Heavy fighting took place in different sectors of the Syrian city of Aleppo on August 14 as rebels assaulted two government strongholds in the city's northwest and south, a monitor of the war said.

Thai police affirmed on August 14 that they know who was behind a series of bombings that rocked well-known tourist destinations across the south.

Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance on August 13 at his 90th birthday gala, after the leader of the 1959 revolution thanked fellow Cubans for their well wishes and lambasted his old foe the United States in a column carried by state-run media.

Six people were injured in an attack aboard a Swiss train on August 13 by a man armed with a knife and flammable fluid, St Gallen cantonal police said.

Thousands of displaced residents streamed back into the northern Syrian town of Manbij on August 13 after US-backed fighters ousted the last Islamic State militants from their former stronghold, residents and US allies said.

Six people, including three members of an Indiana family and a German exchange student, were killed on August 12 when their small plane plowed into a line of trees after an aborted landing at a northern Virginia airport, authorities said on August 13.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered law enforcers to arrest Caucasian-looking people who were allegedly involved in indoctrinating Filipinos in the south of the country with teachings of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS).

Indonesian armed forces have decided to set up a special squad to assist the release of local hostages being held by Abu Sayyaf rebel group in the Philippines.

Representatives of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) resumed negotiations on implementing peace agreements at their meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on August 13.

Five Pakistanis and a Russian who were captured by the Afghan Taliban after their government helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan have been released and turned over to Pakistani custody, officials said on August 13.