Most of the casualty were found in Benermeriah District, about 1,500 houses, government office buildings and mosques were damaged by the quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of national disaster management agency told Xinhua by phone on Wednesday.

Norway on July 1 signed an amity and cooperation treaty with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brunei, vowing to further develop ties with the 10-member regional bloc.

Eight soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion in Thailand’s southern province of Yala on June 29, while four other people, including two civilians, were wounded.

Indonesia said on Saturday that fires across giant rainforests which caused Southeast Asia's worst air pollution crisis in years had been greatly reduced and were coming under control.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its latest press release that it will coordinate with the Government of Norway to assist Myanmar in developing tourism through a 500-million-USD Tourism Master Plan.

Brazilian police clashed with protesters ahead of a Confederations Cup semi-final Thursday as President Dilma Rousseff's allies backed her plans for a plebiscite on political reform aimed at defusing public anger.

  The national flag above the coat of arms is pictured at the embassy of Ecuador in Moscow, June 24, 2013.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has apologised to Singapore and Malaysia over fires that have cloaked the countries in thick haze, as thousands more emergency workers were deployed Tuesday to tackle the blazes.

The BBC expressed concerns on Monday about what it called a campaign launched by Turkish authorities to "intimidate its journalists" as government officials have lashed international media outlets for their coverage of the unrest that rocked the country.

"We have seen the latest reports from the South African government that former president Mandela is in critical condition," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

President Barack Obama plans to nominate Terrell McSweeny, a veteran of Vice President Joe Biden's staff, to be a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, the White House said on Friday.

President Barack Obama will unveil plans for a sharp reduction in nuclear warheads in a landmark speech at the Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday that comes 50 years after John F. Kennedy declared "Ich bin ein Berliner" in a defiant Cold War address.

The G8 summit opened in Northern Ireland on June 17, focusing on how to recover the global economic recession. Yet, disagreements over policies for Syria have cast a shadow over the event.

Google said Tuesday it asked a special US court handling national security investigations for permission to publish the number of government requests for data to the Internet giant.

Deputy Director of the Heritage and Culture Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Quoc Hung made the statement at the opening ceremony of the WHC’s 37th session in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on June 16. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at the event (Source: VNA)