ASEAN chair Indonesia appeared to avoid fresh confrontation with China on Wednesday over its sweeping claims to the disputed South China Sea, choosing to omit a recent point of contention from a regional summit with Beijing.

The joint statement was issued amid the ASEAN Summit and related summits in Jakarta, surrounded by artificial tropical jungle decorations and the thick pollution blanketing the capital.

The G7 has not reviewed the cap since March, however, and four people familiar with G7 policies said the group had no immediate plans to look into adjusting the scheme.

Expectations from G20 are "very high" and New Delhi faces the challenge of dealing with a "very difficult world" reeling under the impact of the pandemic, conflict, climate change, debt and politics.

The Biden administration is pushing the World Bank, founded as World War Two drew to a close to alleviate poverty, as a counterpart to China's overseas lending.

Neither US President Joe Biden nor his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is attending the summit.

Home to about 521,000 people, the Maldives is famous for its sun-kissed atolls and luxury tourist resorts but the rival Asian giants have both invested millions of dollars in infrastructure in the islands as they seek to build goodwill and influence.

No official explanation was given regarding why Myanmar is skipping its turn, but there were talks that it would defer its scheduled chairmanship.

US officials and media have said they believe Kim will make a rare trip abroad to neighbouring Russia to meet Putin. 

Moscow and Pyongyang have promised to boost defense cooperation.

Southeast Asian leaders approved a series of measures on Tuesday to further limit the Myanmar junta’s role in ASEAN, as part of a wider review of the regional bloc’s efforts to restore peace in the conflict-torn country.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his ministers have held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, with a focus on economic and trade relations.

The Indonesian President has opened the 43rd ASEAN Summit by asserting that the 10-member regional bloc still stands united amid the adverse conditions in contemporary geopolitics, noting that differences in opinion were healthy and indicated the grouping's underlining principle of equality.

The proposed regulations will be similar to rules in Australia, which in 2021 made it compulsory for Google and Meta to compensate media outlets for content that generates clicks and advertising dollars, the MCMC said.

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, opening a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), called on the group to devise a "long-term tactical strategy that is relevant and meets people's expectations".

ASEAN members will be joined at their summit this week by leaders and senior officials of other countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia.

Serbia, Panama and Kuwait became the 52nd, 53rd and 54th countries to sign the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation or TAC.

Indonesia opens the 43rd ASEAN Summit on Tuesday under the cover of some of the worst air pollution in the world, as Southeast Asian leaders and their external partners meet in Jakarta bearing some signs of progress but with little to assuage immediate climate concerns.

China’s new standardized map, which denotes its claims to sovereignty over a larger part of the disputed South China Sea, cast a pall on Jakarta ahead of the 43rd ASEAN Summit, as calls mount for the group to denounce Beijing’s claim.

The discharge comes even after the court said in January last year that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing an initial case against Zahid and had asked him to enter his defense.

ASEAN has agreed on a peace plan, known as its five-point consensus, that calls for an end to violence and dialogue among all parties but the generals have paid little more than lip service to it.

The town on the border with Thailand has seen sporadic clashes between the military and anti-junta fighters since a coup in 2021 plunged the country into turmoil.

The unprecedented push has led Washington to expect to be elevated to the top tier of Vietnam's diplomatic ranking, together with China and Russia, from two notches below now.

The United States has been working to restore a more effective working relationship, sending a series of senior officials to China in recent months despite continuing friction.

Manet will be accompanied by Cambodia’s deputy prime ministers, ministers, prominent government officials, and notable business figures.

Thailand has had a caretaking government since March, and the Move Forward party, winners of the May elections, have struggled to form a government without support from conservative lawmakers over its progressive agenda.

Super Garuda Shield aims to enhance army capabilities, strengthen regional security.

The country's most famous politician returned to Thailand last week in a dramatic homecoming after 15 years abroad in self-exile to avoid jail time after he was ousted by the military in 2006.

Former deputy prime minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 66, won 70.4 percent of votes, the elections department said, to become Singapore's head of state.

The president's role is largely ceremonial, but there are stringent requirements for the position, which formally oversees the city's accumulated financial reserves and holds the power to veto certain measures and approve anti-graft probes.