Japanese former cabinet minister Sanae Takaichi has secured enough support in the ruling party to join the race to succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Fighters of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, which opposes the rule of the Taliban (outlawed in Russia), have killed about 600 Taliban combatants in the northern Afghan region of Panjshir on Saturday, Front spokesman Fahim Dashty wrote on Twitter.

Taliban and opposition forces battled on Saturday to control the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, the last Afghan province holding out against the militant group, as the top US general warned of a "civil war" if the Islamists failed to consolidate power.

Fresh fighting was reported between the Taliban and resistance forces in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley yesterday, as the hardline Islamists delayed finalising a new government that will set the tone for their rule.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged major powers to “show responsibility” and play a leading role in improving global environmental governance and addressing such challenges as climate change.

Activity in China’s services sector slumped into sharp contraction in August, a private survey showed on Friday, as restrictions to curb the Covid-19 Delta variant threatened to derail the recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Philippine Airlines said Saturday it was filing for bankruptcy in the United States to slash $2 billion in debt as it tries to survive an industry gutted by the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s Alibaba Group will invest 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) by 2025 in support of ‘common prosperity’, it said, becoming the latest corporate giant to pledge support for the initiative driven by Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

The Brunei diplomat appointed by a Southeast Asian regional bloc as its special envoy to Myanmar said he is still negotiating

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and five cabinet ministers comfortably survived a vote of no confidence in

At least 17 people were killed in celebratory gunfire in Kabul, news agencies said on Saturday, after Taliban sources said their fighters had seized control of Panjshir, the last province in Afghanistan holding out against the Islamist group.

The United Nations will convene an international aid conference in Geneva on Sept. 13 to help avert what U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called a "looming humanitarian catastrophe".

China will put an end to large-scale urban demolitions and preserve old historical buildings as part of a programme to protect its cultural heritage, it said in new policy guidelines published late on Friday.

Safe in Europe after escaping from Kabul, an Afghan woman judge describes how she was hunted by men she had once jailed, now freed by the Taliban fighters who took over the country.

Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners.

The U.S.-trained Afghan pilots and others held at a camp in Uzbekistan already feared being sent back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. So it was little comfort when an Uzbek guard unsympathetically quipped the other day: "You can't stay here forever."

Sri Lanka yesterday imposed price controls on key foods as the government stepped up the use of emergency powers to counter shortages.

Taliban claim China to maintain embassy in Kabul, hail new Silk Road. US has no plans to release billions in Afghan assets, Treasury says.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yesterday said in a surprise move he would step down, setting the stage for a new premier after a one-year tenure marred by an unpopular Covid-19 response and sinking public support.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will lead a new Afghan government set to be announced soon, sources in the group said yesterday, as its fighters battled forces loyal to the vanquished republic in the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul.