North Korea has executed the powerful uncle of young leader Kim Jong Un, state media said on Friday, the biggest upheaval in years as the ruling dynasty sought to distance itself from responsibility for the isolated states's dire living standards

A cortege transporting the body of former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela left the capital's main military hospital on Wednesday en route to the Union Buildings, where he will lie in state.

World leaders from U.S. President Barack Obama to Cuba's Raul Castro joined thousands of South Africans to honor Nelson Mandela on Tuesday in a memorial that will celebrate his gift for uniting enemies across political and racial divides.

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved parliament on Monday and called a snap election, but anti-government protest leaders pressed ahead with mass demonstrations seeking to install an unelected body to run the country.

China sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft into its new air defense zone over the East China Sea, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, raising the stakes in a standoff with the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday breezed through a no-confidence vote in parliament where her party holds a commanding majority, but faced mounting pressure from widening anti-government protests.

Two unarmed U.S. B-52 bombers on a training mission flew over disputed islands in the East China Sea without informing Beijing while Japan's main airlines also ignored Chinese authorities when their planes passed through a new airspace defense zo

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign a security deal with the United States, the White House said, opening up the prospect of a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from the strife-torn nation next year.

Iran on curbing its nuclear program but he and other global leaders now have tough work ahead turning an interim accord into a comprehensive agreement.

President Hamid Karzai triggered uncertainty about a vital security pact with the United States on Thursday by saying it should not be signed until after Afghanistan's presidential election next April, prompting the White House to insist on a yea

Major powers resumed talks on Wednesday on a preliminary agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program with the United States warning it would be "very hard" to clinch a breakthrough deal this week and Tehran flagging "red lines".

Syria's chemical weapons could be processed and destroyed out at sea, say sources familiar with discussions at the international body in charge of eliminating the toxic arsenal.

The leaders of Indonesia and Australia traded punches on Tuesday in a row over alleged spying by Canberra, with both sides refusing to back down in a growing rift between the two often uneasy neighbors.

A Boeing 737 airliner crashed on Sunday in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people on board and spotlighting the poor safety record of regional airlines that ply internal routes across the world's largest nation.

The death toll from a powerful typhoon that swept the central Philippines nearly doubled overnight, reaching 4,000, as helicopters from a U.S. aircraft carrier and other naval ships began flying food, water and medical teams to ravaged regions.

The killing of one of Pakistan's most wanted Islamic militants in a U.S. drone strike has exposed centuries-old rivalries within the group he led, the Pakistani Taliban, making the insurgency ever more unpredictable and probably more violent.

Desperation gripped Philippine islands devastated by Typhoon Haiyan as looting turned deadly on Wednesday and survivors panicked over delays in supplies of food, water and medicine, some digging up underground water pipes and smashing them open.

A U.S. aircraft carrier set sail for the Philippines on Tuesday to accelerate relief efforts after a typhoon killed an estimated 10,000 people in one coastal city alone, with fears the toll could rise sharply as rescuers reach more isolated towns.

Dazed survivors of a super typhoon that swept through the central Philippines killing an estimated 10,000 people begged for help and scavenged for food, water and medicine on Monday, threatening to overwhelm military and rescue resources.

Israel utterly rejects a mooted world powers deal with Iran aimed at ending a long-running row over its nuclear ambitions and will not be bound by such an accord, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday.

The military commander of Congo's defeated M23 rebel movement, Sultani Makenga, has surrendered and is being held in Uganda at an undisclosed location, a senior Ugandan military officer told Reuters on Thursday.

When armed men appeared at a home in the northern Damascus district of Rukn al-Din, they told the elderly woman who answered the door they were state security forces carrying out a routine inspection.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebel group declared an end to its 20-month rebellion on Tuesday and said it was ready to disarm and demobilize troops and pursue a political solution to end the crisis in the east of the country.

The trial of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi was adjourned on Monday, state media reported.

An Israeli air strike killed three militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the Islamist group Hamas said, after an overnight clash left a fourth Palestinian gunman dead and five Israeli soldiers wounded.

International powers are unlikely to meet their goal of convening peace talks on Syria in Geneva next month as differences emerge between Washington and Moscow over opposition representation, Arab and Western officials said.

Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday as part of U.S.-brokered peace efforts, but said it was pressing on with plans to build more homes for Jewish settlers, in an apparent move to appease hardliners.

Chinese authorities suspect suicide attackers drove the vehicle that ploughed into pedestrians at Beijing's Tiananmen Square and set it on fire, killing five people including the three inside, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

A German newspaper said on Sunday that U.S. President Barack Obama knew his intelligence service was eavesdropping on Angela Merkel as long ago as 2010, contradicting reports that he had told the German leader he did not know.

The people of Madagascar voted on Friday in a presidential election they hope will bring a fresh start, four years after a coup on the Indian Ocean island undermined aid and investment.