Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the Pentagon intends to work better with private industry to develop high-tech systems and to strengthen relations with allies in the Indo-Pacific region in order to maintain a competitive edge over China,.

Thousands of protesters have gathered in Belgrade and other Serbian towns and villages to block roads and bridges despite police warnings and an intimidation campaign launched by authorities against the participants.

Dozens of Japanese tanks are participating in a major exercise on the northern island of Hokkaido in a display of military power that coincides with a recent escalation of Chinese and Russian military moves around Japanese territory.

Turkey’s beleaguered currency has been plunging to all-time lows against the U.S. dollar and the euro in recent months as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presses ahead with a widely criticized effort to cut interest rates despite surging consumer prices.

President Joe Biden has pledged to make it “very, very difficult” for Russia’s Vladimir Putin to take military action in Ukraine as U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian planning is underway for a possible military offensive that could begin as soon as early 2022.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met face-to-face with his Russian counterpart to demand Russia pull back troops from the border with Ukraine.

The prime minister of Laos has ridden the first run of a $5.9 billion Chinese-built train connecting his isolated, mountainous country with southern China.

India has reported that its economy grew at an 8.4% annual pace in the July-September quarter in the latest sign of an economic recovery in Asia’s third-largest economy.

The parties of Algeria’s ruling majority dominated local and regional elections while Islamist parties saw their support diminish.

China is urging its citizens to leave three provinces in eastern Congo as violence intensifies in the mineral-rich region.