The reason for Leonardo da Vinci’s genius has finally been pinpointed, researchers say. New research suggests the reason for one of the world’s most celebrated painter’s genius was his eyesight. According to a study published in the journal of JAMA Opthalmology, a rare eye condition helped the artist paint distance and depth of objects on flat surfaces with incredible accuracy.

The government has announced stricter immigration and citizenship rules to come into place after Brexit, with Sajid Javid later telling the Guardian’s editor-in-chief Katharine Viner that he was unworried by the suggestion such rules would have prevented his own father entering the UK.

After days of chaos in Canberra, Scott Morrison has emerged as the new leader of the Liberal party and the new prime minister of Australia. It's been almost impossible to keep track of every twist and turn in this Shakespearean drama, to help you get your head around it, we've pulled together the numbers that matter in the 2018 leadership spill.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri is used to seeing bad poll numbers as he struggles to drive through an unpopular austerity program that has cut fuel subsidies, raised taxes and sent utility bills soaring. The survey of 2,400 Argentines by local firm Management & Fit showed that for the first time since Macri romped to victory in 2015, 60 percent of Argentines expect the economy to get "worse" or "much worse" over the months ahead. It's not surprising that Macri's approval rating - now under 27 percent - is down given that the president was forced to seek an International Monetary Fund rescue package after the country's currency and inflation spiralled out of control earlier this year.

A man whose mother and sister were killed by his father made an emotional plea to support victims of domestic abuse. Amber Heard and Jacqueline Fernandez were among many brought to tears as Luke Hart spoke at the annual One Young World summit in The Hague on Thursday. Mr Hart’s mother Claire, 50, and his sister Charlotte, 19, were shot dead by his father Lance Hart, 57, at a swimming pool car park in his home town of Lincolnshire.

So this is surfing in France, I tell myself as I excitedly saunter down a slope of soft beach sand, zipped up in a ultra-tight wetsuit, trying to keep a foothold as the wind tries to send me retreating back up to the surf school hut.

China's economic growth cooled to its weakest quarterly pace since the global financial crisis, with regulators moving quickly to calm nervous investors as a years-long campaign to tackle debt risks and the trade war with the United States began to bite. Chinese authorities are trying to navigate through numerous challenges, as the trade war fears have sparked a blistering selloff in domestic stock markets and a steep decline in the value of the yuan versus the dollar, heightening worries about the growth outlook. The economy grew 6.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, slower than 6.7 percent in the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

If Jose Mourinho cannot manage to reinvent himself in the next few years, he may cease to be the idol of young Portuguese coaches. Despite his recent sacking by Monaco, Leonardo Jardim has plenty of admirers here in Portugal. The perception of Mourinho now is very different from when he was at FC Porto, during his first spell at Chelsea and at Inter Milan.

Asian stock markets mixed after Wall Street declines and Chinese economic growth slows

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's election commission postpones parliamentary polls in Kandahar province for a week following deadly attack.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghans will return to the polls for parliamentary elections on Saturday, hoping to bring change to a corrupt government that has lost nearly half the country to the Taliban. In the eight years since Afghanistan last held parliamentary elections, a resurgent Taliban have carried out near-daily attacks on security forces, seizing large swathes of the countryside and threatening major cities. An even more radical Islamic State affiliate has launched a wave of bombings targeting the country's Shiite minority, killing hundreds. Both groups have threatened to attack anyone taking part in the vote. In areas where the government still provides relative security, Afghans face a different array of challenges.

It is the “great glass elevator” that will whisk visitors to the top of a chimney at Battersea Power Station where sulphurous fumes once belched out over London. The first images of how the remarkable cylindrical lift will look when it launches in 2021 were released today by the developers of the £9 billion regeneration scheme. The design has been compared to the elevator in Roald Dahl’s book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory that burst through the ceiling of Willy Wonka’s plant and spawned the sequel Charlie And The Great Glass Elevator.

BEIJING (AP) — China's former internet censor, who once held high-profile meetings with industry leaders such as Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, was standing trial Friday on corruption allegations, state media reported.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish official says investigators are assessing the possibility whether the remains of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have been taken to a forest in the outskirts of Istanbul or to another city, if and after he was killed inside the diplomatic mission earlier this month.

The iconic Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona has agreed to pay €36m (£31m) to authorities after going without a building permit for more than 130 years. Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi's famous building has been under construction for 136 years - but with no official oversight or permit from either the local council or regional government. The cathedral is also not listed in the property registry and since 1995 has only been marked as an empty plot belonging to the diocese of Barcelona, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

A Turkish official says investigators are assessing the possibility whether the remains of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have been taken to a forest in the outskirts of Istanbul or to another city, if and after he was killed inside the diplomatic mission earlier this month. The official told The Associated Press on Friday that police have established that two vehicles belonging to the Saudi consulate left the building on Oct. 2 — the day Khashoggi had walked into the consulate and vanished. The official says one vehicle went to the Belgrade Forest outside Istanbul while the other traveled to the city of Yalova.

Jeremy Hunt has claimed the European Union has been more "constructive" in its approach to the Brexit negotiations since he likened the bloc's tactics to the Soviet Union. It comes after the foreign secretary provoked outrage at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month with his confrontational speech - accusing the EU of becoming "a prison" and vowing to "fight" for the Brexit deal Britain wants. The incendiary remarks were widely-criticised with the former head of the UK's diplomatic service, Lord Ricketts, claiming they were "unworthy" of a British foreign secretary and Theresa May rebuking Mr Hunt.

Bwindi Lodge

SINGAPORE (AP) — Southeast Asian navies are heading to their first joint exercises with China in its southern waters next week, and defense officials agreed Friday to conduct a similar drill with the U.S. next year.

Anjem Choudary - described as one of the most dangerous Islamist preachers in Britain - has been released from prison to start his life as a free man.