At least 48 people were killed and 75 wounded when gunman stormed a Pakistani police training academy in the southwestern city of Quetta, hospital officials said on October 25.

Islamic State expanded its attacks on October 24 against the army and Kurdish forces across Iraq, trying to relieve pressure on the militant group's defenses around Mosul, its last major urban stronghold in the country.

A powerful blast at a prefabricated house in northwestern China on October 24 killed at least seven people and injured 94, state news agency Xinhua said.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte softened his remarks about a "separation" from long-time ally the United States on the eve of a visit to Japan, a country worried about Manila's apparent pivot away from Washington and toward China.

The battle for control of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo intensified on October 23 with air strikes, ground offensives and shelling, the morning after a resurgence in fighting ended a Russian ceasefire, a monitor and rebel groups said.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump a "sore loser" on October 23 because of his refusal at their debate last week to commit to accepting the results of the Nov. 8 election.

The most senior US diplomat for Asia has arrived in the Philippines and will meet the country's foreign minister on October 24 amid confusion over the status of ties between the two long-time allies, said the US Embassy in Manila.

Kurdish fighters said they had taken the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from Islamic State on October 23 as coalition forces pressed their offensive against the jihadists' last stronghold in Iraq.

Rescuers pulled 2,400 boat migrants to safety on October 22, the Italian coastguard said, adding 14 dead bodies had been recovered in the past two days.

The United States remains the "closest friend" of the Philippines but Manila wants to break away from a "mindset of dependency and subservience" and forge closer ties with other nations, the Philippine foreign minister said on October 22.