Wildfires swept across parts of Italy, France and Spain on Wednesday, killing three firefighters and forcing thousands to flee as scorching temperatures and strong winds fueled the blazes.

The country vaccinated more children in 2025 and reduced the number of "zero-dose" children, though millions worldwide still lack lifesaving vaccines due to conflict, poverty and vaccine hesitancy.

A Chinese coast guard vessel fired a water cannon at a Philippine government fisheries vessel in Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, scoring an indirect hit, a Philippine Coast Guard official said on Thursday.

Protests snowballed on Monday after police fired tear gas and baton-charged tens of thousands of demonstrators as they tried to march to parliament on the opening day of the monsoon session.

The draft statement expected to emerge from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathering in Manila will repeat calls for self-restraint in a Middle East conflict that has carried economic ripple effects throughout the region.

Top diplomats from Asia, Europe and North America met on Thursday for the security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum, where ministers were expected to call for a peaceful settlement of renewed and intensifying hostilities in the Middle East.

Two Indonesian women are believed to be held by scam operators in Myanmar, prompting the Foreign Ministry to renew its warning against looking for jobs abroad through unofficial channels

As top diplomats of ASEAN member states met with their key partners in Manila on the second day of the bloc’s Foreign Ministers Meeting, Indonesia calls for ‘real benefits’ in partnership beyond ceremonial engagements.

Indonesia's decision to join a new China-led artificial intelligence organization has raised questions over how Jakarta intends to navigate the intensifying technological rivalry between Beijing and Washington, even as the government insists it remains committed to working with both.

Meeting with Wang in Manila on the sidelines of a regional gathering led by the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, Rubio told reporters that both sides had differences, but their job was to manage them, adding there were areas of potential cooperation. 

Rubio's remarks came as the region is grappling with a series of overlapping claims by China and ASEAN member states in the South China Sea, another crucial maritime route for global trade.

A Chinese submarine fired the ballistic missile fitted with a dummy warhead earlier this month, reaching far into the Pacific Ocean.

After the foes' fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz led to the collapse of a preliminary deal, the Middle East war has expanded to include the region's other key chokepoint for global oil supplies.

French lawmakers approved on Tuesday a ban on social media access for children under the age of 15, as concerns grow around ​the world over the impact social media have on the health and safety of minors.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday on the sidelines of a regional gathering led by the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, where the two top diplomats are expected to discuss a possible September summit between their leaders.

South China Sea and Myanmar have dominated agenda for ASEAN top diplomats in Manila amid renewed push for progress in the bloc’s two long-standing issues

Risks have increased in recent days, with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis announcing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front in the conflict and raising the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.

Scam gangs defrauded Asia-Pacific residents of at least US$88 billion in 2025, a United Nations office said on Tuesday, with transnational crime groups rapidly evolving tactics to stay ahead of law enforcement.

The Philippine military accused the China Coast Guard of clubbing a Filipino sailor with a baton on Monday as they approached a grounded vessel that has long served as a Philippine garrison.

In his first speech as prime minister, Burnham said his first ambition was to end rough sleeping in Britain, but also that he wanted people to feel the change in government in their pockets quickly.

Group makes first high-altitude flight using hybrid-electric propulsion using Saab 340 aircraft

Hoping to avert a recurrence of transboundary haze ahead of the peak of the El Niño climate phenomenon, Singapore is rallying behind multilateral initiatives with its fire-prone neighbors, including Indonesia, which has already seen a surge in forest fires across several provinces this year.

Indonesia's response to the United States' push to globally combat "far-left terrorism" amounted to a form of quiet resistance, analysts say, as Jakarta uses carefully chosen diplomatic language to signal it will not simply adopt Washington's framing, even as it seeks to maintain bilateral ties under President Prabowo Subianto's leadership.

Indonesia will use this week's ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings in Manila to push for a more resilient, forward-looking and strategically independent regional bloc, arguing that Southeast Asia must strengthen its internal cohesion as geopolitical rivalries and global conflicts increasingly spill into the region.

Romania has been seeking to modernize its military, especially its air defenses, in the face of dozens of airspace breaches and drone crashes since the start of the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Defense companies make up increasing share of show's attendees; commercial jet order interest expected to be fairly muted

Wang will also have bilateral talks with Philippine counterpart Maria Theresa Lazaro, foreign ministry spokesperson Dominic Xavier Imperial told a briefing.