Taliban fighters overran a northern Afghan army base, officials said Tuesday, killing at least 14 soldiers with dozens feared captured in a stinging blow to security forces already struggling to push insurgents from eastern Ghazni.

The Chinese economy is displaying further signs of weakness, with data Tuesday showing the pace of investment slumping to a record low in the first seven months of the year while retail sales growth slowed.

A "number of pedestrians" were injured when a car crashed into barriers outside Britain's Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, with armed police swooping in to arrest the driver, Scotland Yard said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn were locked in a row Tuesday over the Labour MP's attendance of an event that honoured suspects of the Munich Olympics massacre.

Turkey's lira edged up with other emerging market currencies in Asian trade Tuesday while equities also enjoyed a bounce after the previous day's turmoil.

Fears were growing of civilian casualties as Afghan security forces backed by US airpower struggled to push the Taliban out of embattled Ghazni city, with reports of scores dead five days after fighting erupted.

European countries faced pressure on Tuesday to resolve a fresh standoff with the operators of the migrant rescue ship Aquarius which is stranded for the second time in the Mediterranean carrying 141 people.

Forty children were among 51 people killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in rebel-held northern Yemen, the Red Cross said in a new toll Tuesday.

Tech companies could face fines of up to Aus$10 million (US$7.3 million) if they fail to hand over customer information or data to Australian police under tough cyber laws unveiled Tuesday.

North Korea has stopped processing tourist visas for foreigners ahead of a high profile anniversary next month, according to a China-based tour operator.

A two-week jungle trek followed by a sheer climb up avalanche-prone slopes to a jagged ridge of icy pinnacles awaits three Myanmar mountaineers planning to take on Hkakabo Razi, a peak so treacherous it has been conquered only once.

Touting military cooperation and "instructors," arms deals and investment, Russia is making a comeback in Africa after years of inactivity and now aims to rival European countries and even China, analysts say.

Music legend Aretha Franklin is gravely ill and reportedly receiving hospice care, friends of the singer said Monday, as prayers and well wishes poured in for the Grammy-winning "Queen of Soul."

Austria's capital Vienna has beaten Melbourne to be ranked the "world's most liveable city" in a new annual survey released Monday, ending the southern Australian city's seven-year reign.

A former Australian archbishop convicted of concealing abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s was confronted by enraged victims outside a courthouse Tuesday after a judge spared him jail and ordered he serve his sentence at home.

Serena Williams re-established her customary superiority, hammering Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.

President Donald Trump on Monday plunged himself into a made-for-TV spat with his former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman -- a mud-slinging match that has fuelled fears of chaos in his White House and cast doubt on his pledge to hire "only the best people."

On August 17 last year a van rammed into crowds on Las Ramblas boulevard in the heart of Barcelona, igniting four days of terror which investigators are still trying to explain and the survivors to overcome.

Tech magnate Elon Musk's SpaceX vowed Monday to send its first astronauts into orbit on schedule next year -- part of a drive to restore America's dominance of the space race.

Former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner appeared before a judge leading a major probe into corruption under her government Monday, hitting out at what she described as "judicial persecutions" to rule her out of next year's elections.

Billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday gave a trio of anti-tobacco crusaders $20 million to up their game against an industry aggressively marketing its deadly wares worldwide, especially in developing countries.

Roger Federer on Monday said he is eager to make his start at the Cincinnati Masters as the world number two begins his delayed summer hardcourt season.

Even when hoisting a US Open or PGA Championship trophy, Brooks Koepka is careful to keep a chip balanced on his shoulder -- even if it's just a small one.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a rare, secret visit to Egypt in May for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israeli television reported Monday.

Turkey's troubled lira tumbled Monday to fresh record lows against the euro and dollar, piling pressure on stock markets on fears the country's crisis could spill over into the world economy.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk disclosed Monday that he was in talks with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund and other investors to take the electric automaker private.

Malian opposition candidate Soumaila Cisse said on Monday he would reject the results of a presidential runoff marred by accusations of fraud, violence and low turnout, calling on the population "to rise up."

A two-week jungle trek followed by a sheer climb up avalanche-prone slopes to a jagged ridge of icy pinnacles awaits three Myanmar mountaineers planning to take on Hkakabo Razi, a peak so treacherous it has been conquered only once.

Austria's capital Vienna has beaten Melbourne to be ranked the "world's most liveable city" in a new annual survey released Monday, ending the southern Australian city's seven-year reign.

In a dusty Baghdad dance studio, conductor Mohammed Amin Ezzat tries to fire up the musicians of Iraq's National Symphony Orchestra, whose enthusiasm has been dampened by eight months without pay.

Bin bags at the ready, "long-distance activist" Mohamed Oussama Houij moves methodically along a beach in Tunisia's Mediterranean town of Nabeul, scooping up all kinds of trash as he goes along.

Billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday gave a trio of anti-tobacco crusaders $20 million to up their game against an industry aggressively marketing its deadly wares worldwide, especially in developing countries.

It's barely 6:00 am and Alfred is already busy milking cows. But when his chores on the farm are done, he won't be going home -- he'll be returning to his prison cell.

In the tiny maternity ward in Murrupelane, two 16-year-old mothers breast-feed their babies, both born that morning.

Georgia's overly punitive drug laws cause severe and unjustifiable harm, Human Rights Watch said Monday, calling on the government to decriminalise personal use and possession of drugs.

Britain's Ken Loach, Canada's David Cronenberg and dozens of other filmmakers called Monday on Russia to free Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, who has been on hunger strike for nearly three months in a Siberian jail.

From hand-held copters that zoom around the living room to high-speed craft offering the sensation of flying over the countryside, drones have won over legions of fans -- and are proving a growing challenge for security authorities.

They may feel aggrieved at not obtaining an official seal of approval, but traditional Romanian dressmakers are riding a wave of demand for their folk designs after a top fashion house inadvertently showcased their craft.

After his wheat crop failed and wells dried up, Ghulam Abbas sold his animals and joined thousands of other farmers migrating to cities as Afghanistan's worst drought in living memory ravages the war-torn country.

Standing outside their yellow hut on a ridge 3,200 metres (10,500 feet) above sea level, two French gendarmes peer through binoculars at a group of foreign climbers making their way across a scree-littered stretch on what has become one of the deadliest routes to the top of Mont Blanc.

Monsanto's German owners insisted Saturday that the weed killer Roundup was "safe," rejecting a California jury's decision to order the chemical giant to pay nearly $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that the product might cause cancer.

Three years ago, the Greek island of Lesbos found itself at the heart of Europe's greatest migration crisis since World War II.

A row is erupting over vaccines in Italy as the country's new populist government fights to roll back a law that bans children from attending school if they haven't received a series of jabs.

Fears for more than 500 greyhounds cooped up at a shuttered racetrack in Macau have been reignited after a plan to rehome them hit red tape.

Indonesia has set aside worries about terrorism, street crime and Jakarta's notorious traffic, saying it is ready to roll for the Asian Games in a week's time.

Netflix's new series "Insatiable," hitting screens Friday, was touted by the streaming service as a dark comedy meant to spark debate on society's ills.

An outbreak of West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, has left three people dead in northeast Italy in recent days, the local health authority said Friday.

Three people have died from West Nile fever after an outbreak in Athens which has infected 60 people this year, Greek authorities said Friday, indicating they were monitoring the situation carefully.

Norway, which has one of the highest deadly drug overdose rates in Europe, will test prescribing free heroin to the most serious addicts to improve their living conditions, the government said on Friday.

When Jiang Cheng first tried a bit of concealer during his first year of university in China it gave him self-confidence and he was instantly hooked.

Salt consumption exceeds national and World Health Organization guidelines in most countries, but only the highest-sodium diets, such as in China, are linked to clear health risks, researchers said Friday.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Note 9 smartphone Thursday, its latest effort to address flagging sales of the high-functioning gadgets.

Brazil's government is contesting a court suspension of licenses for products with glyphosate, one of the most common industrial weedkillers and the subject of a high-profile US case against agrochemical colossus Monsanto.

Over the past 15 years, the United States has seen a fourfold increase in pregnant women addicted to painkillers, the latest troubling statistic in an ongoing epidemic of opioid abuse, officials said Thursday.

Egyptian star Mohamed Salah could be in trouble with police after his club Liverpool passed a video apparently showing him using his mobile phone while driving.

Australia are beginning to reach their true potential, star fullback Israel Folau said Tuesday, vowing to unleash his aerial prowess against the world champion All Blacks.

A two-week jungle trek followed by a sheer climb up avalanche-prone slopes to a jagged ridge of icy pinnacles awaits three Myanmar mountaineers planning to take on Hkakabo Razi, a peak so treacherous it has been conquered only once.

Serena Williams re-established her customary superiority, hammering Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.

Soldiers have been enlisted to help Australian athletes perform better under pressure in the lead up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of a drive to win more medals.

The Asian Games, the world's second largest multi-sports event, begin this week. Here are five global stars who can shine at the continental showpiece in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.

Son Heung-min has lit up the World Cup and the Premier League but unnervingly it is the Asian Games in Indonesia that could make or break the career of the prolific South Korean forward.

Thousands of athletes are flying in as Indonesia makes final preparations to host the Asian Games -- the world's second biggest multi-sports event, taking place against a backdrop of terrorism fears, environmental concerns and logistical headaches.

Roger Federer on Monday said he is eager to make his start at the Cincinnati Masters as the world number two begins his delayed summer hardcourt season.

Even when hoisting a US Open or PGA Championship trophy, Brooks Koepka is careful to keep a chip balanced on his shoulder -- even if it's just a small one.

Tottenham have delayed next month's planned opening of their new stadium due to "issues with the critical safety systems", the Premier League club said on Monday.

Petr Cech became embroiled in a social media spat with Bayer Leverkusen after the Bundesliga club's Twitter account mocked an error made by the Arsenal goalkeeper against Manchester City.

England's all-time leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson may be 36, but coach Trevor Bayliss believes he's still got several years of international cricket left in him.

Paris Saint-Germain defender Presnel Kimpembe, a member of France's World Cup-winning squad, signed a two-year contract extension on Monday keeping him at the club until 2023.

Manchester City midfielder David Silva on Monday called time on his distinguished 12-year international career with Spain.

Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen won the first stage of the BinckBank Tour on Monday, claiming victory in a sprint ahead of Marcel Kittel and Caleb Ewan in the Netherlands.

An Israeli runner who shocked viewers at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin when she thought the race was over and pulled up a lap short said Monday she hoped to learn from her mistake despite the disappointment.

Inter Milan on Monday continued their strong summer transfer window ahead of the start of the Serie A season, announcing the return to Italy of Senegal international Keita Balde on loan from French Ligue 1 side Monaco.

Banned Australian batsman Steve Smith reclaimed top spot in the ICC Test batting rankings from India's Virat Kohli on Monday, despite not having played since March.

US Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk unveiled the first eight members of his squad Monday and heaped praise upon Tiger Woods as a potential captain's pick to fill out the lineup.

Ben Stokes was again omitted as England named an unchanged 13-man squad on Monday for the third Test against India at Trent Bridge starting Saturday, where victory would see them clinch the series.

Chelsea winger Willian has admitted there is "no chance" he would have remained at the club had former manager Antonio Conte not been replaced by Maurizio Sarri last month.

US Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk unveiled the first eight members of his squad Monday, with the potential of a captain's pick remaining to add Tiger Woods to the lineup.

US Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk unveiled the first eight members of his squad Monday, with the potential of a captain's pick remaining to add Tiger Woods to the lineup.

Bernardo Silva has warned Manchester City's Premier League rivals that their impressive 2-0 win over Arsenal proved the champions remain hungry for more silverware.

Tiger Woods figured in the world's top 30 rankings on Monday for the first time since 2014 on the back of his exploits at the PGA Championship.

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech pleaded for patience after Unai Emery's first match as Arsene Wenger's successor ended in a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.

Music legend Aretha Franklin is gravely ill and reportedly receiving hospice care, friends of the singer said Monday, as prayers and well wishes poured in for the Grammy-winning "Queen of Soul."

In a dusty Baghdad dance studio, conductor Mohammed Amin Ezzat tries to fire up the musicians of Iraq's National Symphony Orchestra, whose enthusiasm has been dampened by eight months without pay.

"Fortnite" star Tyler "Ninja" Blevins on Monday defended not streaming video game play with women, saying it was to guard against marriage-wrecking rumors.

Billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday gave a trio of anti-tobacco crusaders $20 million to up their game against an industry aggressively marketing its deadly wares worldwide, especially in developing countries.

The North American box office was under attack from shark thriller "The Meg" over the weekend, industry data showed Monday, as it more than doubled the earnings of its closest competitor to claim top spot.

Netflix chief financial officer David Wells on Monday announced plans to hand his job off to a successor and then focus on philanthropy.

Fifty years after the Beatles came to India, the bungalows where the Fab Four lived, the post office where John Lennon sent Yoko Ono postcards and the giggling guru's house are all ruins.

Singer Aretha Franklin, a multiple Grammy award-winner star whose legacy stretches back decades, is gravely ill and surrounded by relatives, a reporter and family friend wrote on his website Monday.

Britain's Ken Loach, Canada's David Cronenberg and dozens of other filmmakers called Monday on Russia to free Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, who has been on hunger strike for nearly three months in a Siberian jail.

Usain Bolt might be a superstar athlete but the fastest man ever won't be getting special treatment when he arrives in Australia in his bid to become a professional footballer.

The North American box office was under attack from sci-fi horror film 'The Meg' this weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday, as it more than doubled the earnings of its closest competitor to claim the top spot.

The lost resting place of British poet and artist William Blake was finally marked Sunday with a gravestone, almost 200 years after he died.

Tributes poured in Sunday for Nobel prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul, who has died aged 85, including from many of those who clashed with him.

British author V.S. Naipaul, a famously outspoken Nobel laureate who wrote on the traumas of post-colonial change, has died at the age of 85.

Whether by brazenly injecting sex in the public sphere, adopting gay subculture for mainstream audiences or becoming the top-selling female musician of all time, Madonna has asserted an incalculable influence.

The final of this year's edition of Mr Gay Europe took place on Saturday in the western city of Poznan in Poland, a conservative and devout Catholic country where many do not accept homosexuality.

Madonna remains one of the most controversial artists of all time, with the Material Girl refusing to hold back with age from the unbridled sexuality that helped make her a superstar.

Nobel prize-winning British author V.S. Naipaul has died at the age of 85, his family announced on Saturday.

Rowdy brass bands and revellers ruled the streets of the small Serbian town of Guca on Saturday as its annual trumpet festival hit full stride with music, meat and alcohol flowing in abundance.

The Gay Games which are under way in Paris are not just a chance to celebrate sport and diversity: they offer crucial respite to gay athletes forced to hide their sexuality in their home countries.

Netflix's new series "Insatiable," hitting screens Friday, was touted by the streaming service as a dark comedy meant to spark debate on society's ills.

Turkish director and Cannes Palme d'Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan on Friday received an outstanding contribution award at the opening of the Sarajevo film festival.

The 1970s hit "Skiing" has topped Austria's music downloads in the current heatwave after a spat between the singer, an Austro-pop legend, and the governing far-right party.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich was arrested early Friday for allegedly assaulting a prostitute in Frankfurt, police said, just a week after the German national was briefly detained in Spain.

Thirty years ago an all-female folk choir set up in Bulgaria became the darling of Western audiences with its tradition-steeped a cappella singing, before the fall of communism threatened its survival.

After ordering football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to pay 18.8 million euros ($21.6 million) to settle a tax fraud claim, Spanish authorities have reduced the sum by two million euros, the El Mundo daily reported Friday.

The Slovenian-born parents of Melania Trump became US citizens at a naturalization ceremony in New York on Thursday, reportedly taking advantage of a family reunification program President Donald Trump has vehemently denounced.

New Caledonia agreed Tuesday to tougher protections around a huge swathe of some of the world's last near-pristine coral reefs, in a move conservationists hailed as a major breakthrough.

Bin bags at the ready, "long-distance activist" Mohamed Oussama Houij moves methodically along a beach in Tunisia's Mediterranean town of Nabeul, scooping up all kinds of trash as he goes along.

Tech magnate Elon Musk's SpaceX vowed Monday to send its first astronauts into orbit on schedule next year -- part of a drive to restore America's dominance of the space race.

Scientists on Monday unveiled a previously unknown species of giant pterosaur, the first creatures with a backbone to fly under their own power.

France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, an environment ministry official said Sunday.

France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, an environment ministry official said Sunday.

NASA on Sunday blasted off its first-ever spaceship to explore the Sun, the $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe, on a strategic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms.

The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal Sunday on the legal status of the inland sea which boasts a wealth of oil and gas reserves and sturgeon.

After his wheat crop failed and wells dried up, Ghulam Abbas sold his animals and joined thousands of other farmers migrating to cities as Afghanistan's worst drought in living memory ravages the war-torn country.

Standing outside their yellow hut on a ridge 3,200 metres (10,500 feet) above sea level, two French gendarmes peer through binoculars at a group of foreign climbers making their way across a scree-littered stretch on what has become one of the deadliest routes to the top of Mont Blanc.

Monsanto's German owners insisted Saturday that the weed killer Roundup was "safe," rejecting a California jury's decision to order the chemical giant to pay nearly $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that the product might cause cancer.

Flash floods in Kerala have killed 37 people and displaced around 36,000, Indian officials said Saturday, after heavy monsoons led to landslides and overflowing reservoirs across the southern state.

Glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup, is the subject of fierce controversy all across the globe and is classified by the World Health Organization as "probably" being carcinogenic.

NASA postponed until Sunday the launch of the first ever spacecraft to fly directly toward the Sun on a mission to plunge into our star's sizzling atmosphere and unlock its mysteries.

Authorities battling massive wildfires in large swathes of California issued mandatory evacuation orders and health warnings Friday over the worsening air quality as the flames grew ever closer to populated areas.

Six crows specially trained to pick up cigarette ends and rubbish will be put to work next week at a French historical theme park, its president said on Friday.

NASA counted down Friday to the launch of a $1.5 billion spacecraft that aims to plunge into the Sun's sizzling atmosphere and become humanity's first mission to explore a star.

New Zealand became the latest country Friday to outlaw single-use plastic shopping bags, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying they will be phased out over the next year as a "meaningful step" towards reducing pollution.

Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday unveiled details of plans to build a US Space Force that would become the sixth branch of America's massive military, saying the time has come to prepare for "the next battlefield."

Wildfires which have blazed along a stretch of Portugal's Algarve for a week died down on Thursday, but fears remained that winds could reignite the flames.

Icelandic conservationists have asked prosecutors to probe whether the killing of a rare hybrid whale was illegal, a lawyer said on Thursday.

After spending 15 years on Wall Street, Francois Cazalot had had enough and moved out West to become a firefighter.

US forecasters on Thursday downgraded their hurricane season predictions, saying that ocean conditions suggest it's now likely that a below-average number of storms will strike the Atlantic and Caribbean this year.

Sweden's wildfires and drought have caused the environment to become the second most important issue after immigration for Swedes before the September 9 general election, a poll showed Thursday.

The death toll from a devastating earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok jumped to 319 Thursday, as strong aftershocks triggered panic among traumatised survivors waiting for aid in the worst-hit regions.

Men trying to become a father the old-fashioned way are better off wearing loose underwear, according to a study published Thursday.

A caterpillar native to the Americas that has devastated crops across Africa has made its way to Asia, scientists in India said Thursday, warning of a threat to food security.