Asia

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Himalayan Kashmir on Sunday his first public event since New Delhi stripped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy and took direct control in 2019. Modi remotely inaugurated a tunnel and work on two hydropower projects before delivering a speech that was punctuated by his government’s developmental …

Pakistan’s army says terrorists in Afghanistan have fired heavy weapons across the border into a military outpost overnight, killing three personnel Terrorists in Afghanistan fired heavy weapons across the border into a Pakistani military outpost overnight, killing three personnel, the army said Saturday, in the latest violence to rattle the …

Beijing is on alert after 10 middle school students tested positive for COVID-19, in what city officials said was an initial round of testing. City officials suspended classes in the school for a week following the positive test results on Friday. The Chinese capital also reported four other confirmed cases …

Japan’s foreign minister promised his country would bolster its military to help the United States maintain regional security during a visit on Saturday to a U.S. aircraft carrier patrolling Asian waters. “Today I was able to experience firsthand the frontline of national security,” Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on the hangar …

Pakistan’s prime minister said Saturday he will chair an emergency meeting of a national task force for polio eradication after authorities detected the country’s first case of the debilitating neurodegenerative disease in 15 months. Health officials announced the discovery of the wild polio case on Friday, saying a 15-month-old boy …

The major financial hub of Shanghai reported 12 new COVID-19-related deaths on April 22, up from 11 the previous day, as frustrations among residents continued to boil over amid a harsh lockdown and strict censorship online. The city, battling China’s biggest coronavirus outbreak so far, recorded 20,634 new local asymptomatic …

Japan’s coast guard says a tour boat with 26 people aboard has been missing for more than seven hours after issuing a distress call and taking in water. The coast guard said Saturday no survivors have been found so far. It says the 19-ton Kazu 1 made an emergency call …

An explosion struck a mosque in northern Afghanistan during Friday prayers, police said, with eyewitnesses reporting dozens of casualties. The blast hit Mawlavi Sikandar mosque north of Kunduz city, provincial police spokesman Obaidullah Abedi told AFP. “At the moment we have no details about the type of the blast or …

Japan described four disputed islands as “illegally occupied” by Russia for the first time in nearly two decades on Friday as ties sour between the countries over the war in Ukraine. The two nations have long been engaged in attempts to agree a post-World War II treaty, but the islands …

Six people, including two children, were killed trying to cross a highway after hundreds fled a detention centre amid a riot. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said it is “shocked and deeply saddened” by the deaths of six Rohingya, including two children, who died on Wednesday in an …

Outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he will keep working towards reconciliation after he leaves office next month. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchanged friendly letters with outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in this week, in what North Korean state media described as a rare moment of positive …

Two children were injured in a bomb blast in the fifth security district of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The Interior Ministry of the Taliban interim government said in a statement on Thursday that two children were injured in an explosion in the fifth security district of Kabul. According to …

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday proposed a “global security initiative” that upholds the principle of “indivisible security”, a concept also endorsed by Russia, although he gave no details of how it would be implemented. During a video speech to the annual Boao Asia Forum, Xi said that the world …

SIS has claimed responsibility for an attack in Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif, via its Telegram channel. An explosion at a Shia mosque in the northern city Thursday killed or wounded at least 60 people, a local Taliban commander said. “A blast happened in 2nd district inside a Shi’ite mosque, more than 60 …

The death toll from Pakistani military airstrikes in the eastern Afghanistan provinces of Khost and Kunar has risen to at least 47, officials said on Sunday. “Forty-one civilians, mainly women, and children, were killed and 22 others were wounded in airstrikes by Pakistani forces near the Durand line in Khost …

Weapon launch, supervised by Kim Jong Un, comes as the US and South Korea warn that North Korea could soon resume nuclear testing. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has observed the test-firing of a “new type of tactical guided weapon” aimed at boosting the country’s nuclear capabilities, according to …

Police made the arrests in connection with violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims during a religious procession. Indian police have arrested 14 people in connection with the violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims during a Hindu religious procession in the country’s capital New Delhi on Saturday. Six police officers and …

Pakistan rockets and aerial raids on two different Afghan provinces resulted in civilian casualties, officials say. Taliban authorities warned Pakistan on Saturday after five children and a woman were killed in Afghanistan in alleged rocket attacks by the Pakistani forces in a pre-dawn assault along the border. “The Islamic Emirate …

Sri Lanka’s securities commission ordered the Colombo Stock Exchange to be halted next week to give investors time to digest the country’s economic conditions. The board of directors of the stock exchange, along with other stakeholders, had sought a temporary closure of the market, the Securities and Exchange Commission of …

At least five children and a woman were killed in an eastern Afghan province when Pakistani military forces fired rockets along the border in a pre-dawn assault Saturday, an official and a resident said. Since the Taliban seized power last year in Afghanistan, border tensions between the neighbors have risen, …