China said on May 22 it was "strongly dissatisfied" after a US spy plane flew over part of the East Sea this week near where China is building artificial islands, and called on the United States to stop such action or risk causing an accident.

Islamic State fighters tightened their grip on the historic Syrian city of Palmyra on May 21 and overran Iraqi government defenses east of Ramadi, the provincial capital that they seized five days earlier.

Talks between the United States and Cuba will go into a second day on May 22 as the sides try to reach agreement on reopening embassies shut for more than half a century, the crucial next step in their historic detente.

Australia will investigate claims by an animal rights group that cattle in Vietnam are being slaughtered with sledgehammers but it will not suspend live cattle exports to that country, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on May 20.

Malaysia and Indonesia said on May 20 they would offer shelter to 7,000 "boat people" adrift at sea in rickety boats but made clear their assistance was temporary and they would take no more.

Tourism, Nepal's economic mainstay, has suffered a severe blow in the aftermath of two devastating earthquakes that rocked the country and killed over 8,500 people. 

The United States on May 19 indicated its willingness to change pro-democracy programs which it organizes in Cuba and which are condemned by Havana, removing one of the biggest impediments to restoring diplomatic ties.

The number of people killed in Nepal by two major earthquakes has surpassed 8,500, making the disaster the deadliest to hit the Himalayan country on record, as rescuers on May 17 searched for dozens of people still missing in remote villages.

Thousands of Shi'ite militiamen on May 18 prepared to fight Islamic State insurgents who seized the Iraqi provincial capital Ramadi at the weekend in the biggest defeat for government forces in nearly a year.

Saudi-led forces resumed military operations in Yemen after a five-day ceasefire ended late last weekend, and Yemen's exiled government in Riyadh and the Iranian-allied Houthis blamed each other for a failure to renew the truce.