Zelenskiy proposed a halt in strikes for Easter holidays, and said Ukraine would reciprocate if Russia stopped attacks on the energy sector, but Moscow rejected the idea.

It is the first time since 2022 that the pope has personally taken part in the Way of the Cross, which has been organized at the Colosseum since 1964.

The prospect of a US service person being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support and no sign of an imminent end.

Just 221 commodities vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since March 1, some more than once, down from around 120 daily transits during peacetime.

Indonesia’s participation in the United States-led Board of Peace (BoP) is facing growing domestic opposition, with a recent national survey showing most Indonesians disapprove of joining US President Donald Trump’s initiative and deploying troops amid the escalating US-Israeli war against Iran.

Minister Raja Juli expressed confidence that the collaboration would bring substantial benefits to Indonesia, especially as the country faces heightened wildfire risks this year.

Indonesia’s major Islamic organizations have expressed solidarity with Iran, backing the country’s call for a unified response to what it describes as military aggression by the United States and Israel, and urging a swift end to the conflict as tensions in the Middle East escalate.

Indonesia is coordinating closely with the United Nations to repatriate the bodies of three Indonesian peacekeepers killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon last week, the Foreign Ministry has confirmed, with the remains expected to return home in the next few days.

The coup-leading general—who swept aside democracy in 2021, detaining elected figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi and dissolving her party—was anointed by pro-military MPs installed in a recent election overseen by the junta he leads.

"The Iranian Foreign Minister assured the (Foreign) Secretary that Iran will allow the safe, unhindered, and expeditious passage through the Strait of Hormuz of Philippine-flagged vessels, energy sources, and all Filipino seafarers," the foreign affairs department said in a statement.

The US president on Wednesday unleashed his latest broadside against Macron during a private lunch as he lambasted NATO allies for not joining the war against Iran.

The President has wrapped up his four-day East Asia tour with a host of agreements totaling over $10 billion, though his return comes just as the new WFH policy goes into force in a bid to curb fuel consumption and offset energy pressures caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Munir has had several meetings with President Donald Trump, including an unprecedented one-on-one lunch at the White House, while the government has apprehended an Islamic State bomber accused of killing American troops and handed him over to the US.

Under the law, passed in parliament on Monday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as "terrorism" will face the death penalty as a default sentence.

The premier's announcement late Wednesday comes as the country starts to feel the impact of the Middle East war on global fuel supplies.

In an evening speech from the White House, Trump broke little new ground on how the war would end and vowed two to three weeks further of "extremely hard" strikes against Iran.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung highlighted Indonesia’s reliable supply of liquified natural gas (LNG) and coal to South Korea, while Prabowo noted the collaboration between Korea’s science and technology and Indonesia’s natural resources during the meeting in Seoul.

As Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon intensifies, Farizal Rhomadhon’s family in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, mourns the sudden loss of the peacekeeper, whose last call with his father ended abruptly before his death.

A visiting Russian academic has suggested that Global South countries establish a new system of governance and trade, free from Western dominance as the US-Israeli war on Iran shows no signs of ceasing, nearly a week into its second month.

Trump described the alliance as a "paper tiger" and said removing the United States from the defence pact was now "beyond reconsideration," the newspaper reported. He said he had long held doubts about NATO's credibility.

"We will not pay any toll as what may have been misunderstood by some netizens online. We're not paying anything," Fahmi Fadzil, who is also communications minister, told a regular press conference.

The two countries outlined a joint initiative "for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and Middle East region", after a visit from senior Pakistani officials to Beijing.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned the economic shocks of the war in the Middle East would be felt for months and encouraged citizens to take public transport in a rare address to the nation on Wednesday.

A China-born accused scam boss was extradited from Cambodia, Chinese state media said Wednesday, linking him to an alleged kingpin indicted by the US for running a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network from the Southeast Asian nation.

A Malaysian court on Tuesday ordered jailed former prime minister Najib Razak to pay US$1.3 billion to a former unit of scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB, state media reported.

The two peacekeepers with the UNIFIL force were killed on Monday near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon and two other soldiers were wounded. Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group's positions.

"I think there's no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded, we are going to have to reexamine that relationship. We're going to have to reexamine the value of NATO in that alliance for our country," Rubio said to host Sean Hannity on Fox News.