A US government delegation will visit China next week for the first face-to-face talks since President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart agreed on a temporary truce in the trade war, Beijing said on Friday.

Tourists marooned on Thai islands hunkered down on Friday as Tropical Storm Pabuk edged closer, forcing airports and ferries to close and bringing downpours and massive sea swells hours before its expected landfall.

Four billion miles from the sun floats Ultima Thule, an icy celestial body that NASA scientists announced on Wednesday is aptly shaped like a giant snowman.

Spanish coastguards rescued 401 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean over the first two days of the new year, they said on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump met top Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday, but they failed to hammer out an agreement that would end a partial government shutdown over his demand for billions of dollars to build a border wall with Mexico.

One of the leaders of the "yellow vest"anti-government demonstrations, Eric Drouet, was detained by French police and placed in custody on Wednesday for organising a central Paris protest without declaring it, according to a source at the prosecutors office.

Australia announced the closure of Melbourne's controversial Maribyrnong detention centre on Wednesday, one of several facilities used to lock up immigrants who arrived without papers.

Lebanon's prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, warned on Tuesday a government needs to be formed as the country faces a tough economic situation after months of political deadlock.

Russian rescuers on Tuesday pulled a baby boy hurt but alive from the ruins of an apartment building where he spent the night in sub-zero temperatures after a gas explosion that killed at least nine people.