From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Jonathan Smith reporting.

Key U.S. senators called Sunday for the Trump administration to tell more about the country's military involvement in Niger. Four U.S. soldiers were killed in an ambush in the West African country earlier this month.

In interviews on NBC's "Meet the Press," Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Charles Schumer, the Democrat Senate leader, said they support an effort by Republican Senator John McCain. McCain is trying to find out about the attack as well as the scope of the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State in Niger. Both Graham and Schumer said they did not know that the U.S. had 1,000 troops in Niger.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday said improved relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq could work to counter Iran's growing military assertiveness in the region.

Tillerson spoke at the initial meeting of the Saudi Arabia-Iraq Coordination Committee in Riyadh. He said the United States is "grateful for the progress and urges you to expand this vital relationship for the stability of the region." He says, "The United States stands ready to support continued cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Iraq."

Exit polls indicate Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition is on track for a comfortable victory in Sunday's general election.

Japanese media predicts that Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition will win a majority, possibly even retaining the two-thirds "super majority" it held in parliament's lower house before Abe dissolved the chamber in September.

This is VOA news.

A powerful hurricane roared toward Japan's main island Monday, killing at least two people and bringing heavy rain to western Japan.

The hurricane is classified as an intense Category 4 storm. It's got winds up to 198 kilometers per hour.

It is on track to make landfall on the Pacific coast of central Japan before dawn local time Monday and continue northeast toward Tokyo.

The storm has already forced the evacuation of thousands of people along coastal areas, disrupted train service and ferry services and has forced the cancellation of 300 flights.

[India] Indonesia wants to know why its military chief was denied entry to the United States on Sunday.

Washington's deputy ambassador to Jakarta was summoned to the government headquarters to explain the situation.

Indonesia's Armed Forces commander and his wife were prepared to board their flight to when the airline informed them that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency had denied them entry.

The general had been invited to a conference in Washington on extremist organizations by U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford.

In a statement from the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, the U.S. embassy says "it was, and remains, prepared to facilitate the general's travel to the United States."

The U.S. ambassador has apologized to him for the delay.

The prominent Yemeni journalist, Afrah Nasser, has been denied entry to the United States to accept an award, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In September, the CPJ announced that it would present its 2017 International Press Freedom award to Nasser, who has been living in exile in Sweden.

Though she holds Swedish citizenship and has legitimate reasons to travel to the United States, she has been denied a visa - possibly because of President Trump's travel ban which includes restrictions on travelers from Yemen.

And, dozens of insurgents have been killed in clashes between two rival Taliban groups in western Afghanistan. Local officials tell VOA that at least 40 Taliban militants from the warring sides have been killed in clashes in the Khifaan region of Shindand district in western Herat province that borders Iran.

There is more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Jonathan Smith reporting from the world headquarters of the Voice of America in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.