Police don’t travel far to monitor the goings-on at the Gami Temple at the edge of the Tibetan plateau. The police station sits inside the monastery, just outside the gates to the main prayer hall. Smothering security has become a fact of life in China’s Tibetan areas, from police stationed around monasteries to document checks [...]
A leading Chinese newspaper accused Western countries on Monday of stirring civil war in Syria, where police and militia patrols clamped down on a district of the capital to prevent new demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad. After almost a year of protests against Assad’s 11-year rule, the uprising has moved to his centre of power [...]
South Korea conducted live-fire military drills near its disputed sea boundary with North Korea on Monday despite Pyongyang’s threat to respond with a “merciless” attack — a threat it did not immediately make good on. Analysts said North Korea was unlikely to respond with more than words because it is focusing on internal stability two [...]
Burmese monk Shin Gambira, one of the leaders of anti-government protests in 2007, will face fresh legal action, according to state media. He is accused of staying in a monastery that had been sealed by the authorities and of breaking into two others. Gambira had been released as part of an amnesty last month, [...]
China said on Sunday it believed a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis was still possible as any armed intervention would only spread turmoil through the region, but Britain’s foreign minister said he feared Syria will slide into civil war. The comments were published by the official Xinhua news agency a day after a Chinese [...]
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is in Pakistan for talks expected to focus on attempts to bring the Taliban into the peace process. Mr Karzai is likely to tackle claims that Pakistani military personnel continue to support the insurgency. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to join the meeting later for talks focusing on trade [...]
China’s presumptive next leader, Xi Jinping, is expected to meet with U.S. congressional leaders Wednesday on the third day of a visit that could influence relations between the two world powers for years to come. Xi, who currently holds the position of Chinese vice president, is also due to deliver a major policy address to [...]
India has decided to buy 126 fighter jets from France, taken delivery of a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia and prepared for its first aircraft carrier in recent weeks as it modernizes its military to match China’s. India and China have had tensions since a 1962 border war, and New Delhi has watched with dismay in [...]
Pakistan’s Supreme Court summoned Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to appear February 13 to be charged with contempt of court, his lawyer said Thursday. The moves raises the stakes in a long-running battle over the court’s demand that the prime minister investigate President Asif Ali Zardari, among others, for suspected corruption. Gilani has refused. [...]
South Korea and Japan will soon meet U.S. officials in Washington to ask how much oil they can import from Iran under new sanctions that leave the Asian nations with few alternative sources for energy, government officials said Wednesday. Japan is the world’s third biggest oil consumer, and South Korea is the fifth largest. Both [...]