Myanmar President U Thein Sein on September 15 said the government will make every effort to ensure a free and fair general election on November 8.

Thai police’s chief Somyot Poompanmoung on September 15 pointed to the Turkish-speaking Muslim Uighur minority in China as the suspected group behind the Bangkok bombing on August 17 that killed 20 people. 

The 30th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) opened in Geneva on September 14 with a busy agenda for its 17 scheduled days. 

Russia has positioned about a half dozen tanks at an airfield at the center of a military buildup in Syria, two US officials said on September 14, adding that the intentions of Moscow's latest deployment of heavy military equipment were unclear.

The Myanmar government has invited two armed ethnic minority groups to sign the national ceasefire agreement (NCA), according to an official announcement on September 14. 

Germany re-imposed border controls on September 13 after Europe's most powerful nation acknowledged it could scarcely cope with thousands of asylum seekers arriving every day.

Kurdish militants killed two police officers in a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in southeast Turkey on September 13, as authorities imposed a curfew in the region's largest city Diyarbakir where clashes broke out, security sources said.

At least 16 Yemeni civilians including ten people from a single family were killed in nationwide air strikes by a Saudi-led military coalition on September 12, medics in three provinces said.

Germany and other western European powers need to work with Russia as well as the United States to solve the crisis in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on September 12.

Finance ministers of member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ended their 22nd meeting on September 11 after launching the Cebu Action Plan (CAP), a roadmap for a more sustainable financial future for the Asia-Pacific region.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea on September 11 agreed to intensify their cooperation in agriculture, particularly food security.

Singapore's long-ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won the general election on September 11 by a huge majority across 27 of 29 local polling stations. 

At least 107 people were killed when a crane toppled over at Mecca's Grand Mosque on September 11, Saudi Arabia's Civil Defence authority said, less than two weeks before Islam's annual haj pilgrimage.

United Nations inspectors will be present with Iranian technicians as they take samples from a key military site, two Western diplomats said, undercutting an objection by US Republicans to the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The 36th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-36) closed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on September 11, following the second plenary session the same day. 

Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop has recently announced the launch of the Australia-ASEAN Council (AAC) at the Parliament House in Canberra.

(VOV) - The migrant crisis in Europe is growing acute as thousands of migrants flood the border areas of EU countries. Inevitably, some conflicts and clashes are occurring and the EU has become divided over quotas and migrant distribution. 

More than 2.46 million eligible Singaporean voters are heading to the polls for the country’s 12th General Election on September 11. 

US President Barack Obama achieved perhaps the greatest foreign policy victory of his six years in office on September 10, when a Republican-backed effort to kill the Iran nuclear agreement was narrowly blocked in the US Senate, clearing the way for the deal's implementation.

President Barack Obama has directed his administration to prepare to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, the White House said on September 10.

Hungary's planned new transit zones near the Serbian border will be closed off from the rest of Hungary but migrants whose asylum requests are rejected will be returned to Serbia, a senior Hungarian ruling Fidesz party lawmaker said on September 9.

Member states of the European Parliament (EP) expressed their willingness to provide technical support to member countries of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly ( AIPA ) at a dialogue in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on September 9. 

Political parties in Myanmar began election campaigns on September 8 for the general election to take place on November 11. 

Russian forces have begun participating in military operations in Syria in support of government troops, three Lebanese sources familiar with the political and military situation there said on September 9.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen affirmed on September 8 that the arrest of Hong Sok Hour is in the name of preventing chaos in society after the opposition party Senator posted materials distorting the Vietnam-Cambodia border treaty to Facebook. 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) nations are at a stage where one more round of ministerial talks will lead to an agreement on remaining issues, according to the text of a message presented at an event organized by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.

President Barack Obama on September 8 secured 42 votes in the US Senate for the international nuclear deal with Iran, more than enough to keep Congress from passing a resolution disapproving of the pact.

Families torn apart by the Korean War six decades ago are to reunite briefly near the heavily fortified border of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (RoK) next month under a deal reached between the two sides on September 8, according to a statement from the RoK.

Iraq's acting deputy justice minister was kidnapped from his vehicle on September 8 by black-clad gunmen in northern Baghdad, security sources said, the second high-profile abduction in the capital in less than a week.

At least 850,000 people are expected to cross the Mediterranean seeking refuge in Europe this year and next, the United Nations said on September 8, giving estimates that already look conservative.