North Korea's army said Wednesday it was moving to "permanently shut off and block the southern border" with Seoul and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.

Small but steady signs of a rapprochement between right and far right in the new EU parliament are giving cold sweats to the centre left -- which paints it as a threat to the bloc's stability.

Hezbollah said Wednesday that its fighters repelled two Israeli army attempts to infiltrate southern Lebanon, as Israel intensifies its ground offensive against the Iran-backed armed group.

Shares in the Japanese company that owns 7-Eleven surged on Wednesday following a report that Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) had hiked its buyout offer for the firm by almost 20 percent.

England fast bowler Olly Stone left Pakistan early on Wednesday, racing home from the Test series for his wedding at the weekend, management said.

An 18-year-old Nepali mountaineer on Wednesday broke the record for the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks, his team said.