Finance chiefs from the world's industrial powers pledged on Sunday to take whatever actions were needed to steady financial market, spooked by the political wrangling in Europe and the United States over slashing their huge budget deficits.

NATO tried to determine on Sunday if Taliban insurgents had shot down a troop-carrying helicopter in Afghanistan, killing 38 in the largest loss of life suffered by foreign forces in a single incident in 10 years of war.

Saudi Arabia says it is withdrawing its ambassador from Syria in protest against the crackdown on Syrian anti-government demonstrators.

At least a quarter of a million Israelis have staged marches over the rising cost of living. Some protesters have also set up camp in city centres.

Thirty International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members, one civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos were killed when a coalition CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in east Afghanistan on August 6.

Chinese authorities have evacuated more than 200,000 people from its east coast as the region braces itself for its most powerful typhoon in years.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has repeated a pledge to reduce reliance on nuclear power, as people mark the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

The US lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor (S&P)'s on August 5 in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.

Ministers of the six Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries have expressed their strong support for the GMS Strategic Framework for 2012-2022.

NASA scientists have discovered new evidence that briny water flows on Mars during its warmest months, raising chances that life could exist on the Red Planet, the space agency said on August 5.