Laos

Millions of people across Southeast Asia struggled yesterday with flooded homes, power cuts and wrecked infrastructure after Typhoon Yagi swept through the region, as the death toll passed 200.

In worst-hit Vietnam, the fatalities rose to 197, with nine confirmed dead in northern Thailand, where one district is suffering its worst floods in 80 years.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accepted letters of credence from six newly appointed ambassadors during a ceremony at the presidential complex in Ankara on Aug. 29.

The ambassadors are Germany's Sibylle Katharina Sorg, Denmark's Ole Toft, Switzerland's Guillaume Bertrand Scheurer, Ghana's Nicholas Peter Andoh, Latvia's Bahtijor Hasans and Maldives' Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced new assignments for several embassies and permanent missions, according to diplomatic sources Wednesday.

A star is born, not made, and has no age. This realization prevailed in the minds of all of us fortunate enough to attend Marinella’s concert last Saturday evening, in the beautiful courtyard of the Moni Toplou.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held on Saturday bilateral talks on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in Vientiane, Laos, diplomatic sources said.

Fidan met Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Brunei Darussalam's Foreign Minister Dato Erywan Yusof.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Laos on Saturday, where he will attend a regional meeting and hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, part of a multi-nation Asia visit aimed at reinforcing regional ties in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Türkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos and discussed bilateral relations as well as energy and economic cooperation.

As Russia commemorated Victory Day, President Vladimir Putin presided over the annual military parade on Red Square in Moscow. The event, marking the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, saw participation from leaders of several countries, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Guinea-Bissau, and Laos.

Following Russia's announcement of an upcoming military exercise involving tactical nuclear weapons, President Vladimir Putin asserted that there was nothing out of the ordinary about the drills. Speaking after the Victory Day parade, Putin addressed concerns raised by the exercise, emphasizing that everything was meticulously planned.

Thai authorities said on Aug. 17 they have seized more than a ton of pangolin scales worth over 50 million baht ($1.4 million) that are believed to have been headed out of the country through a land border.