The United States said on December 1 it was deploying a new force of special operations troops to Iraq to conduct raids against Islamic State there and in neighboring Syria, a ratcheting up of Washington's campaign against the group that was quickly rejected by Iraq's government.

US President Barack Obama urged Turkey on December 1 to reduce tensions with Moscow after the downing of a Russian warplane and to seal its border with Syria to choke off the supply of money and fighters to Islamic State militants.

Thailand has installed a screening system called the “Advance Passenger Processing System” at its six international airports to enable the detection of blacklisted criminals and those subject to a “Red Notice” — an Interpol arrest warrant. 

A fault with the plane’s system that helps control the rudder’s movement and the crew's "inability to control the aircraft" were the main causes of the AirAsia plane crash in last December that killed all 162 people on board, announced Indonesian investigators on December 1. 

With encouragement from 150 world leaders ringing in their ears, government negotiators in Paris sought on December 1 to turn that rhetoric of unity into the text of a global deal to slow climate change.

The ASEAN Islamabad Committee (AIC) held its first meeting to discuss an action plan for 2016 in Pakistan on November 26.

The President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) welcomed the parliament’s ratification of free trade agreements (FTAs) with Vietnam, China and New Zealand on November 30, the Presidential office said in a statement released the same day.

Turkey's prime minister dismissed on November 30 any suggestion Ankara should apologize for downing a Russian warplane in its airspace last week, after winning strong NATO support for the right to defend itself.

For world leaders attending a long-planned climate summit in Paris just weeks after 130 people were killed by Islamic State militants in the French capital, addressing the coincidental convergence of global warming and terrorism was unavoidable.

Two prominent leaders of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship – a political wing of the Red Shirt movement in Thailand – were detained as they were heading to Rajapakti Park in Prachuab Khiri Khan province, which is at the centre of a corruption scandal.