A roadside mine killed 19 civilians and injured another five when it exploded in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on December 7.

Sixty defence officials from 22 countries comprising ASEAN and its dialogue partners gathered at a dialogue meeting on December 7 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to exchange opinions and experience in peacekeeping and maritime security.

A total of 677 people were confirmed dead and three people were missing in the floods that have inundated the upper part of the country for about four months, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported on December 7.

A member of Iraq's governing coalition has told CNN he expects Tariq Aziz, Iraq's top diplomat under Saddam Hussein, to be executed next year.

Tougher rules to tackle the eurozone debt crisis can be achieved without changing EU treaties, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy says.

Officials at Yemeni Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's office said on December 6 that an interim reconciliation government would be formed within 24 hours.

Two terrorist bomb attacks in central and northern Afghanistan killed at least 59 people and wounded more than 160 others on December 6 - the holiest day of the Shi'ite Muslim calendar.

The United Russia party gained 238 out of the total of 450 seats in Sunday's State Duma election, Central Election Commission (CEC) chief Vladimir Churov said on December 5.

Syria has responded "positively" to an Arab League initiative aimed at ending eight months of deadly unrest, its foreign ministry spokesman has said.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's has put almost the entire eurozone countries, including Germany and France, on "credit watch" due to fears over the impact of the debt crisis.