A Chinese court is due to hand down a verdict to disgraced former top politician Bo Xilai, who is accused of abuse of power, corruption and bribery.

As he visits the landslide-hit village of La Pintada, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto says it is likely all 68 people missing are dead.

Heavy rain and howling winds are lashing the northern Philippines and Taiwan as Typhoon Usagi goes through the Luzon Strait which divides them.

Sri Lanka's main Tamil party wins elections for a semi-autonomous council in the north, the first after decades of ethnic war, official results show.

Kenyan officials say gunmen and hostages remain inside a Nairobi shopping centre after an attack by Somali militants al-Shabab which killed 39 people.

Germans begin voting in parliamentary elections seen as the most important for years, with Angela Merkel hoping for a third term as chancellor.

A bomb blast outside a church in the Pakistani city of Peshawar kills at least 40 people, officials say.

Hong Kong is bracing itself for the arrival of typhoon Usagi, which is expected to be the strongest storm to hit the city in more than 30 years.