday.

Super Typhoon Nepartak lashed Taiwan with powerful winds and torrential rain as it made landfall on Friday, injuring dozens and forcing more than 15,000 to evacuate their homes as the island cancelled hundreds of flights and shut offices and schools.

Caribbean island nations on Wednesday discussed boosting security to ensure terrorists and other criminals do not gain citizenship by posing as investors.

Mourners gathered late Wednesday for a vigil to commemorate a black father of five shot to death by police in Louisiana, hours after federal civil rights investigators said they will probe the incident.

The German parliament is set to pass a new law on Thursday broadening the definition of sex crimes and making it easier to deport foreign nationals who commit them.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday put the brakes on the US pullout from Afghanistan, saying 8,400 troops will remain in the war-ravaged country into next year to tackle the threat from a resurgent Taliban.

Three astronauts blasted off into the early morning sky in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome yesterday, heading towards the International Space Station.

At least six people were killed in a double car bomb attack Wednesday targeting a military base adjoining Aden international airport in southern Yemen, according to a military source who blamed jihadists.

Iraq's interior minister submitted his resignation on Tuesday as authorities sought to contain the fallout from a bombing in Baghdad that killed more than 200 people and triggered widespread anger.