By Jack Stubbs and Ellen Francis MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday that the Syrian army's capture of Aleppo, which has come under renewed bombardment in an effort to seize its rebel-held sector, would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey.

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, after mediation by Switzerland and the International Red Cross, officials said on Thursday.

By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - When Prince Hisahito was born in 2006, ending a 41-year drought in imperial male heirs, Japan's government gladly dropped proposals that women might head the world's oldest monarchy, but a decade later the little prince remains the last hope for an unreformed Chrysanthemum Throne.

By Tim Kelly TOKYO(Reuters) - Until recently, public meetings between Japanese defense contractors and uniformed foreign military delegations would have stirred controversy in Japan, but this week's aerospace show in Tokyo saw plenty.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese official who worked in anti-corruption departments for almost 20 years has been jailed for life for graft, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday.

PARIS (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe was seen as the winner of the first debate on Thursday among candidates for the center-right's nomination in France's 2017 presidential election, a poll published immediately afterward showed.

By Juarawee Kittisilpa and Andrew R.C. Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's people woke up on Friday to the first day in 70 years without King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a king worshipped as a father-figure who guided the nation through decades of change and turmoil. The king, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in a Bangkok hospital on Thursday. He was 88.

By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Wednesday he did not know what a "panoply" of statements by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte since taking office this year would mean for Manila's future security cooperation with Washington.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China hopes that Australia acts and speaks with caution on the South China Sea and that its words and actions on the matter match each other, a senior Chinese officer told the visiting head of the Australian Defence Force.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police on Thursday charged two 16-year boys with planning an imminent, Islamic State-inspired terror attack. The two teenagers, who were arrested in a western suburb of Sydney on Wednesday, were found to be carrying two knives, though police said the exact target of their alleged plot is unknown.