Indonesia's President and current Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Chair, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has officially opened the 19th ASEAN Summit in Bali.

Mario Monti replaced Silvio Berlusconi as Italy's new prime minister and named himself economy minister in a new cabinet unveiled on Wednesday, tasked with saving the eurozone heavyweight from bankruptcy.

European Union foreign ministers on Monday threatened to tighten sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear drive but showed little appetite for military action.

ASEAN foreign ministers have opened their preparatory meetings in Bali, Indonesia, ahead of the Leader's Summit which begins on Thursday.

Angry residents in flooded Bangkok protested on Monday, briefly blocking a major highway as frustration mounted that parts of the Thai capital are suffering badly while the centre stays dry.

President Giorgio Napolitano accepted his offer and is likely to appoint technocrat Mario Monti his successor.

In capital Berlin, thousands of protesters formed a human chain-- named "encirclement" by organizers-- in the Chancellery and Federal Parliament zone, located in the very city centre and not far from the central railway station.

The new interim cabinet was scheduled to hold their first meeting later on Friday, shortly after the ceremony hosted at the Presidential mansion by Greek President Karolos Papoulias.

President Barack Obama on Friday told the conflict-weary US public that looming withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi's ouster in Libya meant "the tide of war is receding."

Awareness in three vegetative patients were detected in a portable electrode test, a new study shows. If replicated, the method may change standards in treating such patients.

Italy's borrwing cost soared to breaking point on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced on Tuesday that he would resign after reforms aimed at calming the eurozone turmoil was adopted.

Thailand's opposition lashed out Wednesday at Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's financial plans for dealing with the worst floods in half a century, saying the economy was under threat.

Supreme Electoral Council President Roberto Rivas announced that Ortega won the elections after obtaining 62.65 percent of the vote, with votes counted in 85.8 percent of polling stations in the Central American nation.

U.S. forces are moving out of Iraq "at a high rate of speed," and most troops are scheduled to leave the country by mid-December, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday. The number of U.S. service members in Iraq has been reduced to approximately 34,000, down about 7,000 over the last three weeks, Maj. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, Deputy Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Iraq, told reporters from Baghdad via video teleconference. Most of the remaining troops will take military flights to Kuwait and return to the U.S. from there, while some will take direct commercial flights from Iraq to the U.S., the general said. Along with troops reduction, the number of U.S. military bases in Iraq also declined steadily, he said. There are currently 12 U. S. military bases there, compared with 45 in August. Military equipment once numbering more than 2 million pieces is down to 600, 000, he added. The U.S. is scheduled to pull out all its troops from Iraq by Dec. 31 under a 2008 security pact with the Iraqi government. The Obama administration failed last month to negotiate an agreement with the Iraqis over leaving several thousand U.S. trainers in the country. While Obama's withdrawal plan has been under continuous criticism from some Republican military hawks in Congress, it has widespread support from the public. Seventy-five percent of Americans are in favor of the plan, including the vast majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents, according to a recent Gallup poll.

A rare disease never seen in the southern hemisphere before, named tularaemia, has been discovered in Tasmania of Australia, state Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr Chrissie Pickin, confirmed on Friday. Two women contracted tularaemia after being bitten and scratched by sick possums in western Tasmania. While the disease is well known in North America and parts of Europe and Asia, it is believed the Tasmanian case is the first in the southern hemisphere. Veterinarian Dr James Harris said it has a range of effects on humans. "It causes a septicemia, an infection which circulates in the blood, and pneumonia and unless it is treated it can be a fatal disease," he said in a statement. "(It can be) treated with antibiotics very successfully." Pickin said both cases have recovered, and warned people to avoid handling wild animals and see their General Practice if scratched or bitten. Tularemia is an infectious bacterial disease which affects a range of species and is transferred through direct contact or biting ticks.