Asia

The new Army Information Support Force will contribute to “competitiveness in modern warfare,” the Chinese leader has said.

A search operation is underway after the SH-60 patrol helicopters possibly collided with each other during an antisubmarine exercise off Izu Islands.

Five Japanese nationals in Pakistan escaped when a suicide bomber detonated their device on Friday, and police shot dead a gunman accompanying the bomber, officials said, adding that two bystanders died from injuries sustained in the incident.

At least 800 people in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province have been evacuated after multiple eruptions of the area's Ruang volcano, which for days has spewed lava and ash clouds into the sky.

Most casualties have been from roof collapses, while some 600 houses have been damaged or destroyed, authorities say.

A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Papua New Guinea's New Britain Region at a depth of 79 km on Monday, according to the German Research Center for Geosciences.