Demonstrations in Spain and Portugal are spreading and likely to become riots in protest against government measures to raise taxes and cut spending as conditions of an international bailout.

Japan will try to broker a deal on debt relief for fast-reforming Myanmar on the sidelines of the upcoming International Monetary Fund meeting in Tokyo, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said on Friday.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU), through their “Enhancing ASEAN FTA negotiating capacity program” (FTA program), organize a Public Dialogue Forum (PDF) on September 21 in Hanoi to discuss Vietnam and ASEAN’s trade integration with the EU.

Panetta is on the second official stop of a three-nation tour to Japan, China and New Zealand.

President Barack Obama's lead over Republican Mitt Romney narrowed to 5 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, from a high of seven points in the week after the Democratic National Convention.

German banks seem to be losing their appetite for agricultural commodities trading as public opinion turns against the investment vehicles blamed for driving up global food prices.

Japan's ambassador-designate to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, died on Sunday in a Tokyo hospital, the Foreign Ministry said, three days after he was found unconscious on a Tokyo street.

New York became the first city in the United States to impose a limited ban on super-sized soda drinks blamed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg for fueling a national obesity crisis.

Libya said Thursday it has made arrests and opened a probe into an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed the American ambassador, amid speculation that Al-Qaeda rather than a frenzied mob was to blame.

At least 116 people were killed in two separate factory fire incidents that occurred on Tuesday in Pakistan's two largest cities of Lahore and Karachi, said local authorities and media reports on Wednesday.

A suicide bomber tore through a crowd of Afghan demonstrators Monday, killing 21 people in the northern city of Kunduz, a hospital doctor said, amid fears that the toll could rise further.