Indonesia will host an international conference in the capital city of Jakarta from December 14-15, aiming to search peace solutions for the prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

India will resume high-level talks with rival Pakistan, the Indian foreign minister said on December 9, raising hopes that relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors may be thawing slightly.

The United States is prepared to deploy advisers and attack helicopters if requested by Iraq to help it "finish the job" of retaking the city of Ramadi from Islamic State, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on December 9.

Time magazine named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its 2015 "Person of the Year" on December 9, noting her resilience and leadership when faced with the refugee crisis and turmoil in the European Union over its currency this year.

The 8th Plenary Session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) opened in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on December 9 under the theme of “Promoting Peace, Reconciliation and Dialogue in Asia”.

The Myanmar's Union Parliament on December 8 approved the Nationwide Cesaefire Accord (NCA) signed between the government and eight ethnic armed groups on October 15.

(VOV) - Many Turkish soldiers illegally entered Iraq on December 4 to train Kurdish militias fighting IS. This has harmed relations between Iraq and Turkey and created a new security challenge in the Middle East.

Singapore and the US signed a defence cooperation agreement (DCA) in Washington on December 8.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on December 8 that Russia had for the first time struck Islamic State targets in Syria with missiles fired from a submarine in the Mediterranean.

The United States is reviewing and seeking to confirm reports that Iran launched a ballistic missile last month in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said on December 8.

ASEAN is particularly concerned about climate change which has been causing substantial damage to the region, ASEAN Deputy Secretary General for Socio-Cultural Community Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee has said in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency in Jakarta.

The Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), which has the twin objective of narrowing the development divide and to enhance ASEAN’s competitiveness in the region, has become increasingly important with the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of this year, the Malaysian Ambassador to Vietnam has said. 

(VOV) - Turkey has deployed troops to the Iraq city of Mosul. Earlier, the US announced a plan to triple US troops in Iraq and deploy a "specialized expeditionary targeting force" to Iraq to work alongside local forces against IS. 

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on December 7 called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States in the most dramatic response by a candidate yet to last week's shooting spree by two Muslims who the FBI said had been radicalized.

Cuban and US officials on December 8 will begin to untangle one of the most complex obstacles to normalization of relations between the two countries: the claims of Americans whose property was nationalized after the 1959 revolution and Cuban counterclaims for damages caused by the US trade embargo.

The United States is temporarily easing trade restrictions on Myanmar by allowing all shipments to go through its ports and airports for six months, an effort to boost the Southeast Asian country's opposition party after its landmark election win in November.

Russia's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog said on December 7 he expected a historic nuclear deal between Iran and world powers to be implemented in January, leading to sanctions against Tehran being lifted.

Venezuela's opposition vowed on December 7 to revive the OPEC nation's troubled economy and free jailed political activists after winning control of the legislature for the first time in 16 years of Socialist rule.

A Vietnamese delegation led by Vice Admiral Pham Ngoc Minh, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army is attending a dialogue of defense chiefs of the South and Southeast Asian Nations (SASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on December 7-8.

Turkey said on December 6 it would halt further transfers of troops to an area near the Islamic State-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul after Baghdad threatened to appeal to the United Nations to force Turkey to withdraw its soldiers.

(VOV) - The migrant crisis in the EU has had serious consequences on some member countries. The EU has considered a halt to the Schengen visa free travel agreement in two years to tighten security.

The Myanmar Government and eight ethnic armed groups completed a draft framework for holding political dialogue as part of the implementation of the National Ceasefire Accord (NCA), according to Xinhua News on December 6.

At least 32 Islamic State fighters were killed and 40 more wounded in Syria's Raqqa province on December 6, in a series of air strikes believed to be carried out by a US-led coalition targeting the jihadists, a monitoring group said.

Developed nations have mobilized some US$80-US$90 billion per year to help the poorest survive a warmer world, delegates at Paris climate talks said, but emerging countries dispute the figures and say a goal of US$100 billion by 2020 is far from reach.

The Greek parliament approved a 2016 budget featuring sharp cuts in spending and some tax increases to satisfy the country's international lenders at a time of growing austerity fatigue.

Thailand's Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai on December 4 urged countries in the region to increase efforts to tackle migration via the Bay of Bengal this year, warning that the issue will develop complicatedly.

Islamic State said on December 5 that the married couple who killed 14 people in a mass shooting in Southern California were its followers, and FBI agents raided a home apparently belonging to a friend of the husband.

A man wielding a knife slashed a man in an east London metro station on December 5, reportedly screaming "this is for Syria", before police used a stun gun to detain him in what they described as a terrorist incident.

With its capacity of approaching people from all walks of life, the press is responsible for and plays an important role in popularising information about the ASEAN Community, opportunities brought by it and challenges facing it during the changing regional and international situations. 

The Philippines military on December 4 said the country’s security forces have detained a local suspected an Islamist extremist linked to the kidnapping of Malaysians in the Philippines, including one that was beheaded last month.