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Two 15-year-old girls who “battered and tortured” a woman to death in her own home have been found guilty of murder. Angela Wrightson, 39, was found in her living room with more than 100 injuries – including 80 to her face – in Hartlepool in December 2014. The girls, then aged 13 and 14, used a variety of weapons including ...

China has said is restricting trade with North Korea, announcing bans on gold and some coal imports and jet fuel exports, in line with UN sanctions. The commerce ministry is also banning the importation of so-called “rare earth metals” used in high-tech goods. The UN Security Council voted in March to increase the sanctions. The unanimous decision came after North ...

Two planes collided at an airport in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, resulting in a wing bursting into flames. A Batik Air passenger plane was taking off when its wing clipped the tail of a TransNusa aircraft being towed across the runway. Authorities said there were no injuries in the Monday night incident, and all passengers were evacuated safely. Indonesia has had ...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he would cut off cash sent to Mexico to force them to pay for a border wall with the US. In a memo to the Washington Post, Mr Trump writes that he would change a law to cut off money transfers to Mexico. “It’s an easy decision for Mexico,” the candidate writes in ...

The prime minister of Iceland has asked the president to dissolve parliament after allegations he concealed millions of dollars worth of investments in an offshore company. PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson faced growing pressure over documents showing he and his wife owned offshore firm Wintris. A big protest was held in front of parliament in Iceland on Monday. Dozens of high-profile global ...

State media in Syria have accused militants from so-called Islamic State (IS) of using mustard gas against government forces in the north-east. Troops came under fire at an air base which IS has been trying to capture in Deir al-Zour, they say. Meanwhile, rebels have shot down a Syrian fighter plane over the province of Aleppo. Unconfirmed reports say militants ...

Masood Azhar, today the head of one of Pakistan’s most violent militant groups, was once the VIP guest of Britain’s leading Islamic scholars. Why, asks Innes Bowen. When one of the world’s most important jihadist leaders landed at Heathrow airport on 6 August 1993, a group of Islamic scholars from Britain’s largest mosque network was there to welcome him. Within ...

A son of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has defended his family’s ownership of offshore companies, saying the family has done “nothing wrong”. Leaked documents show that three of Mr Sharif’s children were linked to offshore companies that owned properties in London, local media say. Some opposition leaders have called for Mr Sharif to be investigated over his family’s “wealth ...

Myanmar’s parliament has passed a bill that gives Aung San Suu Kyi a role similar to that of prime minister. The Lower House passed the bill to create the post of “state counsellor”, which now requires only presidential approval to become law. Unelected military representatives holding a quarter of parliamentary seats boycotted the vote, calling the bill unconstitutional. Ms Suu ...

A Swiss secondary school has caused uproar by allowing two Muslim boys not to shake hands with women teachers – a common greeting in Swiss schools. The boys had told the school in the small, northern town of Therwil it was against their faith to touch a woman outside their family. Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said shaking hands was part ...