Tens of thousands of Yemenis rallied in the center of the capital on August 20 to show support for the Houthi-led bloc as the head of the group's new governing council vowed to form a full government in the coming days.

Federal health officials on August 19 warned pregnant women not to travel to trendy Miami Beach after Florida confirmed that the mosquito-borne Zika virus was active in the popular tourist destination.

The U.S. military has withdrawn from Saudi Arabia its personnel who were coordinating with the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, and sharply reduced the number of staff elsewhere who were assisting in that planning, U.S. officials told Reuters.

Russian warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired cruise missiles at targets near Aleppo on August 19, a further sign of Moscow's broadening military effort in Syria days after it began to fly bombing missions from an airbase in Iran.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on August 18 accused followers of a US-based Islamic cleric he blames for last month's coup attempt of being complicit in attacks by Kurdish militants in Turkey's southeast which killed 10 people.

Russia said on August 18 it would support a 48-hour ceasefire in Aleppo, a move the UN Syria envoy said would allow aid to reach besieged areas soon, as long as all sides respect the temporary truce.

Three people were killed and 40 were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a police station in Turkey's eastern province of Van near the Iranian border on August 17, state broadcaster TRT said, citing the local governor.

A total of 40,029 people have been detained in Turkey in investigations related to last month's failed coup and around half of those have been formally arrested, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on August 17.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) says it has resumed plutonium production by reprocessing spent fuel rods and has no plans to stop nuclear tests as long as perceived US threats remain, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on August 17.- 

Emergency crews safely rescue 512 passenger and crew from a ferry that caught fire off the coast of Puerto Rico.