Deliveries of delayed F-16V fighter jets for Taiwan will begin this year with production at "full capacity", the island's defense ministry said after senior defense officials visited the United States.

The cost of petrol rose more than 20 percent in Vietnam on Friday after the government announced an overnight hike amid fears of oil and gas shortages caused by the Middle East war.

Myanmar's parliament will start the process to elect a new president on March 30, officials said on Friday, a vote many analysts expect will be won by the head of the junta that seized power in a coup in 2021.

Protesters heckled and booed Prime Minister Anthony ​Albanese on Friday during a visit to Australia's largest mosque for Idul Fitri prayers, voicing anger over his stance on ally Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Cuba plunged into darkness for the second time in less than a week on Saturday after its national power network failed again, strained by aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.

US President Donald Trump threatened to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to US airports on Monday if congressional Democrats do not immediately agree to fund airport safety.

Robert Mueller, the no-nonsense former FBI chief who documented Russia's interference in the 2016 US election and its contacts with Donald Trump's campaign but opted not to bring criminal charges against a sitting president, has died at age 81, his former law firm confirmed on Saturday.

The heat has been toppling records this week and was set to continue into the weekend across western cities and expanding eastward.

After years battling the fallout from a pandemic, the Ukraine war and then US tariffs, tumult in the Middle East is ramping up the cost of key raw materials in Europe once again.

The number of meningitis cases reported in a deadly outbreak linked to a nightclub in southeast England rose from 29 to 34, including 23 confirmed cases, UK health officials announced Saturday.

Some Iranian sources have said that they have had little real help from Moscow in the biggest crisis for Iran since the United States-backed Shah was toppled in the 1979 revolution.

The three countries said that together with other unnamed partners they were exploring setting up a new mechanism by 2027 which would speed up investment and boost demand for defense kit, a statement from Britain said on Tuesday.

Iran warned it would strike energy and water infrastructure across the Gulf if US President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to attack its electricity grid, raising fears of mass disruption in a region heavily dependent on desalination for drinking water.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran does not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a dramatic escalation barely a day after he talked about "winding down" the war.

The Standard Gauge Railway, built from 2013 to 2019, connects the Kenyan port of Mombasa to its capital Nairobi, and on to the lake town of Naivasha, but China refused further lending before it could be extended to Uganda as planned.

Israel launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump told it not to repeat its strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure, which sharply escalated the US-Israeli war on Iran.