Singapore and the US have signed an aviation maintenance agreement in an attempt to reinforce civil aviation safety while reducing the cost of inspections for aircraft repair work.

US President Barack Obama on February 16 announced a package of measures designed to boost Southeast Asian economies, betting that the fast-growing region can be an ever more important trade partner.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and some European allies want ground troops deployed in Syria as a Russian-backed government advance nears NATO's southeastern border, Turkey's foreign minister said, but Washington has so far ruled out a major offensive.

The Special Leaders’ Summit of the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued a joint statement in Sunnylands, California on February 16 (US time).

The US and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued the Sunnylands Declaration on February 17 (Vietnam time) after their two-day summit in California, the US. 

The Syrian government has approved access to seven besieged areas and UN convoys are expected to set off in days, the United Nations said on February 16 after crisis talks in Damascus.

Leaders of the 10 ASEAN member countries and US President Barack Obama discussed the development of regional prosperity through innovation and entrepreneurship at the opening session of the special ASEAN-US Summit in California, on February 15 (US time).

European Council leader Donald Tusk said an EU summit in Brussels on February 18 will be crucial for the future of the bloc, with talks to keep Britain in the EU at critical moment.

The German government expects 500,000 refugees to come to Germany this year, German newspaper Rheinische Post cited sources from the Federal Labor Office as saying.

VOV.VN - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung headed the Vietnamese high-level delegation attending the special ASEAN-US summit which opened in the Sunnylands Resort in California on February 15. 

The general election for deputies to the eighth Lao National Assembly and members of the provincial People’s Councils will take place on March 20, the country’s National Election Committee announced at a press conference on February 15. 

Indonesian police on February 15 arrested 33 individuals from radical Islamic groups who were plotting attacks against the airport and other targets in the near future. 

The special ASEAN-US Summit kicked off in Sunnylands, California, the US, on February 15 (US time) with the presence of US President Barack Obama and leaders of the 10 ASEAN member countries.

The European Union ended five years of sanctions against Belarus and its authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko on February 15, citing improving human rights as the bloc seeks more friends in Russia's back yard.

About 50 civilians were killed when missiles hit five medical centers and two schools in rebel-held Syrian towns on February 15, the United Nations and residents said.

US President Barack Obama urged Russia on February 14 to stop bombing "moderate" rebels in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, a campaign seen in the West as a major obstacle to latest efforts to end the war.

Civilian casualties of the war in Afghanistan rose to record levels for the seventh year in row in 2015, as violence spread across the country in the wake of the withdrawal of most international troops, the United Nations reported on Feburary 14.

Central African Republic votes on February 14 in elections seen as a crucial step toward restoring democratic rule and ending years of violence that have left the impoverished nation split along religious faultlines.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls rejected on February 13 the idea of a permanent quota system for distributing refugees across Europe, putting Paris at odds with Germany ahead of a summit to discuss the EU crisis over migration.

Turkey's military shelled Kurdish militia targets in northern Syria on February 13 and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu demanded that the group withdraw from the area in a move that further complicated the conflict across the NATO member's border.

Russia said on February 13 a Syria ceasefire plan was more likely to fail than succeed, as Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes took rebel ground near Aleppo and set their sights on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa province.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Don Pramudwinai has visited the ASEAN Secretariat, seeking to carry out the next steps after the launch of the ASEAN Community at the end of last year.

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation on February 12 broadening sanctions to punish the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for its nuclear program, human rights record and cyber crimes, and sent the measure to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

 A referendum on Thailand’s new constitution will be held on July 31, announced Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon.

Saudi Arabia, which is leading air strikes against rebels in neighboring Yemen, has warned the United Nations and international aid groups to protect staff by removing them from areas held by Yemen's Houthi rebels, according to a letter that was seen by Reuters on February 11.

Russia is ready to sell civil airliners to Iraq and keep providing it with military aid to fight Islamic State, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on February 11, accompanied on a trip to Baghdad by the biggest Russian delegation in years.

Major powers agreed on February 12 to a cessation of hostilities in Syria set to begin in a week and to provide rapid humanitarian access to besieged Syrian towns, but failed to secure a complete ceasefire or an end to Russian bombing.

Kurdish-led fighters aided by Russian bombing captured a rebel-held former Syrian military airport near the border with Turkey, a monitor and rebels said on February 11.

Two female suicide bombers killed more than 60 people at a camp for people displaced by an insurgency of the jihadist Boko Haram group in the northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa, military and emergency officials said on February 10.

World powers pressed Russia on February 10 to stop bombing around Aleppo in support of a Syrian government offensive to recapture the city and a Western official said Moscow had presented a proposal envisaging a truce in three weeks' time.