U.S. congressional negotiators late Tuesday approved an emergency funding package to pay for military operations against the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq and Syria, and a vote is expected in the coming days.

A plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, proposed by President Barack Obama, is also expected to be extended. Lawmakers in September had approved it to last only until December 11.

Beijing and Canberra have agreed to enhance military ties, Chinese state media reported, lauding defense relations between them even as Australia strengthens cooperation with the United States and Japan.

The move follows President Xi Jinping's visit to Australia last month, when they agreed to raise their ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership" and sealed a free trade accord, the official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday.

U.S. car manufacturers remain barred from doing business in Iran even though European automakers are eying huge deals as sanctions are eased against the Islamic republic, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

France's PSA Peugeot-Citroen was in "intense" talks about resuming production in Iran, halted since March 2012, a company representative said in Tehran on Monday at the start of the Iran Auto Show.

Qatar will allow an American couple to fly home Wednesday, three days after being cleared of wrongdoing in the death of their adopted daughter, top U.S. diplomat John Kerry said.

An appeals court in Doha acquitted Matthew and Grace Huang on Sunday of any parental neglect following the death of eight-year-old Gloria, who had been adopted from an orphanage in Ghana, and said they were free to leave. 

U.S. forces and their Iraqi counterparts have trained about 2,000 Sunni fighters in Iraq as part of efforts to defeat the Islamic State extremist group, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

Iraq's Shiite-led government, trying to reverse the marginalization of Sunnis, is seeking to form a "bridging entity" where Sunnis tribesmen defend their provinces before they are brought into an Iraqi national force, the State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The former number-two ranking official at the Pentagon, Ashton Carter, will likely be named as the next U.S. defense secretary, American media reported Tuesday.

President Barack Obama was poised to nominate Carter to replace outgoing Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel, "barring any last minute complications," CNN reported.

The world is no longer beating the "drum of war" against Iran, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, citing the direct benefit of the government's nuclear talks with the West.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said the decision to restart negotiations and seek a deal over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme had reduced tension and would not be reversed.

Protesters around the U.S. demonstrated Monday with their hands in the air in tribute to Michael Brown, the young black man killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

As part of the "Hands Up Walk Out" campaign, thousands of protesters gathered at universities and workplaces for midday demonstrations around the time Brown was killed on August 9.

Russia lashed out at NATO on Monday, saying the alliance risked "destabilizing" Europe with military drills linked to a spike in tensions over the Ukraine crisis.

Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexei Meshkov said the U.S.-led military alliance was "trying to destabilize the world's most stable region".

A communications director for a Republican lawmaker said Monday she would resign after she posted a Facebook rant about U.S. President Barack Obama's daughters.

Elizabeth Lauten, spokeswoman for Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, wrote a post slamming Malia and Sasha, aged 16 and 13, for looking bored at a public event with their father.