SEOUL (Reuters) - An increase in activity at North Korea's nuclear test site could signal preparations for a new test or a collection of data from its last one, a U.S.-based monitoring group said on Friday, citing satellite images.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia said on Friday that a piece of plane debris discovered in Mauritius was from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board. The Boeing 777 disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, sparking a two-year search has turned up few leads.

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Thursday unanimously nominated former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres to be the next Secretary-General, recommending that the 193-member General Assembly appoint him for five years from Jan. 1, 2017.

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine military can manage without U.S. aid, the defense minister said on Friday, after President Rodrigo Duterte said the United States and the European Union should withdraw their assistance if they were unhappy with his drugs war. "I think we can live without (that) aid. Our Congress is actually giving us money now for the procurement of equipment.

By Rajendra Jadhav and Rahul Bhatia MUMBAI (Reuters) - Americans were swindled out of tens of millions of dollars in an alleged tax scam that was run for about a year from call centers on the outskirts of Mumbai, a senior investigator said on Thursday, predicting more arrests on top of the 70 made so far.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's top court has approved a request by prosecutors to split the investigation of dozens of politicians implicated in the sprawling Petrobras corruption scandal by grouping them by the main parties that prosecutors allege received kickbacks.

By Ellen Francis and Tom Miles BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms, President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday, vowing to press on with the assault on Syria's largest city and recapture full control of the country.

By Andrew R.C. Marshall and John Chalmers MANILA (Reuters) - There are two versions of how Manila pedicab driver Neptali Celestino died. According to Philippines police, he shot at plainclothes officers during a sting operation on Sept. 12, and they returned fire.

By Julia Symmes Cobb and Helen Murphy BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and opposition rival Alvaro Uribe met on Wednesday in a bid to resolve differences over a peace deal with Marxist FARC rebels that was rejected in a shock vote this week, leaving the country in limbo.

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been rated "very good" in an opinion poll on his first 90 days in office, which has been defined largely by his deadly war on drugs and vitriol against Western leaders. Only 11 percent of 1,200 Filipinos surveyed by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) agency said they were dissatisfied with his performance.