US President Barack Obama signs a two-year bipartisan federal budget bill, averting the risk of a government shutdown in January.

The US has delivered dozens of missiles to Iraq and is planning a shipment of drones to help combat al-Qaeda, US and Iraqi officials confirm.

A rocket attack kills three members of an Iranian opposition group in Iraq, the group and its parent organisation say.

UK business tycoon Richard Branson calls on companies and tourists to boycott Uganda after its parliament approves a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts.

X-Men star Hugh Jackman pulls out of an upcoming Broadway musical about Harry Houdini in which he was to have played the famed illusionist.

East Africa's leaders are to meet in Kenya to discuss growing violence in South Sudan, where more than 1,000 people are believed to have died.

At least 34 children die in camps set up for thousands who fled their homes in the Hindu-Muslim clashes in the north Indian town of Muzaffarnagar, an official report says.

The government of Japan's Okinawa prefecture approves the relocation of a US military airbase, ending years of deadlock, officials say.