Asia

A high court in Pakistan acquitted jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday from a conviction on charges of leaking state secrets, his lawyer and his party stated, but the politician will remain in prison for now due to a conviction in another case.

China is acting as an “instrument” of Russia by pressing other nations to shun an upcoming “peace summit” on the Ukraine conflict, President Volodymyr Zelensky has alleged. The Ukrainian leader also accused Beijing of providing military support to Moscow, without giving specific evidence.

The Maldives government has announced it will ban Israelis from entering the country as public anger rises in the nation over Israel's war on Gaza.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry called in China’s ambassador in Tehran on Sunday after Beijing once again supported the ‘baseless’ claims by neighboring Arab states’ over three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has decried “tremendous sufferings” in the Middle East and urged an international peace conference as leaders from Arab nations visit Beijing amid mounting global concern over Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

The Afghan government formed by the Taliban movement assesses the latest statements of the Russian authorities on relations with Afghanistan as positive, the spokesman of the Taliban government Zabihullah Mujahid has said in a commentary to TASS.

Former US President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump has told campaign donors that he “would have bombed” Moscow and Beijing if they’d attacked Ukraine and Taiwan on his watch, the Washington Post has reported, citing sources.

Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei told Pakistani Prime Minister shahbaz Sharif that the recent visit of late president of Iran Ebrahim Raisi to Pakistan can serve as a turning point in relations between Tehran and Islamabad.

Beijing will continue strengthening the strategic partnership with Tehran "regardless of how the situation changes", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told at a meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mahdi Safari.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a condolence message to Tehran over the demise of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, state media KCNA reported.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a chopper crash on Sunday, and said that New Delhi stands with Tehran in its "time of sorrow".

China's President Xi Jinping on Monday paid tribute to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, describing his "tragic death" in a copter crash as "a great loss to the Iranian people".

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared a day of mourning after death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and several other officials in a helicopter crash.

Preparations for Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang are ongoing, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed to strengthen ties across energy, trade, security and geopolitics, as both parties displayed their close relationship against the backdrop of regional unrest.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing during a state visit to the Asian country on Thursday. It is Putin’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in for a fifth term as president earlier this month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China later this week to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the Kremlin announced Tuesday. It will be the Russian leader’s first foreign trip of his new presidential term.

Flash floods from heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have claimed the lives of more than 300 people and destroyed over 1,000 houses, the United Nations food agency reported Saturday.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar has reiterated that Islamabad will deter external interference when it comes to complying with the terms of a natural gas import contract with Tehran.

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).