A 70-year-old Scottish man sentenced to death in Pakistan for committing blasphemy was shot and wounded in prison Thursday, officials said, and is currently being treated in hospital.

Mohammad Asghar was sentenced to death in January for claiming to be a prophet of Islam, moving British Prime Minister David Cameron to say he was "deeply concerned" about the issue.

Afghan election contender Abdullah Abdullah on Thursday congratulated President-elect Ashraf Ghani on his victory and vowed to support him in a national unity government.

Election officials on Sunday named Ghani as the winner, but declined to release the margin of victory or the turnout -- triggering accusations that the result lacked transparency.

President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday ordered a temporary closure of Ukraine's porous border with Russia and voiced plans to apply for EU membership in 2020 as part of his ex-Soviet country's Westward shift.

A senior Ukrainian security source told AFP that the border security measures was designed to halt the alleged smuggling of weapons into the separatist east and would enter into force "soon".

A prominent Chinese scholar from the mostly-Muslim Uighur ethnic group was jailed for life because of remarks he made in a university class about the restive Xinjiang region, state-media reported Thursday.

Ilham Tohti, a former professor, was handed the sentence on a charge of "separatism" by a court in the vast western region on Tuesday, provoking an outcry from rights groups, as well as the U.S. and European Union.

A terror suspect shot dead by Australian police after stabbing two officers in a frenzied knife attack may not have been acting alone, officials said Thursday, escalating concerns about the threat posed by radicalized youth.

Abdul Numan Haider, 18, was killed on Tuesday evening on the outskirts of Melbourne, a day after the Islamic State group called for Muslims to indiscriminately kill Australians.

The British prime minister said late Wednesday he will ask Parliament to approve joining international airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq.

David Cameron announced the move in his address to the U.N. General Assembly.

Australia confirmed Thursday it will sign an asylum-seeker resettlement deal with Cambodia in a move slammed by human rights groups as violating the country's international obligations.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison will be in Phnom Penh on Friday to seal the deal, which could see some asylum-seekers currently held in offshore detention camps by Australia transferred to the Southeast Asian nation.

The trial of alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will begin in January, a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting a request from defense lawyers to move the hearing to another city.

Judge George O'Toole said Tsarnaev's trial, which had been due to open on November 3, will now begin on January 5.

A third Colombian pleaded guilty Wednesday to participating in the kidnap and murder of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Bogota last year, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Hector Leonardo Lopez, 34, was part of a gang  who targeted DEA agent James Watson for a so-called "millionaire's ride" in June 2013.

A Mexican federal lawmaker was killed and burned after being abducted in broad daylight, authorities confirmed Wednesday, shocking his ruling party amid government assurances that violence is down.

Deputy Gabriel Gomez Michel was heading to the airport in the western state of Jalisco on Monday when at least five cars intercepted his sport-utility vehicle, authorities said.