President Barack Obama's administration is preparing new sanctions on international companies and individuals over Iran's ballistic missile program, sources familiar with the situation said on December 30.

(VOV) -  Historic agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the establishment of ASEAN Community, China’s construction of artificial islands, and migrant crisis in Europe are among prominent events in 2015. 

The birth of the ASEAN Community at the end of this year is expected to bring a number of pragmatic benefits to member countries and their people, Vietnam’s Ambassador to ASEAN has said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi planted the national flag in Ramadi on December 29 after the army retook the city center from Islamic State a day earlier, a victory that could help vindicate his strategy for rebuilding the military after stunning defeats.

Germany's federal states are planning to spend around 17 billion euros (US$18.7 billion) on dealing with the refugee crisis in 2016, the newspaper Die Welt said on December 29, citing a survey it conducted among their finance ministries.

(VOV) - The Middle East continued to be a world hotspot in 2015. It has become a fierce battlefield, creating the worst migrant crisis in world history and igniting a global extremist Jihadist movement. 

As Chair of ASEAN in 2016, Laos is exerting every effort to turn challenges from the year-end establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) into opportunities.

A suicide bomber attacked a government office in northwestern Pakistan on December 29, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 70.

A US-led coalition has killed 10 Islamic State leaders in the past month with targeted air strikes, including individuals linked to last month's attacks in Paris, a spokesman for the coalition said on December 29.

It is the “unity in diversity” that forms the common identity of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh in an interview with Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Malaysia will establish a high-level committee to address resolutions on the cost of living declared at the Priority Declaration 2016 meeting held on December 28.

(VOV) - The Austrian police warned on December 26 that European capitals could suffer shooting or bomb attacks this New Year. Police across the continent are stepping up their security measures.

A ship carrying more than 25,000 pounds (11,000 kg) of low-enriched uranium materials left Iran for Russia on December 28 in an Iranian step toward honoring a July 14 nuclear deal with major powers, the United States said.

Around 450 Syrian fighters and their families were evacuated from two besieged areas on December 28 under the kind of operation that the United Nations hopes can be a stepping stone toward a wider peace accord in the country's civil war.

Malaysia has been successful in turning a new chapter in regional integration in 2015, the year it served as the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

A bill that would impose new regulations on Israeli non-profit groups that receive funds from foreign governments won ministerial approval on December 27, a move critics said targets pro-Palestinian organizations.

Guinea President Alpha Conde recently named mining executive Mamady Youla as prime minister as part of a strategy to revive the West African nation's ailing economy, the government announced.

China's parliament passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law on December 27 that requires technology firms to hand over sensitive information such as encryption keys to the government and allows the military to venture overseas on counter-terror operations.

Iraq's army declared victory over Islamic State fighters in a provincial capital west of Baghdad on December 27, the first major triumph for the US-trained force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago.

(VOV) - Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister in more than a decade to visit Pakistan when he made a surprise stop in Lahore on December 25 to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif.

A new message purporting to come from the leader of Islamic State said air strikes by Russia and a U.S.-led coalition had failed to weaken the group.

A U.N.-brokered deal to evacuate more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters and other militants from rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on December 26 has been delayed after the killing of an insurgent leader, an organization that monitors the Syrian war said.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has approved a decision to establish three committees on land border demarcation and landmark planting with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. 

Israeli border police shot dead a Palestinian woman who tried to ram them with her car in the West Bank on December 25, the police said, as a 12-week surge in street violence showed no sign of abating.

A top Syrian rebel leader and head of the most powerful insurgent group in the eastern suburbs of Damascus was killed in an aerial raid that targeted the group's headquarters, rebel sources and the Syrian army said on December 25.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise stopover in Pakistan on December 25 to meet his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, the first time an Indian premier has visited Pakistan in over a decade.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on major businesses in the country to give proposals to promoting economic collaboration among member countries of cooperation organisations such as EAEU, SOC and ASEAN.

The ASEAN Community is set to formally take effect on December 31. It includes the three pillars which are economics, politics and security and socio-cultural components. The establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will play the most important role in establishing ASEAN as a region of tremendous opportunity.

(VOV) - Europe has faced instability and challenges in 2015 – security threats, slow economic recovery, and divisions provoked by a growing migration crisis.

Coalition air forces pounded positions held by Islamic State in Ramadi on December 24, Iraqi military statements said, in support of government troops seeking to retake the western Iraqi city and push on to drive the militants from key population centers.