Italy's anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Wednesday deplored the European Parliament's vote to punish Hungary's government led by far-right Premier Viktor Orban, calling the move "blackmail".

The EU plans to send 10,000 more border guards to tackle unlawful immigration by 2020, the European Commission's President Jean-Claude Juncker said in his annual state of the union address on Wednesday.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar have been released from prison on a three-day parole to attend the funeral of Kulsoom Nawaz, who passed away in London after months of battle with cancer.

More than 1.5 million people have been asked to evacuate their homes along the Virginia, North and South Carolina coasts as Category 5 storm Hurricane Florence approaches, an official said.

International human rights bodies urged Australia on Wednesday to end its military ties with Myanmar and impose sanctions on those responsible for "atrocities" committed against the Rohingyas.

At least 19 people were killed and 57 wounded on Tuesday in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province in a suicide attack on protesters who were calling for the dismissal of a police commander.

Bangladesh on Tuesday urged the international community to put more pressure on Myanmar to provide a permanent solution to the Rohingya refugee crisis and ensure their safe return.

Fifty of the 105 inmates who escaped from a maximum-security prison in Brazil's Paraiba state have been apprehended while the 55 others still remain at large, officials said.