The death toll from a Christmas typhoon that tore through the central Philippines rose to 28 on Friday, with 12 people missing, the disaster agency said, as authorities moved to restore power and residents tried to repair damaged homes.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK on Friday sent a news bulletin that incorrectly reported North Korea had launched a missile that fell into waters east of the Japanese archipelago, issuing an apology hours later explaining it was a media training alert.
Police in New Mexico are investigating the Christmas Day shooting deaths of four family members in a suburban Albuquerque home as a triple murder and suicide, authorities said on Thursday.
Japan will send a warship and patrol planes to protect Japanese ships in the Middle East as the situation in the region, from which it sources nearly 90% of its crude oil imports, remains volatile, a document approved by the cabinet showed on Friday.
The Japanese government on Friday delayed the planned removal of fuel from two reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, highlighting difficulties facing a clean-up at the site of the 2011 disaster.
Communities across Asia commemorated the 230,000 victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami on Thursday, the 15th anniversary of one of the world's most deadly disasters.
Mexico's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday requested a meeting with Bolivia's charge d'affaires to protest the "harassment and intimidation" of its diplomatic personnel in the Bolivian city La Paz.
Japan will proceed with its plans to select cities to host casinos in the country, undeterred by the arrest of a lawmaker accused of taking bribes from a potential casino bidder, the country's chief government spokesman said on Thursday.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters and their supporters gathered outside a tiny restaurant in Hong Kong for an unconventional Christmas dinner, sharing paper plates piled high with food under neon street signs.