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 penalty follows a 390 million euro fine for Meta-owned media platforms Instagram and Facebook two weeks ago after they were found to have flouted the same EU rules.

Netanyahu, who returned to office last month with the formation of a new government, was at the helm in 2020 when Israel established ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco as part of the Abraham Accords.

In a post on Telegram discussing NATO support for the Ukrainian military, Medvedev said: "Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends."

Germany will allow German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine to help its defense against Russia if the United States agrees to send its own tanks, a report says. 

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.

Indonesia's foreign minister has called on Israel to initiate a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue during an open debate at the UNSC.

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.

"We are talking to them, and we'll see how it all works out," Trump said, according to the report.

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. 

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held "very productive" talks last week on semiconductor-related export controls on China, White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday.

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.

The announcement came hours German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned after months of criticism over Berlin's stuttering response to the war in Ukraine as well as a series of gaffes.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra both led governments toppled by the army, will run under the Pheu Thai Party, the latest incarnation of a populist movement founded by her billionaire family two decades ago. 

"The first Poseidon ammunition loads have been manufactured, and the Belgorod submarine will receive them in the near future," TASS quoted the source as saying.

Three years after the first case of COVID-19 we look at how it has changed our lives in Asia and what will stick with us even after the pandemic subsides.

Ship tracking data shows the vessel, CCG 5901, has been sailing in the Natuna Sea, particularly near the Tuna Bloc gas field and the Vietnamese Chim Sao oil and gas field since Dec. 30, the Indonesian Ocean Justice Initiative told Reuters.

"Thirty-one (bodies) have been taken to hospitals," police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies were still in the 300-metre (600-foot) gorge the aircraft plunged into.

In her annual press briefing, the foreign minister highlighted Indonesia's aim to take a more expansive leadership role on global issues, but at least one leading researcher noted that she refrained from mentioning key issues relevant to the country.

As this year's ASEAN chair, rights organizations say Indonesia has an opportunity to raise the Rohingya issue to the bloc's agenda, especially as the country had received over 600 Rohingya refugees recently.