"We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can't control these countries, though," Vance said in an interview on Fox News show "The Story with Martha MacCallum."

Batik Air, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s largest low cost airline Lion Air, has temporarily suspended its flights to and from Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Amritsar on Wednesday and Thursday amid recent escalating conflicts between the two countries.

The Philippines criticized on Thursday a "high-risk" maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies.

Albanese said he will travel to Indonesia on May 14, the day after his government is sworn into office.

The Foreign Ministry advises Indonesian nationals living in India and Pakistan to remain alert and avoid traveling to affected or potential target areas after Indian forces launched air strikes on Pakistani territory to avenge terror attacks that killed dozens in Indian Kashmir in late April.

President Prabowo Subianto has received letters of credence from eight new foreign ambassadors in a ceremony seen as an opportunity to strengthen Indonesia’s diplomatic relations with its closest partners.

At least 38 deaths were reported, with Islamabad saying 26 civilians were killed by the Indian strikes and firing along the border, and New Delhi adding at least 12 dead from Pakistani shelling.

Several Asian airlines said on Wednesday they were re-routing or cancelling flights to and from Europe because of fighting between India and Pakistan.

India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery along their contested frontier on Wednesday, after New Delhi launched missile strikes on its arch-rival in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Senior US and Chinese officials will travel to Switzerland later this week to kickstart stalled trade talks following President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff rollout, according to statements from both countries.

New Zealand's prime minister on Tuesday proposed banning children under 16 from social media, stressing the need to shield them from the perils of big tech platforms.

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen began a three-day official visit to Jakarta on Monday with a courtesy call on President Prabowo Subianto, during which they discussed strategic bilateral cooperation and regional stability as part of Hun Sen’s effort to expand Phnom Penh’s role in Southeast Asian peace dialogues.

India took measures such as closing its airspace to Pakistan airlines, while Pakistan barred those owned or operated by its neighbour, suspended trade and halted special visas for Indians, although it let international airlines use its airspace.

Instead, his audience numbers came in at half their usual level.

Like the late Argentine pope, he hails from a country far from the Catholic Church's traditional power base of Europe and came to Rome with an outsider's view.

Gibran, who met Wong in November during the Singaporean Prime Minister's inaugural visit to Jakarta, said that the election win was a stronger mandate for him to lead the city state into a new chapter of development.

Prabowo and Albanese exchanged warm wishes in a jovial phone call on Sunday, with the President saying that he was delighted at Albanese’s “big win.”

Residents clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee Jodie Haydon visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and TV journalists. 

Voters have handed Singapore's long-time ruling party a landslide election victory, offering Prime Minister Lawrence Wong a clear mandate to navigate the trade-orientated Southeast Asian nation through economic upheaval sparked by looming US tariffs.

Australia’s Anthony Albanese claimed a historic second term as prime minister on Saturday in a dramatic comeback against once-resurgent conservatives that was powered by voters' concerns about the influence of US President Donald Trump.

Pakistan's military said it carried out a "training launch" of a surface-to-surface missile weapons system on Saturday, further heightening tensions with India after last month's deadly attack in disputed Kashmir.

South Korea's conservative party on Saturday named its former labor minister as its candidate for June's snap election to replace former president Yoon Suk Yeol who was ousted over his martial law declaration.

Japan's annual "Golden Week" holiday period gets into full swing Saturday, but inflation and hotel prices sent soaring by record inbound tourism have left domestic travelers less eager to pack their bags.

Millions of Australians voted Saturday in a bitterly contested general election, following a campaign shaped by living costs, climate anxiety and US President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Singaporeans cast their votes Saturday in an election where Prime Minister Lawrence Wong faces his first major test against a rejuvenated opposition in uncertain economic times for the trade-centered nation.

As the BRICS foreign ministers meeting concluded without a joint statement portending internal rifts, experts suggest that Indonesia, as the bloc’s newest and nonaligned member, should tread carefully as it navigates deepening global divides.

Foreign Minister Sugiono has urged BRICS to deepen cooperation and strengthen its leadership in fostering global peace, amid the humanitarian crises in Gaza and Ukraine as well as the trade tensions under United States President Donald Trump, marking Indonesia’s debut at the bloc’s ministerial talks held this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday said its coast guard had landed on Sandy Cay as part of maritime control operations to exercise its sovereignty. It did not say China was occupying the feature. 

The world's two biggest economies are locked in an escalating tit-for-tat trade battle triggered by Trump's levies on Chinese goods, which have reached 145 percent on many products.

Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have plunged to their lowest level in years.