President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that neither he nor his campaign team had contacts with Russian officials in the run-up to last year's US election, contradicting an explosive report which he blasted as "fake news."

At least 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded Thursday when a bomb ripped through a revered Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan, officials said, after a series of attacks which have shaken optimism over recent improvements in security.

The heir of South Korean giant Samsung was arrested Friday as part of a probe into corruption and influence-peddling that caused President Park Geun-hye to be impeached.

French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron drew a storm of criticism Wednesday after calling France's colonisation of Algeria a "crime against humanity".

Malaysian police investigating the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea's leader reportedly said Thursday they have detained a second woman in connection with the killing.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Venezuela to free jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez "immediately," posting a picture of himself and Vice President Mike Pence with Lopez's wife at the White House.

Prosecutors from 15 countries will meet Thursday and Friday in Brasilia to discuss a massive bribery scandal at Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht which has spread across Latin America.

Soldiers and police surrounded a scandal-hit Buddhist temple on Bangkok's outskirts early Thursday in apparent preparation for a raid to arrest the sect's spiritual leader after Thailand's junta leader invoked special powers to put the site under military control.

An international mediator on Wednesday said Ukraine's warring sides had agreed to withdraw heavy weapons from the volatile frontline by February 20 in line with a tattered peace plan.