Aftershocks rattled the survivors of a devastating Indonesia earthquake that killed nearly 100 people, as officials urgently appealed on Thursday for medicine and doctors to treat the hundreds injured.

US Secretary of State John Kerry held fresh talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Germany on Wednesday but no breakthrough emerged on efforts to halt the fighting in the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo.

A senior Cuban diplomat said on Wednesday that she hopes President-elect Donald Trump will take into account advances in US-Cuban relations and can even improve on them when he takes office.

New Zealand's central bank governor painted a glowing picture of the economy on Thursday just days after Prime Minister John Key resigned, but warned of uncertainties ahead.

Matteo Renzi bowed out as Italian prime minister with a combination of jokes, regrets and a strong hint that he wants to lead his party into an early election battle.

At least 52 people were killed and scores injured when a strong earthquake struck western Indonesia on Wednesday and flattened hundreds of homes and mosques, with officials warning the death toll would likely rise.

Polar bear numbers could drop a third by mid-century, according to the first systematic assessment, released on Wednesday, of how dwindling Arctic sea ice affects the world's largest bear.

British finance minister Philip Hammond on Wednesday flies to South Africa, followed by trips next week to Japan and South Korea, as Britain seeks "stronger global ties" before Brexit.

Complaints over lack of access to medicine in Latin America were brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday, with demands that big drug companies be punished for preventing the sale of generics.