KABUL -- U.S. President Donald Trump paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Thursday evening, meeting with his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and spending Thanksgiving with U.S. troops stationed in the country.

It was Trump's first trip to the war-torn country since becoming president. (Afghanistan-U.S.-Trump visit)

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SEOUL -- South Korea's central bank on Friday froze its benchmark interest rate at a record low to see the effect of policy rate cut in the previous month.

Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol and six other policy board members decided to leave the benchmark 7-day repurchase rate unchanged at 1.25 percent. (South Korea-Monetary policy)

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TOKYO -- Japan's industrial output dropped in October from a month earlier, owing to a powerful typhoon pummeling the country and severely disrupting factory operations and supply chains, the government said in a report on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, factory output in the recording period fell 4.2 percent from a month earlier, marking the biggest decline in almost two years. (Japan-Industrial output)

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SEOUL -- South Korea's top nuclear envoy held phone talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s test-firing of short-range projectiles, Yonhap news agency reported Friday citing Seoul's foreign ministry.

Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, spoke by phone with Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for DPRK affairs earlier in the day. (South Korea-U.S.-Japan) Enditem

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