A rogue Afghan soldier shot dead two U.S. troops in east Afghanistan on Monday, the NATO-led coalition said, the latest in a series of insider killings that have strained trust between the allies ahead of a 2014 pullout by foreign combat troops.

The Japanese government on Monday refused to let Tokyo metropolitan authorities land on islands at the centre of a territorial dispute with China, a move aimed at defusing tensions that led to biggest anti-Japan protests in years.

Venezuelan firefighters struggled on Sunday to put out a blaze at the country's biggest refinery sparked by an explosion that killed 41 people in one of the global oil industry's deadliest accidents.

Syrian opposition activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's army of massacring hundreds of people in a town close to the capital that government forces recaptured from rebels.

Iran hopes to earn diplomatic kudos over the coming week as it hosts a summit of 120 developing nations, but any jubilation could turn sour over starkly different views on the bloody conflict in Syria.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa doubts Britain and Sweden will change their tough stance on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, especially since they are negotiating with a small, poor country like his.

Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande presented a united front towards Greece on Thursday, telling Athens it should not expect leeway on its bailout agreement unless it sticks to tough reform targets.

North Korea's figurehead head of state, not supreme leader Kim Jong-un, will attend a summit of non-aligned developing nations in Iran next week, Pyonyang's official KCNA news agency reported on Thursday.

The Syrian army shelled southern Damascus on Wednesday and helicopters fired rockets and machineguns during an assault meant to shore up President Bashar al-Assad's grip on the capital 17 months into an uprising, opposition activists said.

Seven people have been killed in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli as clashes between Sunni Muslims and Alawites, fuelled by tensions over the war in Syria, continued for a second night, security and medical sources said on Tuesday.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog will try to persuade Iran to address questions about its suspected nuclear weapons research at a meeting on Friday, more than two months after previous talks ended in failure.

Russia warned the West on Tuesday against unilateral action on Syria, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama threatened "enormous consequences" if his Syrian counterpart used chemical or biological arms or even moved them in a menacing way

Britain's options in dealing with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are limited and British lawyers and diplomats reckon its best course of action is simply to sit tight and wait.

U.S. forces could move against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, President Barack Obama warned, notably if he deploys his chemical weapons against rebels trying to overthrow him.

China sentenced the wife of fallen Politburo member Bo Xilai to death on Monday but suspended her execution, setting the stage for a possible final purge of Bo himself in a scandal that has shaken Beijing ahead of a leadership transition.

Julian Assange has urged the US to end its "witch-hunt" against Wikileaks, in his first public statement since entering Ecuador's London embassy.

The world's no. 3 platinum producer Lonmin told workers to return to work or face dismissal on Monday, saying police deemed it safe to return to duty after 44 people were killed in a week of violence at one of its South African mines.

The United States and its allies are discussing a worst-case scenario that could require tens of thousands of ground troops to go into Syria to secure chemical and biological weapons sites following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's governm

Japan is to send home 14 Chinese activists who were detained after some of them landed on an island claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing, but sour notes from Beijing and South Korea showed the latest flare-ups in territorial disputes were far from over.

India's prime minister assured migrants from the northeast of the country that they were safe as thousands continued to flee from Mumbai, Bangalore and other cities on Friday, fearing a backlash from violence against Muslims in Assam state.

The diplomatic standoff over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange escalated on Wednesday after Britain threatened to raid Ecuador's embassy in London if Quito did not hand over Assange, who has been taking refuge there for two months.

An Islamist militant group operating in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula bordering with Israel warned the Egyptian army on Wednesday that an ongoing military crackdown on jihadists in the area will force it to fight back.

Islamist militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons fought their way into one of Pakistan's largest air bases on Thursday, the air force said, in a brazen challenge to the nuclear-armed country's powerful military.

Politicians should treat India's economic growth as a national security issue, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday, warning a lack of consensus is holding back Asia's third-largest economy as it tries to drag millions from

Leaders of Muslim countries are expected to suspend Syria's membership of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at a summit in Mecca on Wednesday, despite the vocal objections of President Bashar al-Assad's main ally Iran.

Ecuador is likely to announce a decision on whether to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before the end of the week in a case with diplomatic implications around the world, President Rafael Correa said on Monday.

China on Tuesday promised to help major firms invest in impoverished neighbor North Korea, signaling strong support for the North's untried young leader just as he is believed to be planning reforms to his country's broken economy.

Veteran fighters of last year's civil war in Libya have come to the front-line in Syria, helping to train and organize rebels under conditions far more dire than those in the battle against Muammar Gaddafi, a Libyan-Irish fighter has told Reuters

Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad need the protection of no-fly zones and safe havens patrolled by foreign forces near the borders with Jordan and Turkey, a Syrian opposition leader said.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday issued a veiled warning about China's rising influence in Russia's resource-rich Far East, saying it was essential to defend the area against "excessive expansion by bordering states".