President Donald Trump said on Thursday that U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan were being reduced to 8,600 but that American forces would remain in the country even if Washington reaches an agreement with the Taliban to end the 18-year war. “Oh yeah, you have to keep a presence,” Trump said...

Protesters in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua set buildings ablaze on Thursday, forcing the state power firm to cut off electricity in parts of the provincial capital of Jayapura, state media and an executive of the utility said. For almost two weeks, the region has been racked by...

Hong Kong police have banned a mass pro-democracy rally from going ahead on Saturday over public safety concerns, organisers said, after last weekend saw some of the worst violence in three months of political unrest in the financial hub. In a letter to the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF)...

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido admitted on Wednesday that talks with the government of President Nicolas Maduro aimed a resolving the country's political crisis "aren't working." Talks mediated by Norway first took place in May in Oslo with several subsequent rounds in Barbados....

Russia and Turkey are discussing the possibility of deliveries of the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter jet and Su-35 aircraft to turkey, the RIA news agency cited a Russian official as saying Wednesday. Russia began delivering S-400 missile systems to Turkey this year, in a step...

At least 500 incidents of protest have broken out in Indian Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the region of its autonomy and imposed a military clampdown more than three weeks ago, a senior government source told AFP Wednesday. The Himalayan valley is under a strict lockdown, imposed hours...

South Korea on Wednesday slammed Japan for effectively downgrading Seoul's trade status and accused Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of treating the neighbour as an "adversary". The comments are the latest in a bitter tit-for-tat row stemming from a long-running diplomatic dispute over Japan's use...

Brazil will accept G7 countries’ offer to provide more than $20 million to Amazonian countries to help fight forest fires only if the leader of France withdraws his "insults," Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday. Bolsonaro denied rejecting the financial aid but told reporters his...

Taliban militants killed at least 14 members of a pro-government militia in Afghanistan on Wednesday, said officials, as Taliban and U.S. officials near a deal aimed at ending the 18-year war. Government officials said 14 members of the militia were killed and several civilians were wounded...

Organizers of a Hong Kong rally planned for outside the airport offices of Cathay Pacific on Wednesday moved the protest downtown after police withheld permission and the airline warned against an illegal demonstration. The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) changed the venue...

Two people were confirmed dead on Wednesday as heavy rains pounded southwest Japan, prompting flood and landslide warnings and orders for 670,000 people to seek safety. Nearly a million more people were advised to leave their homes after the country's weather agency raised the alert to its...

US and Taliban negotiators held productive talks Tuesday, the insurgent group said, as potentially decisive discussions to enable Washington to draw down its deployment to Afghanistan entered their fifth day. Despite the Taliban's upbeat assessment, the ninth round of talks in Qatar...

 Violence in Hong Kong’s anti-government protests is becoming more serious but the government is confident it can handle the crisis itself, the embattled leader of the former British colony said on Tuesday. Carrie Lam was speaking in public for the first time since demonstrations...

China has said it will stage military exercises in the East China Sea near Taiwan this week, with relations tense between Beijing and the self-ruled island. This will be the third set of drills in a month and comes after the recent US approvals of arms sales worth billions to Taiwan,...

A German charity said Monday it had rescued some 100 people from a collapsing dinghy in the Mediterranean while being threatened by the Libyan coast guard. Charity Mission Lifeline said Captain Claus-Peter Reisch and the crew of the German-flagged Eleonore vessel managed to complete the...

Mexico’s president said on Monday his country was “doing well” in addressing U.S. demands to contain illegal immigration and that Mexican and American officials will meet on Sept. 10 to take stock of the situation after a key deadline expires. In June, Mexico’s government averted a threat...

A wildfire that raged through the Spanish holiday island of Gran Canaria for more than a week has finally been brought under control, emergency services said on Monday. In a tweet, they said the blaze had been "declared controlled" by the regional government. "Ground crew will continue...

 G7 leaders close their summit Monday with discussion of world problems including the fires ravaging the Amazon rainforest, but overshadowed by President Donald Trump's trade wars and questions over the group's unity. The summit in Biarritz, a high-end surfers' paradise in southwestern...

China's top trade negotiator tried to reduce tensions with the US by calling for a "calm attitude" on Monday, local media reported, as the two countries engage in a fresh round of the tit-for-tat tariffs roiling global markets. Last week, the China-US trade war took a turn for the worse...

Hong Kong police on Monday said they were forced to fire water cannon and a warning shot to fend off "extremely violent" demonstrators, as months of pro-democracy protests veer deeper into violence. Sunday's clashes in the suburb of Tsuen Wan were some of the worst in twelve weeks of...