Asia

Flash floods caused by abnormally heavy monsoon rains killed at least 549 people in Pakistan over the past month, with remote communities in the impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan among the hardest hit, a government agency said. Government agencies and the army have set up aid and relief camps in …

The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group on Friday claimed responsibility for a deadly blast in a Shi’ite residential area in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, the group said.

China is set to end cooperation with the US on several key issues including climate change, anti-drug efforts, and military dialogue, as the two sides engage in a war of words over Taipei.

Pyongyang is also seeking to ramp up fissile material production, a UN report seen by the outlet says

China began large-scale military exercises on Thursday intended to punish Taiwan for hosting U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, raising cross-strait tensions to their highest level in decades. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Thursday that military maneuvers had begun in the Taiwan Strait, with the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s …

China has begun large-scale military sea and air exercises around Chinese Taipei in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island and amid soaring tensions between Washington and Beijing over the highly-controversial trip. The unprecedented military exercises kicked off on Thursday a day after Pelosi left Taipei, featuring J-20 stealth …

The United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri with a drone missile while he stood on a balcony at his home in downtown Kabul, U.S. officials said, the biggest blow to the militants since Osama bin Laden was shot dead more than a decade ago. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has …

The US House speaker’s visit is a violation of the ‘One China’ policy and the country’s sovereignty, Beijing says

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to visit Taiwan on Tuesday, two people briefed on the matter said, as China warned that its military would never “sit idly by” if she visited the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.

The deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party has swept by-elections in the country’s most populous Punjab Province, dealing a heavy blow to the ruling coalition led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on its home turf. According to preliminary results on Monday, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) walked away with …

Sri Lanka’s acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday again declared a state of emergency in the crisis-hit island nation in an attempt to quell social unrest ahead of a parliamentary vote to elect the new president. Announcing the move in a statement, the interim president stressed that the decision was …

The resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the fugitive president of crisis-hit Sri Lanka, was accepted by the country’s parliament on Friday, days after he fled the island amid mass protests over an unprecedented economic crisis. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament, told reporters on Friday that he had accepted Rajapaksa’s …

Sri Lanka’s parliament convened on Saturday to begin the process of electing a new president, as a shipment of fuel arrived to provide some relief to the crisis-stricken country. This comes after former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation was accepted by parliament on Friday. Rajapaksa had fled to Singapore via the Maldives …

The US navy says one of its destroyers has sailed near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, the second such provocative move in the strategic waterway in a week. “On July 16, USS Benfold (DDG 65) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near …

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is feared dead after being shot at a campaign event in the Nara region, local media report. Several Japanese news media outlets, including Kyodo and public broadcaster NHK, reported the development on Friday, saying there had been the sound of an apparent gunshot at the …

The US Air Force has sent F-35 stealth warplanes to South Korea to carry out maneuvers, with a New York-based analyst saying the deployment of these destabilizing weapons will likely be viewed as a First Strike threat by North Korea. US Forces Korea said in a statement on Tuesday that …

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu has announced Beijing’s willingness to broaden relations with Russia within multilateral frameworks. In a meeting with Russian Ambassador to Beijing Andrey Denisov, the senior Chinese diplomat expressed China’s keenness to strengthen strategic coordination with Russia and expand practical cooperation in various fields, according to …

Throwing a backpack over his shoulders and a helmet over his head, Thusitha Kahaduwa hops onto his bicycle to pedal off to work through the chaotic streets of Colombo. The 41-year-old doctor who works at a private hospital is among thousands of Sri Lankans who are ditching their vehicles at …

Unidentified gunmen have attacked a convoy of Taliban forces in western Afghanistan, leaving two dead and several others injured. Iran’s Fars news agency, citing local sources, reported that two vehicles carrying members of the Taliban came under attack in Herat City on Monday morning. The report said the attack killed …

At least 950 people have been killed and many more injured after a strong earthquake struck remote parts of southeastern Afghanistan, according to disaster management officials. The 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost, near the Pakistani border, early on Wednesday, the US …