Asia

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will soon meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to discuss, among other things, the development of humanitarian ties.

A Pakistani court has extended the jail custody of former Prime Minister Imran Khan by two weeks to investigate him on charges of leaking state secrets, his lawyer has stated.

The Pakistani high court has suspended the former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent conviction on corruption charges, his lawyer said on Tuesday. It is unclear whether the order will lead to his release from jail.

Human rights groups have condemned the Taliban’s latest restrictions on Afghan women’s education and movements. The ruling Taliban administration has recently barred women from visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks and stopped them from leaving for the United Arab Emirates to study on academic scholarships.

China and Pakistan have kicked off joint air force drills to boost coordination between the armed forces of the two countries. The Shaheen (Eagle)-X maneuvers began within the Chinese territory on Monday.

A Pakistani court has dismissed murder charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his lawyer confirmed on Monday.

A Eurasia affairs expert in Tehran says the Caspian Sea has turned into a new focal point for concentration of power by regional and global heavyweights under the new circumstances, namely Russia’s new renaissance, a powerful Iran, an ambitious Azerbaijan and a developing China.

Qatar is balancing its relationships with both the US and China, and that one link does not damage the other, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has stated.

The BRICS group is not trying to compete with or oppose any other nation or group, but nevertheless faces resistance from countries of the so-called “golden billion” that wish to preserve their global dominance, Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Iran’s accession to BRICS will help strengthen the group’s policies including its opposition to the US’s unilateralism.

Leaders of the BRICS group of developing nations have invited six states - Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - to become new members of the bloc, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa whose country is hosting a summit meeting of the BRICS grouping has confirmed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has condemned the “Cold War mentality” still “haunting our world”, while laying out his geopolitical vision to the BRICS summit in South Africa. He stressed in an uncertain and unpredictable world, BRICS offers a path to “true multilateralism".

The coronavirus pandemic and rise in cost of living have pushed close to 70 million more people in developing Asia into extreme poverty as of last year, the Asian Development Bank has reported.

Members of the Taliban government have prevented 100 female Afghan students who were given a scholarship to study at the University of Dubai from boarding their flight to the UAE.

Eleven labourers were killed in a bomb blast in northwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, a local government official has confirmed.

Pakistan swore in a caretaker cabinet under interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in Islamabad on Thursday. It comes as fresh elections are set to be held in November or later.

Open-source photos from the Armiya-2023 military forum in Russia indicate there is an unspecified Chinese company presenting its suicide drone called Sunflower 2000. Based on its looks and declared specifications, it is basically a copy of the Iranian-made Shahed-136 loitering munition.

The United Nations global education envoy urged the International Criminal Court to prosecute gender discrimination in Afghanistan by the Taliban rulers.

China will continue to strengthen the security cooperation mechanism with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries and deepen defense collaboration with Iran and Belarus, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu has said.

More than 30 independent UN human rights experts have called for the international community to recommit to support the people of Afghanistan. They made the call in a statement issued on Monday marking two years since the Taliban took power.

Pakistan's President Arif Alvi has dissolved the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, a first step in the countdown to the general election by mid-November.

The United States had encouraged the Pakistani government in March 2022 to remove former Prime Minister Imran Khan from office over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by The Intercept.

A roadside bomb has struck a vehicle carrying a local politician and his friends in southwestern Pakistan, killing him and six others, with no responsibility yet claimed by any group. In another bombing, two people were killed in the country’s northwest.

The Taliban sent thousands of troops and hundreds of suicide bombers to the area, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, claiming the group is prepared for war with Iran over a water dispute. Tehran has issued a warning to the Taliban, urging them to honor Afghanistan’s water-supply agreement or face the consequences.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's lawyers could not reach him on Sunday after he spent the night in a jail near the capital following his arrest the previous day on a corruption conviction, Khan’s spokesperson has confirmed.