Xi made his comments in a congratulatory message for Australia Day to Australian Governor-General David Hurley, the Xinhua state-run news agency reported.

With China asserting its maritime presence and the United States bolstering defense ties in the wider Indo-Pacific, ASEAN is in need of a novel diplomatic approach, analysts say.

Authorities in the North Korean capital Pyongyang have ordered a five-day lockdown due to rising cases of an unspecified respiratory illness, Seoul-based NK News reported on Wednesday, citing a government notice.

Asian Americans were reeling Tuesday after two mass shootings in California targeting members of their community left 18 people dead – with the alleged gunmen in both cases being older men of Asian descent.

Jacinda Ardern was officially replaced on Wednesday as New Zealand prime minister, after stunning the country by announcing her abrupt departure from the role last week.

In 2022, more than 300 children - mainly aged under 5 - in Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan died of acute kidney injury, in deaths that were associated with contaminated medicines, the WHO said in a statement on Monday.

Local outages are common across Pakistan, and the national power system is a complex and delicate web where problems can quickly cascade.

The so-called smart sea mines are designed to differentiate between military targets and other types of ships, a defence department spokesperson said in a statement.

Since Beijing ordered Wuhan sealed off in a bid to suffocate the outbreak in January 2020, Covid has devastated the planet, killing millions and plunging the global economy into turmoil.

"Our nation is on the cusp of whether it can maintain its societal functions," Kishida said in a policy speech at the opening of this year's parliamentary session. 

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi discusses with various representatives in New York, the US, support for women’s education in Afghanistan as well as Indonesia’s candidacy for membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2024-2026 period.

Hours after being unanimously endorsed by Labour Party MPs as the party's leader and the nation's next prime minister, Hipkins attacked the personal abuse suffered by Ardern during her more than five years in the top job.

Queues stretched for about one kilometre (a half-mile) outside the iconic Lama temple in Beijing, which had been repeatedly shut before COVID-19 restrictions ended in early December, with thousands of people waiting for their turn to pray for their loved ones.

Hipkins, 44, was the only nomination for the job and his confirmation in a party meeting on Sunday, known as the Labour caucus, was largely a formality.

Poised to be New Zealand's next prime minister, Chris Hipkins became a household name leading the nation's closed-border crackdown on COVID-19 and is seen as a "tough and capable" politician.

Dubbed "Toadzilla", the cane toad, an invasive species that poses a threat to Australia's ecosystem, was spotted by "shocked" park ranger Kylee Gray during a patrol in Conway National Park in Queensland state on Jan. 12. 

Ardern, a global figurehead for progressive politics, stunned New Zealand on Thursday by announcing her abrupt exit from office, less than three years after securing a second term in a landslide election win.

Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said Indonesia's presidency of ASEAN this year would be focused on improving connectivity and competitiveness in the region.

In a text message, Jose Manuel Romualdez confirmed a Nikkei report citing sources on the discussions about holding the first such talks in seven years, and said the agenda would include issues such as tension over the South China Sea and Taiwan.

Ending a decades-long wait to lead the Southeast Asian nation, largely ruled by one coalition since independence, Anwar, 75, formed a government with rival political blocs after last November's election, hampered by flooding, produced a hung parliament.

The 41-year-old - who gained attention for bringing her baby to a United Nations meeting and wearing a hijab after a massacre targeting Muslims - announced in similarly dramatic fashion on Thursday that she will step down in less than three weeks, saying she had "no more in the tank".

As China gears up to welcome the Year of the Rabbit, Lunar New Year looks slightly different in Vietnam, where the Year of the Cat is about to begin.

The first face-to-face meeting between Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, held in Zurich, was "candid, substantive and constructive", the US treasury department said in a statement.

Xi Jinping has said he is "concerned" about the virus situation in the Chinese countryside, state media reported, as millions of people head to rural hometowns ahead of upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations.

Ardern, holding back tears, said that it had been a tough five and a half years as prime minister and that she was only human and needed to step aside.

Ambulance services were called to Sydney airport on Wednesday afternoon to meet an incoming Qantas plane that had issued a mid-air mayday alert. 

Philippine Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa and her online media company Rappler were on Wednesday acquitted of all four charges of tax evasion filed against her, a court said.

"China welcomes Secretary of State Blinken's visit to China. Both China and the United States are in communication now over the specific arrangements," Wang Wenbin said, responding to a question on a US media report that Blinken is visiting China on Feb. 5.

Yellen's meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, to take place in Zurich, will be their first in-person encounter following three virtual meetings, the official said.

China's population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data showed Tuesday, as the world's most populous nation faces a looming demographic crisis.