New Zealand is an island country in the southwest Pacific made up of two large islands and more than 700 smaller ones. Polynesian settlers arrived between about 1280 and 1350, the last large habitable land on Earth to be settled, and they developed the distinctive Māori culture. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted the islands in 1642, and James Cook mapped them in 1769. In 1840 British representatives and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which led to British sovereignty and a colony by 1841. New Zealand became a dominion in 1907 and gained full statutory independence in 1947, while keeping the monarch as head of state. Today around 5.3 million people live there.

Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka handed his resignation to parliament after questions were raised about his eligibility for office and his academic credentials. Gibran is the son of former president Joko Widodo, and his resignation came as Widodo publicly backed the president, Prabowo Subianto. Gibran had been elected vice president in 2024 as Prabowo's running mate. His candidacy was made possible by a 2023 Constitutional Court ruling on the minimum age for candidates, which was itself controversial. Parliament will now consider the resignation.

Angkor, near Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries. At its height the city spread across about 3,000 square kilometres, making it the largest pre-industrial city on Earth by area. Its growth depended on water: huge reservoirs called barays, along with canals and embankments, stored monsoon rain and carried it to rice fields. That system let farmers harvest more than once a year and fed a very large population through the dry season. The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century, is the best-known monument and still stands at the heart of the park.