Asia

An Iranian newspaper has slammed officials in Iran for turning a blind eye to what it calls an ‘ethnic cleansing and killing spree of Shia Muslims’ in neighboring Afghanistan under the Taliban rulers.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has raised the alarm over North Korea’s increasing strategic cooperation with Russia. He stated the burgeoning alliance has boosted leader Kim Jong-un’s confidence.

Officials from Rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas have held a meeting in China for talks on potential reconciliation.

The Iranian president, fresh from a trip to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said on Thursday that the agreements and projects in both countries were a success.

North Korean officials are making a rare visit to Iran, the state-run KCNA news agency has reported. The last time officials from Pyongyang made a publicly announced trip to Tehran was in 2019.

World military expenditure increased by 6.8% in 2023 year-over-year and reached a new record high of $2,443 billion, with the three largest spenders being the US, China and Russia, according to new data published on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

New Delhi has called on Tehran to release 17 Indian crew members on board a container ship confiscated by Iran on Saturday.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari had a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday, saying Islamabad seeks to improve bilateral ties with Tehran in various areas including in intelligence sharing.

Beijing supports holding an international conference on settling the Ukrainian crisis with the participation of Moscow and Kiev, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has stated.

Russia and Beijing are already playing more important roles in the Middle East and North Africa than ten years ago, and in another decade could rival US influence in the region, according to a recent opinion poll.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says an "alliance of authoritarian powers" is working more closely together against Western democracies.

Pakistan announced it is "looking forward" to hosting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, noting that the two countries have revived all channels of mutual communication.

Pakistan has stressed it is within its rights to import natural gas from Iran despite the US objections to fresh attempts by Islamabad to revive a 2009 gas supply agreement with Tehran.

A Pakistani court has suspended former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s jail sentence in a case related to “illegal selling of state gifts.”

The Yemen-based Houthi fighters have told Moscow and Beijing that their ships can sail freely through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden without fear of being attacked, Bloomberg has reported, citing sources.

The head of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) General Michael Kurilla has expressed concerns over the growing alliance between Tehran, Beijing and Moscow.

Finland remained the world's happiest country for a seventh straight year in an annual UN sponsored World Happiness Report. Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed.

China will boycott the negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict unless Moscow has a seat at the table, the Politico magazine has reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has accused Pakistan of killing eight civilians in an air raid on Monday. The group responded by opening fire on Pakistani targets, allegedly wounding seven people.

An Iranian official says neighboring Afghanistan is now a major producer of methamphetamine in the region, voicing Tehran's readiness to tackle the problem.

A Taliban spokesman has rejected a US military official's claim that the group's inability or unwillingness to contain extremist groups will destabilize central and southern Asia.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Pakistan's slain first female leader Benazir Bhutto and the father of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, was voted in as president for a second time Saturday.

Beijing supports Palestine in becoming a full member of the United Nations (UN), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday.

Pakistani legislators have elected Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s prime minister for a second time following a controversial election last month which was marred by allegations of large-scale rigging and delayed results.

Pakistan’s caretaker energy minister has stated Washington’s anti-Tehran sanctions, imposed over its nuclear program, may not apply to the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline as Islamabad was going to start work on the project within its territory and connect to the neighboring country.