The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said it would strengthen its defensive nuclear weapons capability, the official KCNA news agency reported on May 9, a decision adopted in defiance of UN resolutions at a rare congress of its ruling Workers' Party.

An air strike by a US-led coalition killed a senior Islamic State official in Iraq last week, a Pentagon spokesman said on May 9.

Russia on May 9 showcased its military hardware in a parade to commemorate victory over the Nazis in World War Two.

The number of people missing in a landslide in China's southeastern Fujian province has risen to 41, Xinhua news agency said on May 8, citing local officials.

Syrian warplanes attacked Islamist militants near the northern city of Aleppo on May 8, both sides said, as the government tried to push back a insurgent advance in the area.

Turkish warplanes hit targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on May 8, military sources said, as three soldiers and 12 militants were reported killed in separate clashes over the weekend.

Unidentified gunmen killed eight policemen dressed in civilian clothes, including an officer, in an attack on a police vehicle in Helwan, just south of Cairo, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said on May 8.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is infringed by others with nuclear arms, and is willing to normalize ties with states that had been hostile toward it, state media said on May 8.

The U.S. presidential election may turn out to be one of the world's biggest un-popularity contests.

Saudi security forces shot dead two alleged Islamic State fighters and two others blew themselves up outside the holy city of Mecca on May 5, the interior ministry said.