Asia

South Korean and Saudi Arabian leaders pledged stronger ties on Thursday in the fields of energy, defence industries and building projects, as the oil-rich kingdom signed investment agreements worth $30 billion with South Korean companies.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the West seeks to “militarise” southeast Asia in a bid to contain Russian and Chinese interests, setting the stage for a confrontation at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

A new report by the London-based advocacy and research group Action on Armed Violence (AAOV) revealed that the British military has killed at least 64 children in Afghanistan operations between 2006 and 2014, although the number of the kids killed could be as many as 135.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said his supporters’ “long march” towards the capital ,demanding early elections, will re-start on Tuesday after it was disrupted by an attempt on his life by a gunman.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected allegations that he was involved in the assassination attempt on opposition leader Imran Khan. It comes as supporters of the former prime minister continue to protest, demanding an investigation into the recent shooting that led to Khan's injury.

Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, has sustained a bullet injury in his leg after shots were fired at him during a rally in  Gujranwala.

The Iranian embassy in Seoul has confirmed the deaths of five Iranians in the Halloween stampede in the South Korean capital of Seoul.

South Korea’s first big Halloween celebration since the end of Covid restrictions turned to tragedy on Saturday night, when at least 151 people, mostly teenagers and young adults, died as partygoers surged through a narrow alley in a popular nightlife district in Seoul, officials confirmed. The dead included several foreign nationals, including those from Iran.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that he would begin a march with his supporters from the eastern city of Lahore to Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Friday to call for early elections.

Afghan-American activists have expressed indignation after reports suggested that a US Marine and his wife abducted a baby girl during the chaotic American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August last year.

Taliban Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has said that work is underway on the formation of a new constitution that will replace the previous one.

Pakistan on Saturday summoned the US ambassador after US President Joe Biden described the Asian country as "one of the most dangerous nations in the world" and questioned its nuclear weapons safety protocols.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for unfreezing Afghan assets and compensation for the harm done during years of occupation of the country by the US-led forces.

The US has put a visa restriction policy in place for members of the Taliban over the repression of women and girls in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says.

A Pakistani court has issued an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Imran Khan for "threatening" a female judge at a public meeting in August, local media reported.

A suicide bomb attack on an education center in the Afghan capital Kabul has killed at least 23 people, most of whom are believed to be young women.

Twelve civilians were killed in the US military operations in Afghanistan in 2021, according to a congressionally mandated Pentagon report.

US President Joe Biden has decided to rescind Afghanistan's designation as a "major non-NATO ally", the White House has announced.

Border guards from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan exchanged fire on Friday morning, following an escalation of tensions earlier in the week.

Daesh terror group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s suicide bombing in Kabul. The blast occurred not far from the entrance to the Russian embassy in the Afghan capital and killed 25 people, including two embassy staff.

Two Russian embassy workers were among many people killed on Monday in an explosion outside Russia’s diplomatic mission in the Afghan capital Kabul, the Russian Foreign Ministry has confirmed.

An explosion outside a mosque in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan killed a high-profile pro-Taliban cleric as well as more than a dozen civilians.

The United Nations humanitarian chief warned that Afghanistan faces deepening poverty with 6 million people at risk of famine. Martin Griffiths has urged donors to immediately provide $770 million to help Afghans get through the winter.

Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Chang Hua says the US has no right to meddle in the Taiwan issue, adding Beijing seeks to resolve the issue peacefully.

Islamabad has hit out at the Taliban over claim that American drones had used Pakistan's airspace in operation to kill Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul.