Sentiment among Japan's big manufacturers worsens in the three months to December, underlining the weakness in its economy.

North Koreans rally to celebrate Wednesday's long-range rocket launch, as South Korea's navy retrieves the rocket's first stage for analysis.

Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush says he will not resign despite being arrested this week on suspicion of corruption.

Powerful Cyclone Evan causes widespread destruction on the Pacific island of Samoa, with several people reported dead or missing.

A man with a knife has wounded 22 children and an adult at a primary school in central China, state media report.

Prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is charged with fraud and money laundering on the eve of a banned protest rally in Moscow.

China Daily, China's biggest English-language newspaper, launches an African edition - the latest of several Chinese media initiatives in Africa.

Russia insists its position on Syria remains unchanged, a day after its deputy foreign minister said the Syrian government was losing control.