The French president has met with his Indonesian counterpart as Emmanuel Macron pressed on with a week-long trip to Southeast Asia focused on strengthening regional ties in an increasingly unstable global landscape.

His visit is an impressive display of French diplomacy and a chance to defend its strategy for the Indo-Pacific. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Macron is leaning towards recognising a Palestinian state, diplomats and experts say, a move that could infuriate Israel and deepen Western splits. The French president was speaking in Indonesia. "Only a political solution will make it possible to restore peace and build for the long term," Macron said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for closer cooperation between Vietnam and France amid rising global instability.

A quick shove. A split-second clip that would have dominated US news for days aired in France for just 24 hours and then it was gone.

The video, filmed on Sunday as the Macrons arrived in Vietnam to mark the start of his Southeast Asia tour, shows the President standing in the doorway of the aircraft when a pair of hands—belonging to a person wearing a red blazer, later identified as Brigitte—reach out and appear to shove him away.

The French president’s trip to Jakarta strengthened defence and economic links, securing deals and discussing Indonesia’s potential shift in stance on Israel.