BBC News.

President Trump has said the United Nations Security Council must be prepared to impose tough sanctions on North Korea in response to its missile and nuclear programmes. He said that North Korea was a real threat to the world and a problem to the world.

The U.S. has frozen the American assets of more than 270 Syrian government officials in response to the suspected chemical weapon attack earlier this month. Those targeted are employees of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre, which the U.S. believes produced the gas used in the attack.

Within the past few minutes, Marine Le Pen, one of the two candidates for the French presidency in the runoff poll next month, has said that she's stepping aside as leader of her far-right National Front party to focus in the presidential race. Earlier, the outgoing French President, Francois Hollande, joined the defeated Conservative candidate, Francois Fillon, in urging voters to support Emmanuel Macron in the presidential runoff.

Demonstrations across Venezuela calling for the removal of President Nicolas Maduro have entered a fourth week. More than twenty people have been killed during almost daily protests, which began when the pro-government Supreme Court assume some powers of the opposition-controlled Congress.

Police in both Brazil and Paraguay are investigating a large robbery at a private security company in the Paraguay city of Silad delaste around 50 heavily armed men made off with an unknown amount of money after two hour shoot with security forces in which one officer was killed.

Norwegian scientists have put forward a new theory to explain the inspiration behind the setting of Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream. They believe the sky full of colorful waving lines could be a depiction of a rare cloud formation founded high altitude in polar air.

BBC news.