(VOV) - China and Japan will hold the fourth round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs next week, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on December 4.

One of the Paris cafes where drinkers died in a hail of bullets on Nov. 13 reopened on December 4, three weeks to the day after the Islamist militant attacks that killed 130 people.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) told Thai authorities that 10 militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) entered Thailand to attack citizens, interests of Russia and allied countries fighting IS, Thai police and media said on December 4.

(VOV) -Confidence building among countries plays an important role in ensuring peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, said Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Hiroshi Fukada at an international symposium held by the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) in Hanoi on December 4.

Britain joined US-led air strikes against Islamic State in Syria on December 3, but Vladimir Putin issued bitter new denunciations of Turkey for shooting down a Russian plane, demonstrating the limits to international solidarity.

(VOV) - Tension soared between Russia and Turkey following Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border. It is adversely impacting international efforts to fight IS in the Middle-East.

A number of suspects in Erawan shrine bombings, which killed 20 people and injured over 120 others, were arrested abroad, Thai police announced on December 3.

Indonesia was re-elected as C-category member of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council for 2016-2017 during the 29th session of the IMO Assembly held in London from November 23 – December 2. 

Indonesia’s Ministry of Transport on December 3 began checking all Airbus A320s registered in the country after a faulty component was found to contribute to the crash of an AirAsia plane, causing loss of 162 lives, in 2014.

Spain's ruling People's Party will win a December 20 parliamentary election but fall short of a majority, according to a closely watched official poll which also showed a leap in support for a new reformist party that may play the role of kingmaker.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had heard "nothing new" from his Turkish counterpart on December 3 after the first high-level bilateral contact between the two countries since the Turkish airforce shot down a Russian jet nine days ago.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) hopes to forge ties with the ASEAN member states and ASEAN Secretariat, said SCO Secretary-General Dmitry Mezentsev while meeting with ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh in Jakarta, Indonesia on December 2.

Myanmar’s President U Thein Sein and military chief, General Min Aung Hlaing met Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the election-winning opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), in Nay Pyi Taw on December 2. 

Gunmen opened fire on a holiday party on December 2 at a social services agency in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people and wounding 17 others, then fled the scene, triggering an intense manhunt and a shootout with police, authorities said.

Russia's defense ministry said on December 2 it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.

Myanmar President U Thein Sein met Aung San Suu Kyi, Chairperson of the election-winning opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), for a dialogue, in Nay Pyi Taw on December 2.

A ceremony was held in Phnom Penh on December 2 to celebrate the 37 th founding anniversary of the Cambodian Front for National Salvation, the predecessor of the today Solidarity Front for the Development of Cambodian Motherland (SFDCM).

(VOV) - The 21st Summit of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) will try to reach a binding agreement to limit rising global temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of the 21st century. 

The ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan working group convened a two-day meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from December 1 to seek to promote tourism development of the ASEAN member states. 

Two key leaders of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) - political wing of the Red-Shirt movement were freed on November 30.

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.