Eight people were feared dead after a container ship lost control in the night and smashed into a control tower in Italy's busiest port in Genoa where rescue workers plucked a badly injured survivor from the ruins on Wednesday.

The 50-meter (164-foot) high glass-topped tower was destroyed when the ship ploughed into the dock. Some people were thrown into the cold water, while others were trapped in a lift which plunged into the sea, Italy's fire brigade said.

A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a Chechen man to 15 years in prison for murdering a former Russian colonel, who notoriously strangled to death a young Chechen woman, a spokesman said.

According to investigators, Yusup Temerkhanov killed Yuri Budanov to avenge the death of his father who perished during a "counter-terrorist" operation conducted by Russian forces in Chechnya in 2000.

Tanzanian police have arrested two more people bringing to eight the number of suspects held following a deadly bombing at a church in which three people died, officials said Tuesday.

Four Tanzanians and four Saudis have been arrested in the wake of the bomb, one of the first such incidents in Tanzania, which President Jakaya Kikwete described as an "act of terrorism."

Three brothers have been arrested in the U.S. city of Cleveland in connection with the kidnapping of three women found safe in a home after being missing for a decade, authorities said Tuesday.

There were more questions than answers the day after the stunning turn of events that began with a frantic arm sticking out of a screen door, a woman screaming for help, and a neighbor kicking in the door to free her in a working-class neighborhood of the city in the American heartland.

U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korea's new leader on Tuesday plotted the next moves on North Korea amid signs that the bellicose regime has stepped back from the brink as it faces growing pressure.

On her first foreign trip since her election as Northeast Asia's first woman leader, President Park Geun-Hye is seeking both a show of unity and to keep momentum in South Korea's drive to build an outsized role in world affairs.

A gas tanker exploded on a highway in a Mexico City suburb on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people, wounding dozens more and setting cars and homes on fire, officials said.

The blast rocked a modest neighborhood of Ecatepec, north of the Mexican capital, in the early hours of the day, injuring at least 36 people while affecting 15 cars and 27 homes, officials in the central state of Mexico said.

The Azerbaijani parliament on Tuesday approved a prisoner amnesty proposed by the country's glamorous and powerful first lady that will likely see thousands of convicts released.

The move -- put forward by Mehriban Aliyeva, the influential wife of strongman President Ilham Aliyev -- should see some 2,000 prisoners, mainly women, disabled and elderly convicts, released and 7,000 more have their sentences cut, according to the new law.

President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that France was taking seriously a call by al-Qaida's north African wing for Muslims worldwide to launch attacks against the country's interests over its military operation in Mali.

An AQIM leader called on Muslims to "attack French interests everywhere" in a video message posted online.

Spanish King Juan Carlos's daughter Cristina won respite in a corruption case on Tuesday when a court spared her for the time being from being questioned as a suspect in the scandal.

The affair has plunged Spain's monarchy into an unprecedented crisis, sapped its popularity in the polls, and has raised speculation that Juan Carlos may abdicate.

The European Union on Tuesday pledged to give 44 million euros ($58 million) in aid to Somalia, at a conference in London aimed at stopping the impoverished country slipping back into lawlessness.

The EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs said the funding would be used to build up the justice system and police force in Somalia, which has been blighted by conflict for more than two decades.