From Washington, this is VOA news. Hello, I'm Steve Miller.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have approved a joint statement on Syria. They agreed that there is no military solution to the conflict.

Putin said the agreement came as a result of discussions he had with Mr. Trump at the APEC summit.

"We can say that the work on the sidelines of the APEC was useful and successful because it was not easy to reach an agreement on the Syria statement."

Trump and Putin also confirmed their commitment to Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and also called on parties involved in a Syrian conflict to use the Geneva process to find a resolution.

The United States and South Korea started joint naval exercises Saturday. Grace Lee reports the drills will involve three U.S. aircraft carriers in what military officials describe as a clear warning to North Korea.

The USS Nimitz, Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt will all take part in the exercises, a rare show of force timed with Trump's visit to five Asian countries.

Drills on this scale are a reminder that Washington can rapidly mobilize military force, something Trump has been looking to emphasize as Pyongyang races ahead with its tests.

Washington says diplomacy is its first choice when it comes to the North, but in the words of defense chief Jim Mattis, diplomacy is most effective "when backed by credible military force."

That was reporter Grace Lee.

Trade ministers of the remaining 11 countries of an expansive Pacific Rim trade pact reached a deal Saturday to salvage the agreement without participation of the United States.

Canada's Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne hailed the agreement as big "progress."

This is VOA news.

A survey conducted by the United Nations refugee agency of more than one half million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh finds one third are vulnerable and in need of special assistance. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.

The undertaking took place in the Kutupalong camp, in numerous makeshift settlements and extension areas in Cox's Bazar. It was conducted jointly by the U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh's Relief and Repatriation Commission.

The UNHCR reports more than 100 people were hired to go shelter to shelter to gather data on more than 120,000 families, comprising nearly 518,000 refugees. The agency's spokeswoman, Duniya Aslam Khan, says many people suffer from various disabilities and many children are separated from their families. She says all these people will require special life-saving support.

Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says sales topped $1.5 billion in just over three minutes from its opening of Singles' Day. Grace Lee has more on the annual online discount sales gala that has become the world's biggest shopping spree.

Once a celebration for China's lonely hearts, Singles' Day has become a 24-hour extravaganza that outsells Black Friday and Cyber Monday U.S. sales combined.

The event for shoppers around China scouting for bargains, while delivery men and robots braced for an estimated 1.5 billion parcels expected over the next few days.

Alibaba group said sales by retailers on its platforms had topped $25 billion, while its main rival, on-line retailer JD.com, topped $19 billion.

Pope Francis Saturday reaffirmed the "primary" of using one's conscience to navigate [through] tough moral questions in his first comments since he was publicly accused of spreading heresy by emphasizing conscience over hard and fast Catholic rules.

His controversial 2016 document on family life, "The Joy of Love," divided the Catholic Church, with some commentators warning that it risked creating a schism given its opening to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

Israel shot down a Syrian military spy drone near the border on Saturday.

The Israeli military shot down the reconnaissance drone with a Patriot interceptor missile as it crossed into the Golan demilitarized zone. It was also headed towards Israel.

The military confirmed that the vessel was unmanned and was not an attack drone. It said it would investigate whether the drone had ties to Iran or Hezbollah.

Point your web browser to voanews.com for in-depth coverage. I'm Steve Miller.

That's the latest world news from VOA.