Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone has died at the age of 101, NHK television said on Friday, after a career during which he hobnobbed on the world stage with Ronald Reagan, and battled with bureaucrats at home to enact sweeping reforms.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed "great satisfaction" over the latest test of a large multiple-rocket launcher, state media said on Friday, a launch that experts said showcased improving performance by the system and its crews.
China is stepping up efforts to be nice to Taiwan ahead of key elections on Jan. 11, offering better treatment to Taiwanese in China and urging the democratic island to "come home", but many there only see Beijing wielding a threatening stick.
Singapore said on Friday it had instructed Facebook to issue a correction on a post on the social media platform under its new fake news law, after the user declined a government request to do so.
Thousands of Australian students walked out of class on Friday to join rallies demanding stronger action to rein in climate change, which they said is contributing to the country's bushfire crisis.
Stuffed with turkey after Thanksgiving feasts, shoppers headed out to stores across the United States in a quest to score the best Black Friday discounts, with early promotions marking the start of a condensed holiday shopping season.
Members of a U.S.-Mexican religious community who lost relatives in a gangland massacre this month have come under fire from supporters of Mexico's government for pressing the United States to declare drugs cartels terrorist groups.
Hong Kong braced for a fresh round of protests over the weekend as police said they would withdraw from a university on Friday that has been the site of some of the worst clashes between protesters and security forces in nearly six months of unrest.
A powerful winter storm pounded parts of the United States on Thursday, bringing heavy snowfall that forced the closure of a major Southern California highway during the busy Thanksgiving holiday.
Sudanese transitional authorities approved a law on Thursday to dissolve the former ruling party and repealed a public order law used to regulate women's behavior under ex-president Omar al-Bashir, the justice minister said.
China warned the United States on Thursday it would take "firm counter measures" in response to U.S. legislation backing anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, and said attempts to interfere in the Chinese-ruled city were doomed to fail.
Chilean lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday to fast-track reforms to beef up security, warning that a resurgence in violence and vandalism was threatening to derail the country's 30-year-old democracy.