Israel's interior minister Eli Yishai has given final approval for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, his spokesman told AFP on Thursday.

A woman covered in a head-to-foot burqa carried out a suicide bombing in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing herself and another woman, police said, adding to security challenges confronting the US ally.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in Seoul on Thursday that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) should be given humanitarian aid regardless of "political considerations or any other calculations".

The 43 rd ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM 43) and Related Meetings opened in the North Sulawesi provincial capital city of Manado, Indonesia on August 10.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on August 10 that he'll resign once new bills related to post-earthquake reconstruction pass parliament, to avoid a political vacuum.

Libyan officials said on August 9 that dozens of civilians had been killed in a NATO strike on a cluster of farmhouses east of Tripoli, but the alliance said it hit a legitimate military target.

Troops have killed at least 18 people in the Syrian city of Homs, activists say, as the government continues its military efforts to crush dissent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron meets with his crisis-response committee again on August 10 after a fourth night of violence hit London neighborhoods and spread elsewhere in the country.

The Chinese navy's first aircraft carrier has begun its sea trials, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.

A US drone fired two missiles into Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border on August 10, killing at least 21 suspected militants, including foreigners, local officials said, in one of the biggest attacks in weeks.