Asia

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is calling for an immediate end to violence against women and girls in the country. UNAMA made the appeal in a statement issued on Thursday marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW).

Top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia are considering a move to pause their planned oil production increases, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. It comes after US announcement of the release of strategic crude reserves.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for expansion of trade and stronger cooperation in field of technologies, especially in the area of water and environment, with the Netherlands.

An Armenian soldier has been killed in a shoot-out at the border with the Azerbaijan Republic. Authorities in Yerevan say Azeri troops opened fire at the Armenian positions on Monday evening, killing one soldier.

The Iranian embassy in Belgium underlined the need for the international community to support Afghan refugees residing in Iran.

The United Nations (UN) on Monday pushed for urgent action to prop up Afghanistan's banks. The world body has warned a spike in people unable to repay loans, lower deposits and a cash liquidity crunch could cause the financial system to collapse within months.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said London must engage with the Taliban to tackle humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. No country has yet recognized the Taliban as the rulers of Afghanistan.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reopened its embassy in Afghanistan's capital Kabul. Amost all foreign embassies have closed in the country following the collapse of the previous government.

A member of Iran’s parliament’s National Security Commission has called for the establishment of a regional taskforce to help Afghan refugees, amid the crisis in the country.

Yemeni troops have carried out a series of aerial attacks on military targets in southwest Saudi Arabia.  

The main problem in Afghanistan is not hunger, but the lack of cash to pay salaries to deliver social services which have existed before, Peter Maurer, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has announced. The ICRC chief stated Afghanistan is facing a looming humanitarian crisis as aid organizations struggle with ways to pay doctors, nurses and others on the ground.

The leaders of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan will meet in Brussels in mid-December to discuss border tensions, the European Union announced on Friday.

Armenia and the Azerbaijan Republic have accused each other of breaching the Wednesday ceasefire to end hostilities that erupted along their borders.

The United Nations' special envoy for Afghanistan has warned that members of the Daesh terrorist group now seem to be present in all provinces of the war-torn country, and Taliban is unable to stem the terror group’s growth.

Federal agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have claimed hackers linked to the Iranian government are behind an ongoing campaign targeting critical infrastructure, including hospitals in the US. Iran stresses the country is itself a victim of cyberattacks by the US and Israel.

The Taliban has urged members of the United States Congress to act to release frozen Afghan assets and take responsible steps towards addressing the humanitarian and economic crisis unfolding in the country.

Two explosions have hit the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, killing and wounding several people, including women, Taliban officials and local residents confirmed.

The Iranian president’s special envoy for Afghanistan Hossein Kazemi Qomi has said Tehran is ready to help Afghanistan’s economy to thrive.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh has expressed concern over new border clashes between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Taliban forces have staged a military parade in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, using captured American-made armored vehicles and Russian helicopters.

Iran’s special envoy for Afghanistan says the US occupiers who fled Afghanistan are trying to expand their proxy terrorist groups in the region.

The US military has defended as "legitimate" an air attack which killed dozens of people, including women and children in Syria in 2019.

The situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, where a shootout was earlier reported, is relatively calm, Yerevan has announced.

Thousands of Afghan commandos may turn to Daesh if Washington fails to evacuate them from the war-torn country, a former US navy special warfare intelligence chief has warned.

At least one million children under five in Afghanistan are running the risk of dying of malnutrition without immediate treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.