Thailand's military hosted ground-breaking talks Wednesday between warring political rivals after imposing martial law to prevent the deeply divided kingdom degenerating into another "Ukraine or Egypt".

The opposing camps and other top officials met for more than two hours under heavy guard in Bangkok in what one hardline supporter of the elected government called a good atmosphere -- a rare glimmer of detente in the long-running political conflict.

South African police said Wednesday they have smashed an international cybercrime network operating out of Pretoria and made several arrests in a joint operation with the United States.

U.S. homeland security officers worked with South Africa to bring down "a West African criminal enterprise operating from South Africa with strong links to the United States", South Africa's police service said in a statement.

Insurgents have killed 16 policemen in Afghanistan in the space of one day and beheaded eight of them, officials said Wednesday, as security forces prepare to guard a second-round election.

Villagers in the southern province of Zabul Tuesday found the decapitated bodies of eight local policemen who were seized two weeks ago, deputy provincial governor Mohammad Jan Rassoulyar told AFP.

Courts in China's ethnically-divided Xinjiang region, home to mainly Muslim Uighurs, have jailed 39 people for offences including spreading "terrorist videos", state media said Wednesday as Beijing tightens security after several deadly attacks.

The 39 were given prison sentences of up to 15 years, the state run China News Service (CNS) said, adding that several had "organised, led and participated" in terrorist organisations.

Scores of South Korean investigators on Wednesday raided a sprawling religious compound in a widening probe into last month's ferry disaster in which hundreds died.

TV footage showed a convoy of six government vehicles including four vans and a mini bus enter Geumsuwon, a church and farming complex in Anseong, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Seoul.

Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a veiled warning to the United States on Wednesday, saying countries should not build up military alliances in Asia, even as Beijing feuds with neighbors in territorial disputes.

Speaking at an Asian regional forum on security, Xi said a rising China would seek "peaceful" means to resolve territorial disputes.

Australia Wednesday announced further sanctions against allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin as it reaffirmed its "clear and unequivocal support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine".

The financial sanctions and travel bans were expanded to cover an additional 38 unnamed Russians and Ukrainians and 11 entities. A total of 50 people are now affected.

Pakistani air force jets pounded Taliban targets in a restive tribal area near the Afghan border Wednesday, killing at least 60 people including insurgent commanders, officials said.

The strikes will come as a fresh blow to stop-start peace talks between the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which have made little progress since they began in February.

Britain's Prince Charles stoked controversy during a visit to Canada by comparing the recent actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin's to those of Adolf Hitler, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday. 

The British newspaper said several witnesses heard the prince make the comment to Marienne Ferguson, a 78-year-old who fled the Nazis aged 13 and lost family members in the Holocaust.

North Korea is building a new complex at its main rocket launch site, possibly for training and launches of road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, a U.S. think-tank said.

Satellite imagery from May 10 suggests the North is conducting a number of important construction projects at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station on its western coast, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said Tuesday.