Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and will expel all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada within five days, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Friday, denouncing Tehran as the biggest threat to global security.

At least 24 people were killed and 150 others injured in an earthquake that jolted southwest China's Yunnan and Guizhou provinces Friday, local civil affairs authorities said.

The APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, due to take place in Vladivostok, Russia, on September 8-9, is of paramount importance as it marks the 20th anniversary of the summit.

Typhoon Bolaven has killed 48 people in North Korea and left more than 50 others injured or missing, state-run KCNA news agency reports.

 As host of the summit, which opened on August 30, Iran is taking over the chair of NAM from Egypt for the next three years (2012-2015). Iran is facing opportunities, challenges and an impasse over its nuclear program.

In an epic battle between two Russian billionaires that became a riveting window on the murky and sometimes murderous business culture of post-Soviet Russia, a High Court judge rejected a $5.8 billion claim on Friday that pitted Boris A. Berezovsky, a London-based émigré, against Roman A. Abramovich, owner of London’s Chelsea football club.

An earthquake of 7.9 magnitude struck off the Philippines on Friday and a tsunami warning has been issued for the region, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

Mitt Romney vowed to rescue the US economy and create jobs Thursday as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the climax of a convention that sought to humanize the candidate.

Syria needs more time to end the conflict raging across the country, President Bashar al-Assad said in a television interview to be broadcast by pro-regime Al-Dunia channel on Wednesday.

South Korea was Monday bracing for the arrival of major typhoon Bolaven with a main port and ferry routes closed, classes cancelled and officials put on high alert.

On August 22, Russia became the 156 th official member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after 18 years of negotiation.