Indonesia – an archipelago of 17,000 islands – is modernising its military amid increasing maritime and regional challenges. Indonesia is moving to upgrade its ageing air force fleet with multi-billion-dollar orders for advanced fighter jets from France and the United States (US), amid increasing tensions in the Asia Pacific region.The agreement for 42 French Rafale fighters was announced as Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto met his French counterpart Florence Parly in Jakarta.

United States (US) president Joe Biden has warned that “things could go crazy quickly” in Ukraine and again urged American citizens to leave immediately, as the United Kingdom’s (UK) defence secretary headed to Moscow in the latest round of diplomacy.“American citizens should leave, should leave now,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News. “We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world.

Last week, a commission set up by Stanford University and the Lancet found that the devastating opioid crisis in North America could happen again, and not just there. The unethical practices that Patrick Radden Keefe documented in his prize-winning 2021 book, Empire of Pain, were not restricted to one company, Purdue Pharma, and the part of the Sackler family that owned it.

By early December United States (US) intelligence was certain: the man occupying the top floor of a nondescript house in Atme, northern Syria – who never left the premises, emerging only to bathe on the roof – was the head of the Islamic State (IS) group.In the White House Situation Room, a table-top model of the house was set up, and President Joe Biden was briefed on his options to neutralize Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, one of America's most wanted jihadist targets.US officials

In recent days, Beijing has called for calm on both sides and the end of a Cold War mentality, while also making it clear it supports Moscow's concerns.It would seem obvious that China would side with its long-time ally and former Communist comrade Russia.

Few parts of the world paid as high a cost during the Cold War as Southeast Asia.

Pfizer and BioNTech will soon ask United States (US) regulators for emergency authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine for children under age five, US media reported Tuesday.This is the last age group in the US that is not yet eligible for coronavirus shots.As early as Tuesday, the companies could seek emergency authorization for a two-dose vaccination regimen for children under five and as young as six months, The New York Times and other news outlets said.The move comes as the Omicron variant w

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Monday that it has granted full approval to Moderna's COVID-19 "Spikevax" vaccine, which had previously received an emergency use authorization in the United States (US)."The public can be assured that Spikevax meets the FDA's high standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality required of any vaccine approved for use in the United States," acting FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statemen

It's all very different from August 2017 when Japan awoke to the sound of air raid sirens. Without warning North Korea had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) over the top of Japan into the Pacific Ocean. It was an audacious act.This time North Korea's missiles have all been short range, and have landed in the sea, well away from the Japanese coast. Kim Jong-un appears to be holding back, for now.

Recent talks in Geneva between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding the crisis over Ukraine achieved little. Russia asked for a written response to its demands, which include a halt to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) enlargement.