PUEAA

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria arrived in China on Thursday as he sought financial support to rebuild his country and to improve his international standing after being ostracized over atrocities committed during Syria’s ongoing civil war.

Saudi Arabia getting closer to Israel normalisation deal, prince says

BBC NEWS

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince has said "every day we get closer" to normalising ties with Israel. A deal between the two powers would mark a huge regional shift.

Biggest ever Asian Games set to kick off in China’s Hangzhou

ALJAZEERA

Delayed by a year due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions, the 19th edition of the event is set to officially begin on Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou with a two-hour opening ceremony.

Salamé presses UN Security Council on foreign presence in Libya

AFRICA TIMES

Another 10 people have died in an airstrike in Libya, with the news coming as the United Nations Security Council heard testimony Monday from Ghassan Salamé, head of the UNSMIL mission, who warned of intensifying violence and “a race against time to reach a peaceful solution.”

Rwanda: Paul Kagame running for a fourth term in office

THE NORTH AFRICA POST

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has announced for the first time that he plans to run for a fourth term in next year’s elections. “I am happy with the trust Rwandans have placed in me. I will always serve them, whenever I can. Yes, I am indeed a candidate,” 65-year-old Kagame told the French-language magazine Jeune Afrique Wednesday, September 20.

Iran, Djibouti restore ties after 7 years

THE EAST AFRICAN

Iran on Friday announced the restoring of diplomatic ties with Djibouti more than seven years after it joined other regional nations in severing ties with Tehran in support of Saudi Arabia.

MIKTA nations determined to strengthen global order

ARAB NEWS

We, the ambassadors of Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia, are pleased to reintroduce MIKTA to the Saudi Arabian audience as a “partnership for progress” that is preparing to mark its ninth anniversary this year. As MIKTA countries, we represent the great diversity of the international community. We are geographically, culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse nations and are democracies that benefit from open economies with robust growth rates and a significant level of economic power.

What Asia’s economic revolution means for the world

THE ECONOMIST

The phrase “factory Asia” describes one of history’s most impressive economic achievements. Over the past half-century Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and, more recently, China became bustling hubs for manufacturing goods, which they then exported to the rest of the world, especially the well-off West. Millons of Asians escaped poverty by making stuff; many grew prosperous. Now the region’s economic model is shifting again, with consequences for Asia and for the world.