Laos officially took over the chairmanship of ASEAN’s Committee of Permanent Representative (CPR) in 2016 from Malaysia at a ceremony in Jakarta, Indonesia on January 8. 

Humanitarian aid will be delivered to the besieged Syrian town of Madaya and two blockaded villages in the northwest on January 11 according to an agreement finalised on January 8, two sources familiar with the details said.

Iran's foreign minister has complained to the United Nations about Saudi Arabia's "provocations" toward Tehran, as a diplomatic crisis between the region's two major powers entered its second week.

Migrants who commit crimes should lose their right to asylum, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday, toughening her tone as police in Cologne confronted right-wing protesters venting their anger at mass assaults on women on New Year's Eve.

Philadelphia police say a man admitted to shooting an officer in an ambush-style attack 'in the name of Islam.'

A witness told the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on January 6, that the Khmer Rouge killed Vietnamese people in Cambodia’s Prey Veng province. 

Belgian investigators believe explosives used in the attacks in Paris in November may have been made in an apartment in Brussels that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found.

An attempted attack by Islamic State on a military base in northern Iraq shows Turkey's decision to deploy troops there was justified, President Tayyip Erdogan said on December 8, suggesting Russia was stirring up a row over the issue.

(VOV) -On January 8, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) criticized the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) hydrogen bomb test. 

Indonesia regards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an important focus due to benefits the ASEAN Community could bring about to the country, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.