In the letter, dated February 28, the International Organization for Migration said it would be unable to provide healthcare and cash assistance to 925 Rohingya refugees sheltering in Pekanbaru, Riau from March 5, "due to resource constraints". Some help would continue for the most vulnerable people, it said.

The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) are ambitious financing deals between a small group of wealthy countries and emerging economies to help them ditch planet-polluting coal. 

"The weak La Nina event that emerged in December 2024 is likely to be short-lived," the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization said in its latest update.

JETP, which consists of 10 donor nations, was first unveiled at the UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021. 

The Foreign Ministry is currently planning to rescue another batch of Indonesians trapped in Myanmar’s rebel-controlled Myawaddy region, where online scam rings operate, after successfully repatriating a total of 130 human trafficking victims in the past few weeks.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred would strike Friday morning near bustling Brisbane city, forecasters said, the first typhoon to hit the region in more than 50 years.  

The crackdown is widening against scam centres responsible for carrying out massive financial fraud out of Southeast Asia, especially those on Thailand's porous borders with Myanmar and Cambodia, where hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked by criminal gangs in recent years, according to the United Nations.

Scientists used one of Australia's most powerful supercomputers to model how melting ice sheets might change the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which plays a major role in global climate patterns.

For his part, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is ready to travel when Trump has time for a meeting and that could be in the northern spring, Jose Manuel Romualdez told reporters on the sidelines of a forum with foreign media in Manila.

Hanoi has frequently sat at the top of IQAir's ranking of the world's most polluted major cities and was rated among the top 10 polluted capitals by the Swiss monitoring company in 2023.

Since the wildfire began Wednesday, at least one person has died, and more than 80 homes have burned, local authorities said.

Observers have warned during a regional cyber conference this week that Southeast Asia is likely to see an increase in cyber attacks and online scam cases, calling on countries in the region to enhance their cyber readiness. 

It cited Shoigu, Russia's former defence minister, as saying he was in China on behalf of President Vladimir Putin and noting how aligned Moscow and Beijing were when it came to various international issues.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim hosted Shoigu at his office, and the Russian former defence chief who is now secretary of Moscow's Security Council was also due to meet with Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Myanmar handed over 84 Indonesians to Thailand on Thursday, local officials said, the latest group of alleged scam center workers set to be repatriated from the region.

Huy Duc worked for influential state-run newspapers before authoring one of Vietnam's most popular blogs and Facebook accounts, where he criticized the country's communist leaders on issues such as corruption, media control and relations with China.

Senior law minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra and Malaysia Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution have agreed to form a joint team for prisoner exchange between both countries.

Mitchell Ring said a passenger died part-way through the 14-hour flight from Melbourne to Doha last week.

President Prabowo Subianto welcomed Russia’s top security official Sergei Shoigu at the Merdeka Palace on Tuesday afternoon as Jakarta and Moscow seek to strengthen defense cooperation, despite concerns from rights groups over the latter’s invasion of Ukraine.

Indonesia maintains a neutral foreign policy, refusing to take sides in the Ukraine conflict or in the great power competition between the United States and China.

Indonesia maintains a neutral foreign policy, refusing to take sides in the Ukraine conflict or in great power competition between the United States and China.

Nakatani met his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro in Manila for a meeting in which the two ministers tackled regional security issues, including the maritime situation in the East and South China Seas.

RIA state news agency cited the press office of the Security Council as saying the trip will last until February 28. 

Securing bus drivers is becoming a major challenge for Japan, with the government projecting a shortage of around 22,000 workers in 2029.

Pakistani non-profit HANDS says Trump's aid embargo has blocked $1.5 million earmarked to make the scheme viable in the long-term, putting the water pump and purification project at risk "within a few months".

While removing the Philippines from the grey list, the FATF added Laos and Nepal, bringing the total number of countries on the list to 25 that includes Bulgaria, Croatia, Monaco, Nigeria and Yemen.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was worried about the lack of transparency surrounding the "live fire exercises", and would be raising her "concerns" with Beijing.

The new rail line will run through some of Vietnam's key manufacturing hubs, home to Samsung, Foxconn, Pegatron and other global giants, many of whom rely on a regular flow of components from China.

In a post on X, Ambassador MaryKay Carlson also called on China "to refrain from coercive actions and settle its disputes peacefully in accordance with international law."

Disaster-prone, isolated, and threatened by rising seas, tropical Pacific island states are some of the most aid-reliant nations on Earth, development agencies say.