The Asian giants are courting developing countries for support in a changing international order, observers said.

Russia’s invasion has limited shipment routes from China to Europe and raised interest in alternative and nascent routes – including across the choppy Caspian Sea. But relevant governments need to get on board.

The region was recaptured by Azerbaijan in a lightning offensive in September, prompting the mass exodus of most of the 120,000 ethnic Armenians living there.

Qatar has been leading mediation efforts between Hamas and Israeli officials over dozens of hostages seized on October 7.

‘The European Union isn’t hiding its intentions to push [Russia] out of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. These attempts are futile,’ said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Facilities at the main northwestern border crossing of Torkham have been increased three times to cater for the rising number of returnees.

The US-sanctioned Chinese region borders eight countries, including Russia, Pakistan and other trade partners that should benefit from a plan to create new manufacturing and innovation hubs in Xinjiang.

The fire was Kazakhstan’s worst mining accident since 2006, when 41 miners died at an ArcelorMittal site.

Pakistan says deportations protect its ‘welfare and security’, amid growing anti-Afghan sentiment from economic woes and cross-border militancy.

Readers discuss the benefits of increased understanding of the Middle East in Hong Kong, the hawker economy in the city and Central Asia, and the use of acupuncture in the treatment of a young dancer.

Foreign ministers from Iran, Turkey and Russia will meet their counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia in Tehran on Monday, Iranian and Russian state media reported.

At the high-profile Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the leaders of China and Russia put forward complementary blueprints for the future of infrastructure development in Eurasia.

Kazakhstan bill comes after years of efforts by Astana to crack down on dual citizenship and leads up to visa-free regime with China.

It is the Russian leader’s first foreign visit since the International Criminal Court issued its March warrant over the deportation of Ukrainian children, slamming the door to much of the world.

The UK ordered an inquiry last year after the BBC reported that soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances during the war in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.

Readers discuss Azerbaijan’s actions in an enclave in the Caucasus, and the visit by a delegation of US senators to China.

Pakistan said it would expel illegal migrants starting next month, raising alarm among foreigners without documentation who include an estimated 1.7 million Afghans.

Most foreign nations – including India – do not officially recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which seized power following the collapse of the Western-backed government more than two years ago.

Armenian leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh said they’d disband their unrecognised administration and hand power to Azerbaijan after more than half the disputed region’s population fled.

The Armenian government said 6,500 Nagorno-Karabakh residents had fled to Armenia as of Monday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Azerbaijan in a show of support to its ally.

Azerbaijan had imposed a 10-month blockade on the breakaway region and conducted a lightning military offensive there, reclaiming full control of the region as a result.

This week’s offensive was due to ‘decades of frustration after the failure of the international community’ to resolve conflict, say analysts, and with the war in Ukraine distracting Russia.

Government forces showed off the captured arsenal, as international concern mounted over the plight of ethnic Armenians trapped in the breakaway region.

Licenses could be withheld for dual-use goods destined for the battlefield, potentially hurting the Kremlin’s ability to feed its war machine.

Azerbaijani soldiers fired near the capital Stepanakert, the Interior Ministry of the unrecognised Republic of Artsakh said, but Baku officials say the reports are ‘completely false’.