Foreign ministerial-level meetings in preparation for the 27th ASEAN Summit and related meetings took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 20. 

The European Union will step up checks on its citizens traveling abroad, tighten gun control and collect more data on airline passengers, ministers agreed on November 20 in response to the Paris attacks a week ago.

A helicopter with seven people on board has crashed at Fox Glacier, a popular New Zealand tourism destination, the country’s search and rescue agency said on November 20.

Islamist militants killed 19 people in an attack on a top hotel in the capital of Mali on November 20 before Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on November 20 said after the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), economies in the bloc would grow at an estimated average pace of 5.6 through 2019.

The ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN member states all have confirmed that preparations for the establishment of the ASEAN Community have been basically completed.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law and Security Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has met with US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Blake in Jakarta to discuss security in the East Sea.

ASEAN foreign ministers gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 20 for the 13th ASEAN Political –Security Community Council (APSC) Meeting.

Asia-Pacific leaders on November 19 condemned the terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut and against the Russian aircraft over Sinai, Egypt, and called for increased regional counter-terrorism efforts. 

The Myanmar Government announced on November 20 the formation of a union-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JCMC) to implement the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) signed by the government and eight ethnic armed groups.

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung joined other ASEAN senior officials at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 19, in preparation for the 27th ASEAN Summit and related meetings, scheduled in the next two days in the country. 

Malaysia on November 19 called on the ASEAN member countries to focus on promoting the relationship among their citizens during the development course of each country and the region. 

(VOV) - The APEC Summit took place on November 18 and 19 in Manila drawing leaders of 21 member economies. APEC countries are facing the challenges of global climate change, terrorism, epidemics, and development gaps. 

Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Parliament Speaker U Shwe Mann have agreed in a joint statement to place emphasis on national reconciliation and national harmony in forming a new parliament.

Malaysia and the US on November 19 signed an agreement on intensified counter-terrorism cooperation in the context that terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13 may provoke blind assaults in the region.

The suspected Islamic State mastermind of the Paris attacks was among those killed in a police raid north of the capital, France confirmed on November 19, bringing an end to the hunt for Europe's most wanted man.

Saudi Arabia will host a conference in mid-December aimed at unifying the Syrian opposition, Saudi-owned television station Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath said on November 19.

A Palestinian fatally stabbed two people in a Tel Aviv office building and three other people were killed in an attack in the occupied West Bank on November 19, Israeli police and the army said.

Islamic State militants released a video on November 19 threatening the White House with suicide bombings and car blasts and vowing to conduct more attacks on France.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has proposed talks with the Republic of Korea (RoK) to be held on Nov. 26 at the truce village on their militarized border, the North's KCNA news agency reported on November 20.

Indonesia’s anti-terrorism forces have been on high alert after the bloody attacks in Paris on November 13. 

The signing of a historic declaration on the formation of an ASEAN Community by the end of this year by all 10 ASEAN leaders will be the highlight of the upcoming 27th ASEAN Summit.

Boosting regional cooperation is high on the agenda of the 23rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC 23), which opened in Manila, the Philippines, on November 18. 

(VOV) - Countries are collaborating in the hunt for individuals behind the terrorist attacks in Paris and airstrikes targeting the Islamic State have been intensified in Iraq and Syria.

Islamic State's official magazine carried a photo on November 18 of a Schweppes drink it said was used to make an improvised bomb that brought down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last month, killing all 224 people on board.

A woman suicide bomber blew herself up in a police raid on November 18 that sources said had foiled a jihadi plan to hit Paris's business district, days after a wave of attacks killed 129 across the French capital.

The Myanmar government lifted the martial law imposed in the Kokang region of the State of Shan as order has been restored, according to an order of the country’s Presidential Office published on November 18.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on November 18 that his country can beat terrorism on its own but the best option would be for Moscow and the West to put aside their differences and fight it together.

(VOV) - Sustainable maritime development in East Asia after 2015 is one of the topics for discussions at the 5th East Asian Seas Congress in Vietnam. However, it will not be easy to achieve this target. 

A blast struck a market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Yola on November 17 evening, killing 32 people and wounding 80 others, both the Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said.