Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in South Korea on Saturday ahead of a trilateral Northeast Asian leadership summit that Beijing hopes will improve trade links and help bolster its slowing economy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was expected to fly in early Sunday ahead of the afternoon three-way sit-down with Li and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.

A year after Jean-Claude Juncker took charge of what he called the "last chance" European Commission, his plans to win back skeptical voters have been partly sidelined by existential threats like the migrant and Greek crises, analysts say.

The wily former Luxembourg prime minister vowed when he took the reins of the 28-nation EU's executive arm in November 2014 to be more "political" than his Portuguese predecessor, Jose Manuel Barroso.

The collapse of a residential building under renovation in central China has killed 17 construction workers and injured another 23, state media reported on Saturday, in the latest incident to raise questions over poor regulation.

The 1990s-era building in Henan province collapsed suddenly on Friday afternoon in a project which involved adding more levels to the two-storey building, state media said.

The last British resident detained in Guantanamo Bay is reportedly planning to seek compensation from the British government, following his release after more than 13 years in the top-security U.S. military jail.

Saudi national Shaker Aamer was beginning his first full day back in Britain on Saturday after flying back to London from the prison on Cuba.

More than half of Rome's elected councilors resigned en masse on Friday to oust scandal-tainted mayor Ignazio Marino, after he backtracked on a pledge to quit amid an expenses row.

The embattled Marino announced earlier this month he was to step down, only to withdraw his resignation on Thursday -- despite his own party calling on him to go.

Romania was plunged into mourning on Saturday after 27 people were killed and nearly 200 injured when a fire ripped through an underground nightclub in Bucharest.

Survivors spoke of the horror that unfolded when fireworks -- set off during a pre-Halloween gig by a heavy metal band -- unleashed a blaze, followed by a stampede as terrified clubbers sought the exit.

Turkey goes to the polls Sunday after five turbulent months without a government, bracing for further instability after devastating jihadist bomb attacks, renewed Kurdish violence and an alarming new crackdown on the media.

The country's most important vote in years will also determine the political future of "the big master" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- even though his name is not even on the ballot paper.

Spain's center-right party Ciudadanos on Friday urged Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to join a national pact against Catalan separatism that would see all major parties agree to defend the country's unity.

"I had the opportunity of putting forward the idea of a pact for Spain," Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera told a news conference after holding talks with the conservative prime minister.

Rival Cypriot leaders agreed Friday to hold at least six meetings in November as they intensify U.N.-brokered peace talks aimed at reunifying their island, U.N. envoy Espen Barth Eide said.

Next month's phase will form part of "a continuous meeting, in which assessments of achievements made or obstacles remaining will only be made towards the end," he told reporters after four hours of talks between Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akıncı.

Germany on Friday announced new measures to curb the activities of its foreign intelligence agency after a damning official report revealed improper collusion with the U.S. National Security Agency.

Berlin will in future implement stricter guidelines governing cooperation between the BND foreign intelligence service and the NSA, deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said in a statement.