Liu Jianchao, 60, leads the Communist Party's body in charge of managing ties with foreign political parties. Since taking the role in 2022, he has travelled to more than 20 nations and met officials from more than 160 countries.

Since Xi Jinping became president and commander-in-chief more than a decade ago, the defense budget has ballooned to 1.67 trillion yuan ($230.60 billion) this year from 720 billion yuan in 2013.

Some 89 Indian military personnel in the country will be gone by May 10 after having been previously ordered out by pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu, who came to power last year on an anti-Indian platform.

Though El Nino is now gradually weakening, its impact will continue over the coming months by fuelling the heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said Meta's decision put hundreds of jobs at risk and would expose Australians to more scams and misinformation.  

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the funding as leaders from the 10-nation ASEAN forum met in Melbourne for a three-day summit. 

Pop icon Swift is halfway through a run of six sold-out shows in Singapore, the only city in Southeast Asia to feature in her blockbuster Eras world tour.

With tensions in Southeast Asia, expectations are high for regional leaders attending the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit to put their feet down and denounce actions that could further destabilize the Indo-Pacific region.

Levels of hazardous small particles known as PM2.5 in the air in Hanoi were at 187 micrograms per cubic metre late on Monday, the highest among a list of most polluted international cities, according to data from AirVisual, which provides independent global air pollution information via a phone app.

Ties between neighbours the Philippines and China have soured since Marcos took office in 2022, with repeated spats over disputed features in the South China Sea at a time when Manila has been forging closer defence ties with longtime military ally the United States. 

Beijing's increasingly aggressive stance in the South China Sea was high on the agenda as leaders from the 10-nation ASEAN bloc began a "special summit" with their Australian counterparts.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced A$286.5 million ($186.7 million) in funding for ASEAN projects in areas including maritime security, amid tensions over China's growing assertiveness and its disputed claims to the South China Sea. 

In what has been dubbed one of ASEAN’s most important diplomatic agendas of the year, Southeast Asian leaders and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will convene from Monday to Wednesday in Melbourne to discuss the future of their partnership.

Kiribati is a nation of 115,000 people whose closest island is 2,160 km south of Honolulu, and the news of Chinese police working there comes as Beijing renews a push to expand security ties in the Pacific Islands

Kickstarting its month-long presidency at the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the Indonesian delegation has urged the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to ensure that Southeast Asia remains free of nuclear weapons, and called for a more efficient global discourse mechanism on the issue.

Indonesia and Papua New Guinea have a 760-kilometer border that slices through the middle of the island of New Guinea, north of Australia. 

Two-thirds of the nation's residents and intern doctors had walked off the job to protest a government plan to increase the number of students admitted to medical school in a bid to address a shortage of doctors.

Indonesia has remained the leading diplomatic force with the most extensive network in Southeast Asia, a recent Global Diplomatic Index study has found, as China and the United States continue their fierce competition for influence.

The three had landed at a remote telecoms site near Mount Sisa in the province of Hela when an armed group took them away, David Manning, the police commissioner of Papua New Guinea.

The pilot and two others -- believed to be telcom workers -- were taken near Mount Sisa, in central Hela Province.

Former Prime Minister Kausea Natano lost his seat in a general election on Jan. 26 closely watched by Taiwan, China, the US and Australia, amid a geopolitical tussle for influence in the South Pacific.

There has been demolition of Muslim properties in the name of removing illegal construction and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when the BJP was in power in that state.

The Dragon Chinese zodiac sign is believed to be particularly auspicious, and data from hospitals over the Lunar New Year which began on Feb. 10 showed that the number of newborns had increased "significantly", Yicai said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and her South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul discussed the fighter jet development project on the sideline of the Group of 20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil earlier this week.

The out-of-control blaze, about two hours' drive northwest of state capital Melbourne, has already burned through about 10,000 hectares (24,000 acres) of forest and farmland. 

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that China "believes that the choice of the Indonesian people is in the interest of their country’s future and prosperity."

The international community should focus on advocating for women's rights in Afghanistan, Indonesia has said at a United Nations-sponsored conference on Afghanistan aimed at improving dialogue with the country's Taliban rulers.

Malaysian authorities have nabbed 130 Indonesians for illegal residency, unveiling a troubling narrative of exploitation.

Australia has been looking to build its defence capabilities amid concerns about rising global geopolitical tensions and China's growing influence among some Pacific island nations.

The Chinese Ambassador held the meeting with Prabowo on Sunday at the latter’s private residence on Jl. Kertanegara in an upmarket district of South Jakarta.