A machine gun-toting attacker wounded three people on a high-speed train in France on August 21 before being overpowered by passengers who included an American soldier.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras recently resigned, hoping to strengthen his hold on power in snap elections after seven months in office in which he fought Greece's creditors for a better bailout deal but had to cave in.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) put its troops on a war footing on August 21 as the Republic of Korea (RoK) rejected an ultimatum to stop propaganda broadcasts or face military action, prompting China to voice concern and urge both sides to step back after an exchange of artillery fire.

The second-in-command of the Islamic State militant group was killed during a US air strike in Iraq, the White House said on August 21, dealing a blow to the group that has sought to form a caliphate across the Muslim world.

Senior economic officials from the 10 ASEAN member states convened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 20 and 21 for their meeting (SEOM) to prepare for the upcoming 47th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM 47) and related events. 

(VOV) -China has reclaimed more land in the Spratly islands in the East Sea than previously known. 

The 47th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting, taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from August 22-25, will complete final preparations for the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of this year. 

The 14th Meeting of the High-Level Task Force on the ASEAN Economic Integration Working Group (HLTF-EIWG) commenced in Kuala Lumpur on August 20 to discuss the ASEAN Post-2015 Economic Vision by 2025. 

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej endorsed the new cabinet list on August 20.

Two turbo-prop planes carrying civilian parachutists rehearsing for an air show collided in mid-air in Slovakia on August 20, killing seven people, authorities said.

Rockets hit an Israeli village near the Lebanese border on August 20 and Israel struck back in the Syrian Golan Heights, saying the rare salvo had been launched there by an Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group.

(VOV) -The Cambodian government has confirmed the consistency of its map used in the demarcation of border with Vietnam compared to the UN map. 

A Bangkok court issued an arrest warrant on August 19 for a foreigner suspected of carrying out the Erawan shrine bombing in the Thai capital that killed at least 20 people.

ASEAN and Australia committed to deepening their Strategic Partnership during the 5th meeting of the ASEAN - Australia Joint Cooperation Committee (AAJCC) in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 19, which discussed ways to boost their links in the time ahead.

Gunmen fired on police outside an Istanbul palace and a bomb killed eight soldiers in the southeast on August 19, heightening a sense of crisis as Turkey's leaders struggled to form a new government.

The German parliament approved a third bailout for Greece on August 19 after Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the country should get "a new start", while in Athens the government agonized over whether to call a snap election.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend next month's UN General Assembly in New York and would "consider constructively" any request for a meeting there with President Barack Obama, Russia's foreign minister said on August 19.

The 12th regular session of Myanmar's House of Representatives (the lower house), which was adjourned on July 24 due to flooding, resumed in Nay Pyi Taw on August 18. 

(VOV) - The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on August 18 held an open debate on the subject of regional organizations and contemporary global security challenges in New York with representatives from nearly 50 countries and international organisations to take part in.

German lawmakers are expected to vote overwhelmingly in favor of Greece's third bailout on August 19, even though Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a dangerous rebellion in her own party ranks that suggests she cannot ask parliament to help Athens again.

Thai authorities said on August 18 they were looking for a suspect seen on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage near a popular shrine where a bomb blast killed 22 people, nearly half of them foreigners.

Singaporean parliament on August 17 passed a bill allowing the country to become a founding member of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Search and rescue teams have accounted for all 54 bodies of passengers on flight Trigana IL-257, according to information released by the Indonesian Ministry of Transport. 

One of two rescue helicopters on August 17 spotted debris suspected to be from flight Trigana IL-257 that went missing around the Oksop waterfall in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua, about 11 kilometres from its destination, Oksibil district. 

A bomb blast at a popular shrine in Bangkok that killed 22 people including eight foreigners did not match the tactics used by separatist rebels in southern Thailand, the country's army chief said on August 18.

The White House is seeking an agreement with Cuba to begin scheduled commercial flights between the two countries as soon as December, the Wall Street Journal reported on August 17, citing officials.

An aircraft with 54 people on board crashed in Indonesia's remote and mountainous region of Papua on August 16, a government official said, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the Southeast Asian nation.

Greece's socialist PASOK party joined the main opposition on August 16 in saying it would not back Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras if he calls a confidence vote following a rebellion in the governing party over a new bailout deal.

The permanent representative missions to the United Nations (UN) of 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) celebrated “ASEAN Family Day” in New York on August 16.

At least 40 migrants died after apparently getting trapped and suffocating in the water-logged hold of a fishing boat in the Mediterranean, the Italian navy said on August 15.