Seven villagers became trapped in the cave in central Xaysomboun province on May 20 when flash floods blocked their exit as they hunted bats for food and searched for gold in old mining areas.

President Lee Jae Myung's ruling Democratic Party swept most races but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat.

US producer prices posted their biggest increase in four years in April, boosted by soaring costs for goods and services since the war began.

The Justice Department on Tuesday dropped a contentious plan to create a US$1.8 billion compensation program that critics had denounced as a "slush fund" for President Donald Trump's political allies.

US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne ​Mullin said the Trump administration is drawing up plans to stop processing international travelers ‌and cargo at major US airports in "sanctuary cities" that have declined to cooperate with an immigration crackdown.

A gunman opened fire near the White House on Saturday evening, with US Secret Service agents killing the assailant in a shoot-out during which a bystander was also struck, authorities said.

El Nino is a period warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, ​which typically lasts between nine and 12 months, according ​to the World Meteorological Organization.

A cruise ship which sparked a global health alert over a deadly outbreak of hantavirus was on Saturday cleared to put to sea again after cleaning and disinfection.

The US and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations to secure an interim deal to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including Iran's nuclear programme to further negotiations.

The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create "pilot zones" in which the Lebanese armed forces "will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors".

Gulf hostilities flared anew on Wednesday, with the US military saying Iranian missile attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and other regional targets were either thwarted or failed, as diplomacy between Washington and Tehran showed little progress.