Infections have risen this week to the highest since August, with the uptick coming afterincreased domestic travel during the National Day "Golden Week" earlier this month. 

A total of 202 people, including 88 Australians, were killed when a car bomb exploded on Oct 12, 2002 outside the Sari Club and from another blast less than a minute earlier at Paddy's Bar across the road.

Analysts say that the new appointment offers hope for more intense ASEAN-US interactions and is the reassurance that the region had sought from the US to prove its seriousness in engaging with Southeast Asia.

The election date will be announced by the election commission, Ismail said in a televised address.

Democratic Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has come under increasing military and political pressure from Beijing, especially after Chinese war games in early August following a Taipei visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Speaking to radio on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not give an exact date for the visit but said a meeting with his counterpart was planned in two weeks time.

Earlier this week, Fumio Kishida faced another setback as he gave a key government post to his oldest son in his early 30s, with the opposition bloc lambasting the appointment as nepotism.

The seventh plenary session of the ruling party's 19th Central Committee, which is expected to run for around four days, will discuss a draft work report to be delivered by Xi at the congress, due to start Oct. 16, and finalize plans for China's top leadership for the next five years.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan also agreed to coordinate on responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government last year, sparking widespread armed resistance.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday in the direction of Japan. The missile launch was the sixth in 12 days and the first since Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan on Tuesday.

Hayashi told a press conference that he is slated to hold talks with his Singaporean and Malaysian counterparts Vivian Balakrishnan and Saifuddin Abdullah during his four-day trip through Monday. Both countries belong to the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Weeping, grief-stricken families gathered Friday outside a Thai nursery where an ex-policeman murdered two dozen children in one of the kingdom's worst mass killings.

The palace said the two held a "routine" meeting to discuss government matters. Its statement did not mention dissolution. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's office did not have an immediate comment.

In the message, Kim said he has "rejoiced" in the strengthened mutual support and cooperation enabled through the struggle "to defend the regional peace and stability and realize...international justice," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The defeat - 19 against, 17 for, 11 abstentions - is only the second time in the council's 16-year history that a motion has been rejected and is seen by observers as a setback to both accountability efforts, the West's moral authority on human rights and the credibility of the United Nations itself.

The Treasury Department designated a company and three Myanmar nationals, including businessman Aung Moe Myint who has allegedly facilitated various weapons purchases on behalf of the Southeast Asian nation's military.

"That remains to be seen," the US leader told reporters when asked if he'd use the G20 gathering in Bali, as an opportunity to talk directly with Putin.

The official confirmed to Reuters the gunman killed his wife and child and himself during the incident and said at least 12 people were injured in addition to the 34 casualties.

Solomon Islands -- a sprawling archipelago in the South Pacific -- is the unlikely epicentre of a major diplomatic tussle in which the United States and Australia are seeking to limit China's influence. 

Southeast Asia analysts offer up a number of priority issues for Indonesia to consider as Jakarta prepares to take up the chairmanship of ASEAN next year.

An election is not due until September 2023, but Ismail is under pressure from some factions of his ruling coalition to hold the vote earlier for a stronger mandate and due to infighting.

The projectiles fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone and flew between 350 and 800 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 50 to 100 km, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.

In the public notice, Sepang district police chief ACP Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof said the police are seeking the next of kin of Kim Chol, the name in the passport used by Kim Jong Nam when he entered Malaysia in February 2017, "to surrender his possessions in the form of cash."

The country's power grid malfunctioned at around 2 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Tuesday, leading to blackouts across 75-80 percent of the Bangladesh, Bangladesh Power Development Board official Shameem Hasan told Reuters.

Under the bill, regulators can order social media platforms to block "egregious content" including posts advocating violence and terrorism or depictions of child sexual exploitation.

The Solomons' foreign minister, Jeremiah Manele, was quizzed by reporters in New Zealand about his country's reported qualms over the joint statement, signed in Washington last week.

The missile led to a rare activation of the J-Alert system, which appeared on screens showing national broadcaster NHK and warned residents in the north and northeast of the country to seek shelter.

"We're committed to helping Taiwan develop the capability to defend itself," Austin said in an interview with CNN.

Washington is pressing a diplomatic offensive to counter Chinese influence across the Asia-Pacific.