Japan and the United States held on Wednesday their first strategic negotiations on the development of cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of joint policies to counter China's growing power, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Nineteen people have died and 26 others been injured in a road accident in the Nigerian state of Kano as two buses collided, Lagos-based newspaper Vanguard reported on Friday, citing Nigerian Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC)