Belgium plans to halve its troop numbers in Afghanistan from the start of January, a defense ministry official told Agence France Presse on Sunday in the latest sign of allied exit from the decade-old war.

"The main reduction will be in Kabul, where the minister has determined that our objective has been met by some distance," said Didier Deweerdt, a spokesman for Defense Minister Pieter De Crem.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who is in Cuba following emergency surgery, is in "critical" but stable condition, Miami's El Nuevo Herald reported, citing U.S. intelligence sources.

Chavez's government has said he was operated on for a pelvic abscess on June 10 and is recovering well; the president's brother has told Venezuelan state media that Chavez could return to Caracas in about two weeks.

The presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan agreed on Saturday to join forces in combating terrorism, in a joint statement issued after three-way talks in Tehran.

"All sides stressed their commitment to efforts aimed at eliminating extremism, militancy, terrorism, as well as rejecting foreign interference, which is in blatant opposition to the spirit of Islam, the peaceful cultural traditions of the region and its peoples' interests," the statement said.

A Turkish court has charged four soldiers over an alleged 2003 plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government and ordered them detained pending trial, Anatolia news agency reported Saturday.

Two-star admiral Mucahit Sislioglu, a colonel, and two other soldiers were questioned Friday and then charged as part of an expanding probe into a purported coup plot, codenamed "Operation Sledgehammer," that has already landed some 200 soldiers in court.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a counter terrorism summit in Tehran on Saturday that despite his government's efforts, militancy was on the rise in both his country and the region.

"Unfortunately, despite all the achievements in the fields of education, infrastructure and reconstruction, not only has Afghanistan not yet achieved peace and security, but terrorism is expanding and threatening more than ever Afghanistan and the region," he told the opening session.

Nearly 90,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Philippines due to floods caused by Tropical Storm Meari, with 15 people listed as missing, the civil defense office said Saturday.

In Marikina, a low-lying suburb of Manila, 25,000 people were in evacuation centers after waters reached dangerous levels, the office added. Authorities indicated it was too early to say when people would be able to return home.

At least five people were killed and 32 wounded when riot police battled anti-mining demonstrators to prevent them taking over an airport in southeastern Peru, hospital officials said early Saturday.

The victims were part of a group of some 1,000 mostly local Aymara Indian farmers that tried to storm the Inca Manco Capac international airport in Juliaca.

In a symbolic but scathing rebuke to President Barack Obama, the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday rejected a resolution authorizing U.S. military action in Libya for one year.

Lawmakers defeated the measure with 295 voting against and only 123 for, and moved to take up a companion resolution aimed at sharply reducing the U.S. role in NATO-led, U.N.-mandated operations against Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

Ten people were killed and 24 others wounded when a bicycle bomb went off in a busy bazaar in northern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday, updating an earlier toll.

The blast happened in Khan Abad district, Kunduz province, at around 6:00pm (13:30 GMT) Friday. Local officials initially said six people were killed and 22 others were wounded.

The United States said Friday it was monitoring Venezuela's ties to Iran and "no option" is off the table for potential sanctions against President Hugo Chavez's government in Caracas.

Kevin Whitaker, the acting deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, said Washington was monitoring Venezuela for "patterns of support for acts of international terrorism."