A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea's New Britain island on Thursday, triggering a tsunami warning.

Tarique Rahman, the fugitive son of former Bangladesh premier Khaleda Zia, was sentenced to life and 19 others were given death sentence by a court here on Wednesday over the 2004 grenade attack that killed 24 people and injured 500 others, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

 Pope Francis on Wednesday compared having an abortion to hiring a "contract killer".

"Interrupting a pregnancy is like eliminating someone... Getting rid of a human being is like resorting to a contract killer to solve a problem," Francis said in an address to worshippers in the Vatican.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump and Haley were scheduled to meet in the Oval Office

 India is projected to grow at 7.3 per cent in 2018 and 7.4 per cent next year, the IMF said Tuesday, predicting that the country will regain the tag of the world's fastest growing major economy this year, surpassing China with more than 0.7 percentage points.

Expressing concern over the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist, US President Donald Trump has urged the Gulf nation to support a through investigation into the missing scribe's whereabouts and be transparent about the results of the probe.

Global growth has plateaued at 3.7 per cent, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Tuesday, with its chief economist warning the world that there are clouds on the horizon and growth has proven to be less balanced than hoped.

China will sell 48 high-end military drones to its "all-weather ally" Pakistan in what a military observer said will be the largest deal of its kind, official media here reported on Tuesday.