* Trade ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states signed an agreement on e-commerce on November 12, encouraging paperless trading between businesses and governments of the bloc to generate rapid and efficient transactions.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping is to pay state visits to Papua New Guinea, Brunei, and the Philippines from November 15 to 21, and will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting from November 17 to 18 at Papua New Guinea's capital city of Port Moresby. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the announcement on November 12.
* Russia is reacting calmly to the recent large-scale military drills conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and wishes to continue dialogue on this matter, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 11.
* The Republic of Korea (RoK), the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United Nations (UN) Command on November 12 held follow-up talks to disarm the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the inter-Korean border, Seoul's defense ministry said.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 11 cut short his visit to Paris after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed at least six people which raised tensions in the region.
* Israel's army instructed residents living near the Gaza Strip to stay indoors, after its air force reportedly carried out a deadly strike in the Palestinian enclave.
* Sri Lanka's main political parties on November 12 filed legal challenges in the country's Supreme Court, against the early dissolution of parliament by President Maithripala Sirisena.
* Leader of Germany's Christian Social Union (CSU) Horst Seehofer, who is also German Interior Minister, is to give up party leadership, news agency DPA reported on November 11. The formal declaration will be made during the coming week and a new chairman will be elected in a special party meeting in 2019.
* Russia's average daily oil production in November will be about 10,000 barrels less than that in the previous month, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on November 11.
* The RoK and the DPRK on November 12 started working-level talks to schedule the joint survey of roads across the inter-Korean border to modernize and eventually connect cross-border roads.
* The head of the Libyan Higher Council of State on November 11 called on all parties to reach consensus during the upcoming Palermo conference in order to end the country's political crisis.
* Visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on November 11 tried to persuade the commander of Libya's eastern-based army Khalifa Haftar to attend the upcoming conference in Italy's Palermo, a military source said.
* A Kuwaiti minister said on November 11 that Kuwait and Iraq are prepared to strengthen cooperation in various fields, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.
* Armed confrontations between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah left around 80 dead within the past 24 hours, local sources said on November 11.
* Over two dozen people including 15 civilians have been confirmed dead as militants attacked Jaghori district in the eastern Ghazni province on November 11, police said.
