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North Korea has executed its army chief of staff Ri Yong-gil, according to unconfirmed South Korean media reports.

Senior officials in North Korea have previously been absent from view for long periods only to reappear.

However, Gen Ri would be the latest of several high-ranking officials to be purged under leader Kim Jong-un. South Korean media reported that Gen Ri had been executed earlier this month for corruption and "factional conspiracy". Last week, a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party attended by Mr Kim discussed how to deal with corruption.

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North Korea rocket launch: Why did Kim fire missile now?

North Korea said the rocket it launched on the morning of 7 February was to put a satellite into orbit around the earth.

Some reports said the payload of the missile fired could be as large as 500kg (1,100lbs), many times the size of the Unha 3 missile payload put into space in December 2012. These sources also suggest that the range of this new missile may be as much as 13,000km (8,000 miles) compared with the roughly 10,000 km range of the Unha 3. Further analysis is required to confirm these estimates.

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Fears for Australian children after mother dies in Syria

The wife of notorious Australian Islamic State militant Khaled Sharrouf has died in Syria, her mother says.

Sharrouf left Sydney in 2013 to join the so-called Islamic State. His wife Tara Nettleton and their five young children followed. Photos of their son holding a Syrian soldier's severed head made headlines after they were published last year. Sharrouf is believed to have been killed in a drone strike in June 2015. Ms Nettleton died in September after complications from surgery for pre-existing appendicitis, reports say.

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