Italy was counting the cost Thursday after another major earthquake forced thousands to flee their homes in terror but "miraculously" did not cause any fatalities.

Two months after a quake left nearly 300 dead in the country's tremor-prone central spine, two powerful shocks ripped through the mountainous, sparsely-populated region on Wednesday evening.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging close cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State group, the White House said.

"Obama noted the need for close coordination between the United States and Turkey to build on these successes and to apply sustained pressure on ISIL in Syria to reduce threats to the United States, Turkey, and elsewhere," a statement said, using another name for the Jihadist group.

Protocol-conscious Japanese were on faux pas alert Thursday with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte due to meet Emperor Akihito, the nation's most revered figure.

South Korean prosecutors on Thursday set up a high-powered "task-force" to probe a widening scandal involving alleged influence-peddling by a close confidante of President Park Geun-Hye.

Twin earthquakes rocked central Italy on Wednesday -- the second registering at a magnitude of 6.1 -- in the same region struck in August by a devastating tremor that killed nearly 300 people.

Turkish police clashed with protesters in Diyarbakir on Wednesday, using tear gas and water cannon to prevent them demonstrating against the detention of the Kurdish-majority city's co-mayors.

Russia has criticized plans to deploy more than 300 American troops in Norway, saying it would do nothing to make northern Europe safer.

Menus have large type, boutiques sell loose-fitting clothing and slippers, and residents roam around on golf carts.

This is the central Florida community of The Villages, developed especially for retirees, which has become an important Republican stronghold in White House hopeful Donald Trump's play for this key southeastern US state.

A Southeast Asian terror mastermind who has been accused over a series of high-profile attacks will stay in detention at Guantanamo Bay after U.S. officials rejected his bid for release.

A U.S. government body tasked with reducing the number of inmates at Guantanamo said that Indonesian militant Riduan Isamuddin, better known by his nom de guerre Hambali, still represented a "significant threat to the security of the United States."

Vatican finance chief George Pell has been interviewed by Australian police in Rome over sexual assault claims, authorities said Wednesday, but no charges have yet been laid.