Former AC Milan and Real Madrid striker Robinho was sentenced to nine years in prison in Italy on Thursday after he was convicted of gang rape, according to local media reports.

Leaders from the EU and six former Soviet states meet in Brussels on Friday for the latest summit aimed at deepening ties, but thorny subjects like Russian influence and the war in Ukraine are off the agenda.

Canadian officials held crisis talks Thursday as new figures showed that most border jumpers who flooded into the country from the United States this year were granted asylum.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most violent region in the world for women, the United Nations said Wednesday, highlighting Central America and Mexico as particularly dangerous.

About 1,100 migrants from the Libyan coast were rescued from the sea on Wednesday, including a woman who gave birth in a rubber boat, the Italian coastguard and monitors said.

Cuba, one of North Korea's few allies, called on Wednesday for "peace and stability" in the Korean peninsula and stressed the need for dialogue to reduce tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.

Palestinian factions said on Wednesday they agreed on the need to hold elections by the end of 2018 and praised the unity deal aimed at ending a long-running dispute between Fatah and Hamas.

After vetoing the renewal of a UN-led probe into chemical attacks in Syria, Russia on Wednesday said it was open to establishing a new panel to investigate the use of toxic gases in the six-year war.

Zimbabwe's incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa told adoring crowds in Harare on Wednesday that they were witnessing "unfolding full democracy" as he returned to take power after Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years in power.