The skin-tight dress Marilyn Monroe wore for her sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday" before then US President John F. Kennedy at a 1962 gala was sold on Thursday for $4.8mn at an auction in Los Angeles.

Seismologists in New Zealand said on Friday that this week's 7.8 earthquake was one of the most complex ever recorded and warned there was a high likelihood of further powerful aftershocks.

Former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was buried with military honours at a heroes' cemetery in the capital Manila on Friday, almost 30 years after his death in Hawaii, amid protests by human rights groups.

Twenty-six people were hurt on Friday, some critically, after a man set fire to a busy bank in Australia with one witness saying he heard a "big blast" and children screaming.

New York’s top law enforcement official said he does not want US president-elect Donald Trump’s administration to “eviscerate” the state’s anti-fraud law that has dropped a hammer on Wall Street corruption.

Spain’s king has urged an end to the graft scandals that have long plagued his nation, as he opened a new session of parliament after nearly a year of political paralysis.

US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is resigning after more than six years, he told the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives yesterday.

US President Barack Obama called German Chancellor Angela Merkel an “outstanding” ally yesterday and said she might get his support if he were a German citizen and she decided to run for a fourth term as leader of Europe’s largest economy.

Democratic Republic of the Congo opposition figure Samy Badibanga was named prime minister yesterday under a power-sharing deal that allows President Joseph Kabila to stay in office after his term ends next month, the presidency said.

Venezuelans line up to fill their tanks at “international price” in a petrol station in San Cristobal, Tachira state, Venezuela.

El Alto mayor Soledad Chapeton participates in the construction works of a school in El Alto, Bolivia. Opposition Chapeton, 36, was recently included by US magazine Americas Quarterly in a list of the five young politicians of the region.

Prince William yesterday warned that vulnerable species are being killed at a “horrifying” rate, as he addressed a wildlife conference in Vietnam — a country criticised for failing to curb the illicit animal product trade.