Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump have agreed to seek the conclusion and signing of a trade deal at a bilateral summit next month.

Japan is set to buy more corn from the US in a separate deal from the trade agreement the countries hope to sign next month.

Pope Francis has called for efforts to extinguish the fires consuming the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

The death toll in Sudan's recent heavy rains and floods rose to 62, the Sudanese Health Ministry announced Sunday.

Leaders of the Group of Seven countries have agreed to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power and pledged to seek peace and stability in the Middle East.

South Korea Sunday began two days of war games to practise defending disputed islands off its east coast against an unlikely attack from Japan, further stoking tensions between the Asian neighbours. The annual drills come just days after Seoul terminated a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo, with the countries at loggerheads over Japan's use of forced labour during World War II.