Located in southeast China’s Fujian province, Quanzhou is one of the most important Chinese ports along the historic Maritime Silk Road. “Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China” was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 25, 2021, becoming China’s 56th UNESCO World Heritage Site. The serial property encompasses 22 sites of administrative buildings and structures, religious …

MUSCAT/ISLAMABAD: Four Pakistanis were killed while multiple others were wounded in a shooting near a Shia mosque in the Omani capital Muscat, officials said on Tuesday, a rare attack in the otherwise stable Gulf sultanate. Police said the overall death toll climbed to six today, adding that the three attackers were also killed. Monday’s shooting “resulted in the death of …

ISLAMABAD: Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev landed in Islamabad on Thursday on a two-day official visit from July 11-12, at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. As President Aliyev alighted at Nur Khan Airbase from his special aircraft, he was received by PM Shehbaz along with his cabinet members, including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar. A …

KENYA: A Kenyan court on Monday found police acted unlawfully over the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in 2022 following a complaint by his widow, her lawyer and local media said. Sharif, an ardent supporter of former premier Imran Khan, was shot in the head when Kenyan police opened fire on his car in October 2022. He had left Pakistan in August 2022 …

TEHRAN: Relative moderate Masoud Pezeshkian urged people on Saturday to stick with him on “the difficult road ahead” after beating a hardline rival to win Iran’s presidential election. Friday’s run-off vote was between Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old cardiac surgeon, has pledged to promote …

LONDON: Newly elected UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday said Britain needed to rediscover its identity and undergo a wider reset, in his first words outside his new office at 10 Downing Street, promising to fight to restore trust in politics and serve all voters. Greeted in Downing Street by a large crowd of cheering aides and supporters after …

ASTANA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday raised the issue of terrorism as a major concern for member states at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and called for “meaningful” engagement with the Afghan Taliban government. PM Shahbaz arrived in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana on Wednesday for a two-day official visit, representing Pakistan at the SCO meetings where leaders and …

ASTANA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has invited Tajikistan to “avail the facilities of Pakistani seaports” for transit trade, a joint statement issued by the two countries said on Wednesday, as the premier concluded his two-day official visit to the Central Asian country. The PM’s official visit commenced at the invitation of the Tajik president, Emomali Rahmon. During the visit, the …

PYONGYANG: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on Wednesday that includes a mutual defence pledge, one of Russia’s most significant moves in Asia for years that Kim said amounted to an “alliance”. Putin’s pledge overhauls Russia’s entire post-Soviet policy on North Korea just as the United States and its Asian allies try to …

By focusing on key desert fringe areas and taking innovative, scientific and comprehensive measures for wind prevention, sand and desertification control, as well as dust suppression, China has made a promising start to its campaign to tame desert areas and created a model of sand control and desertification prevention and control. Last year, China initiated a battle against sand in …