Syria’s troops have entered a northeastern town, Syrian state media said on Monday, after Washington announced it was abruptly pulling out its forces, and its former Kurdish allies reached a deal with Damascus to help resist a Turkish attack. The US withdrawal from the eight-year Syrian war, and the potential return of the Syrian army to the Kurdish-controlled northeast, are major victories for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Russia and Iran.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Sunday to bring to an immediate halt the military operation in northern Syria, a German government spokeswoman said.

Japan sent tens of thousands of troops and rescue workers on Sunday to save stranded residents and fight floods caused by one of the worst typhoons to hit the country in recent history, which killed 23 people and briefly paralyzed Tokyo, news wires reported.

More than 100,000 people from the towns of Ras Al-Ayn and Tal Abyad have been displaced by the escalation of violence in Syria, the UN World Food Programme said on Saturday. The World Food Programme and its partners will still support people in the northeast despite a deterioration in the security situation, it said. About 580,000 of the people it feeds in the region are currently living in Kurdish-controlled areas.

Leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia signed a so-called “mini-Schengen” deal on Thursday, which envisages free movement of people, goods, capital, and services between the three Western Balkan countries, news wires reported.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced.

International donors gathered in France are set to pledge $14bn on Thursday to combating the diseases, French President Emmanuel Macron said, announcing a 15% increase in his country’s contribution to a global fund.

Turkish troops have reportedly begun an offensive in northern Syria. The announcement was made today by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who claims that the ultimate goal is for a "safe zone" to be created in Azas by clearing the location of Kurdish militias and for it to then house some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees Ankara has accepted. 

Ecuadoran protesters broke into the country's Congress building on Tuesday as demonstrations over a fuel price hike introduced by President Lenin Moreno's government intensified. Demonstrators, many of them indigenous men armed with sticks and whips, surged through a security cordon. They rushed into the meeting room and occupied the podium, but were soon evicted by security forces.

Turkey wants to deepen and diversify bilateral relations with Serbia, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Turkey-Serbia Business Forum in Belgrade on Monday. He announced that Ankara and Belgrade have signed nine agreements on defence, social security, industry and technology cooperation after the two countries High-Level Cooperation Council meeting.