A couple and their five children were killed overnight in Syria's northern Aleppo province in strikes by the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, a monitor said on Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group, said the deaths raised to 148 the number of civilians killed in U.S.-led strikes in Syria since they began in September.

When the Iraqi government lost Ramadi last month, Abu Yasser's heart sank: the prospect of his own city, Mosul, shaking off jihadist rule had just faded farther into the distance.

Wresting back Mosul, Iraq's second city, was always seen as the top prize and climax of any fightback against the Islamic State group.

A U.S. drone attack on a militant compound in a restive Pakistani tribal area Saturday killed at least seven militants, security officials said.

The drone strike took place in the Shawal area of lawless North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, where the Pakistani military is battling Taliban militants.

Recent satellite imagery suggests North Korea is unlikely to conduct a fresh nuclear test in coming months, according to a U.S. think-tank.

The Stalinist state recently turned up the volume on its hostile rhetoric and boasted of its nuclear and missile capability, claiming it had successfully tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile last month.

A former Guantanamo inmate who resettled late last year in Uruguay tied the knot on Friday with a woman he met in his adopted homeland, local media reported.

Tunisian Abdul bin Muhammad Abbas Ouerghi, 49, married a Uruguayan woman identified in news reports as Roma Blanco.

The United States is considering a range of moves to counter Russia's alleged violation of a nuclear arms treaty, including bolstering missile defenses or even deploying land-based missiles in Europe, officials said Friday.

The options are expected to be discussed at a meeting of senior military officers and diplomats convened by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during a visit Friday to Stuttgart, Germany, Pentagon officials told Agence France Presse.

The U.S. government on Thursday admitted hackers accessed the personal data of at least four million current and former federal employees, in a vast cyber-attack suspected to have originated in China.

"As a result of the incident," uncovered in April, the Office of Personnel Management said it "will send notifications to approximately four million individuals."

Pakistan's foreign secretary on Thursday hotly denied his country could sell Saudi Arabia an "off-the-shelf" nuclear weapon, after days of high-level talks in Washington.

After meetings at the White House, Pentagon and State Department, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry described the suggestions Pakistan could sell a weapon as "unfounded, baseless and untrue."

Jeb Bush appeared all but certain Thursday to launch his White House bid on June 15, as fellow Republican and former Texas governor Rick Perry squeezed into the crowded 2016 presidential race.

"Hope you all will join me for a special day," Bush, the son and brother of two U.S. presidents, posted on Twitter, with a graphic showing the date 6.15.15.

The second hearing in the Iran espionage trial of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian will be held on Monday, Isna news agency has quoted his lawyer Leila Ahsan as saying.

The trial of the 39-year-old Iranian-American began behind closed doors on May 26 in Branch 15 of the Tehran revolutionary court, which usually presides over political cases or those related to national security.