US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on October 7 she does not support the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), rejecting a central tenet of President Barack Obama's strategic pivot to Asia.

Russia moved on October 6 to resume military talks with the United States aimed at setting rules for air-to-air conduct over Syria, said US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, as the former Cold War foes carry out parallel, uncoordinated campaigns of air strikes.

Ukraine has started withdrawing tanks and light artillery from the frontline in the eastern region of Luhansk in line with an agreement with Russian-backed separatists, Kiev's military said. 

US President Barack Obama kicked off a sales pitch on October 6 for a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade agreement, urging farmers to push their lawmakers to approve what he said would boost their sales in a fast-growing region.

Afghan forces asked for US air support while fighting the Taliban in Kunduz shortly before an air strike resulted in the deaths of civilians there, the American commander of international forces in Afghanistan said on October 5.

The United States and NATO denounced Russia on October 5 for violating Turkish airspace and Ankara threatened to respond, reporting two incursions in two days and raising the prospect of direct confrontation between the former Cold War adversaries.

The number of people living in extreme poverty is likely to fall for the first time below 10% of the world's population in 2015, the World Bank said on October 4 as it revised its benchmark for measuring the problem.

Islamic State militants have blown up the Arch of Triumph, a major monument in the 2,000-year-old Roman city of Palmyra, Syria's antiquities chief said on October 4, after they destroyed two ancient temples at the central Syrian site in recent months.

Portugal's center-right government on October 4 won an election that was a test of its tough austerity stance, but its failure to win a majority in parliament raises the prospect of political uncertainty.

Germany needs to limit the number of refugees it takes in or even close its borders, conservative allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the weekend, as the country deals with record inflows of people fleeing from war and poverty.