North Korea on Monday threatened to take "physical action" to counter a sophisticated US anti-missile system planned to be deployed in the South.

The UN Security Council pressed South Sudan's neighbors on Sunday to help end renewed fighting in the capital, asking for additional peacekeepers.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has claimed victory in weekend elections, giving a boost to his long-cherished desire to water down the country's pacifist constitution.

The UN's cultural agency met on Sunday in Istanbul to consider adding over two dozen new sites to its prestigious global heritage list, and called for a strong global response to the threats posed by extremism.

A fifth police officer died during a shootout with snipers during a protest against police shootings of black men that also wounded six other officers and a civilian, authorities said.

NATO leaders meet on Friday for a landmark summit in Warsaw to send an uncompromising message to a resurgent Russia while trying to contain the fallout from Britain's dramatic vote to quit the European Union.

The United States on Thursday urged respect for a decision on territorial disputes in the South China Sea (called East Sea by Việt Nam) set to be handed down by an international arbitration court next week.

The US and South Korea announced on Friday that they had reached an agreement to deploy an advanced missile defence system in the South in the face of growing threats from the North.

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.