The Obama administration cancelled a planned meeting after the remarks.

At least 19 people were killed and about 20 wounded in a knife attack at a centre for disabled people near Tokyo last night - Japan's worst mass killing in generations.

Egyptian security officials say special forces killed nine members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, including a former member of parliament, during a raid on a Cairo apartment.

Former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking extensive secrets of its electronic surveillance programmes, has been given a three-year residence permit by Russia, his Russian lawyer said.