CHINA

The restructuring will see the military cut around 300,000 troops from its pool of around 2 million active personnel and create a Western-style military force.

Several times over the past week, the Indian capital has recorded air quality much worse than Beijing's. However, unlike the Chinese capital, it lacks provisions for issuing pollution-related alerts.

A U.S. defense official said that similar deployments in Singapore were likely to become common occurrence every three months, according to a report.

Exports were down for the fifth straight month in a fresh sign of challenges facing China's economy, though a drop in imports slowed in November.

Amnesty International said in a new report that the Islamic State group uses arms mainly seized from Iraqi military stocks, and has benefited from a poorly policed arms trade.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to boost growth since coming to power in 2012.

Japan shares rose as much as 0.1 percent after the government revised third-quarter economic growth upward.

The four-door sedan will help the automaker challenge BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz in the luxury market.

China has been building up its land claim in the South China sea, adding military-grade airstrips.

Staff at the state-run China News Service apparently switched two Chinese characters with similar pronunciations in the report, accidentally writing that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks were a “resignation,” not a “speech.”

A red alert is usually issued after three days of extremely high levels of air pollution.

At the end of November, China's foreign exchange reserves stood at $3.428 trillion -- a drop of $87.22 billion over the previous month.

The deal is the biggest consolidation in the shipping industry since 2005 when New Jersey-based Maersk Line bought P&O Nedlloyd for $3 billion.

Claudio Borio of the Bank of International Settlements noted that the end of market “turbulence” should not be understood as total economic stability.

The EU extended restrictions placed in 2013 on Chinese solar panel manufacturers due to complaints of "dumping" by local companies.

The Dec. 8-10 meeting will consider a resolution to hold an annual meeting of states that have ratified the Geneva Conventions.

Beijing issued its second smog warning in less than a week as city dwellers expressed frustration over government inaction.

A new agreement to fight climate change is more likely as negotiators approved a draft at talks outside Paris Saturday.

Buoyed by films like the China-connected "Furious 7" and "Monster Hunt," annual movie-ticket sales in the country for the first time have crossed the $6 billion mark this year.

OPEC's top producers, like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, won't cut output, virtually guaranteeing bargain basement petroleum at $40 a barrel ... or less.

From January, trading will be suspended for 15 minutes if markets rise or fall 5 percent, and halted for the day if the fluctuation reaches 7 percent.