The US must dissolve its private security firms in Afghanistan and end the war lobby which controls Washington, a former US Congresswoman says. Read the full story

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang told the visiting Iranian oil minister on Friday that Beijing would maintain cooperation with Tehran on existing projects, after the United States called on Beijing to observe sanctions.

“Iran is an important trade partner of China’s in western Asia and North Africa and one of the country’s main oil suppliers. Bilateral economic and trade cooperation has achieved fruitful results,” state television paraphrased Li as telling minister Massoud Mirkazemi.

“China is willing to work hard with Iran, continue to push mutual political trust, and maintain communication, dialogue and coordination on important international issues, to maintain regional and global peace, stability and prosperity,” Li added.

“The key point is to solidly push forward existing cooperative projects, to ensure they are put into effect smoothly, to deepen bilateral pragmatic cooperation and promote the continued development of bilateral ties,” he added.

State television showed pictures of the meeting, in the Communist Party’s headquarters in central Beijing, on its main evening news.

Mirkazemi said he hoped that “both sides would create conditions to push forward existing projects,” the brief report added, without elaborating.

The minister is in Beijing for talks with Chinese energy executives. He has not made any public comments.

China has already pushed back at U.S. pressure on its business and oil trade with Iran in comments published earlier this week, saying Chinese trade dealings with Iran should not be criticized.

The government was responding to comments by Robert Einhorn, special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control at the U.S. State Department, who said on Monday that China should observe sanctions against Iran aimed at forcing it to curtail its nuclear ambitions.

Western governments have pressed China to loosen its energy and economic ties with Iran, which they see as shielding Iran from international pressure.

Iran is a major supplier of crude oil to China, the world’s second-biggest consumer of oil after the United States.

The United States has urged China to tap other suppliers, but China has condemned unilateral U.S. and E.U. sanctions aimed at Iran’s energy sector.

China has backed U.N. Security Council resolutions pressing Iran to abandon disputed nuclear activities, which Western governments say are aimed at giving Iran the means to make nuclear weapons. Iran disputes that.

In the first half of 2010, Iran held its place as China’s third biggest supplier of crude with shipments of 9 million tonnes of oil, putting it behind Saudi Arabia and Angola, according to Chinese customs data.

China is reportedly developing a game-changing new naval missile that can pave the way for ending the US dominance at sea, experts say. Read the full story

The Taliban in Afghanistan have told the BBC that there is no question of their entering into any kind of negotiations with Nato forces. It comes after US commanders and the British army chief of staff, Gen David Richards, suggested that it might be useful to talk to the Taliban. Read the full story

Kyrgyzstan has voted to create Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy, referendum results showed on Monday, prompting a Russian warning that extremists could manipulate parliament and seize power. Read the full story

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has reportedly met with the Taliban’s most senior commander Serja-eddin Haggani in Kabul as UK calls for peace with the militants. Read the full story

Afghan President Hamid Karzai hints that the US-led invasion has set the ground for surge in drug production and organized crimes in his war-ravaged country. Read the full story

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has announced his resignation after just eight months in office. It comes after he broke an election pledge to move an unpopular US military base away from the island of Okinawa. Read the full story

A court in Bangkok has approved an arrest warrant for former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on “terrorism charges”. Read the full story

North Korea on Tuesday threatened military action if the South continued to violate its waters off the west coast, further stoking tension on the peninsula after the sinking of a South Korean warship. Read the full story

Investigators at the site of Saturday’s airliner crash in southern India are searching for the jet’s data recorders to find out what caused the disaster. Read the full story

Chinese tycoon Huang Guangyu has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of bribery, insider trading and illegal business practices. Read the full story

A renegade army officer accused of marshaling a paramilitary force among Thailand’s Red Shirt protesters was shot in the head Thursday, apparently by a sniper, an aide said. Read the full story

A Falun Gong-linked group that promotes internet freedom says the US state department has offered it $1.5m, in a move condemned by Chinese officials. Read the full story

The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC. Read the full story

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is committed to ending the North’s nuclear programme, Chinese state media says. Mr Kim’s secretive visit to Beijing was only confirmed once it was finished. Read the full story

Nato has taken one of the biggest gambles of its mission in Afghanistan by reluctantly deciding to collaborate with Ahmad Wali Karzai, the notorious power-broker of Kandahar. Read the full story

Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said it will not be feasible to entirely remove a controversial US base from the island of Okinawa. Read the full story

Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived in China on Monday in search of economic support and diplomatic protection from his only major ally, after bungled policies at home and military grandstanding that has exasperated the region. Read the full story

Five young Chinese children were battered with a hammer when a farmer burst into their kindergarten class early this morning, stunning a nation already in shock after two school attacks in 24 hours. Read the full story

Thailand’s government has warned against any foreign interference in its internal affairs following a Red Shirt opposition leader’s plea for assistance from the EU. Read the full story

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are in China on a visit aimed at smoothing bilateral relations. They visited the life-size terracotta warriors at the tomb of China’s first emperor in the western city of Xian before heading on to Beijing. Read the full story

The UN has appealed to the Thai authorities and demonstrators demanding fresh elections to show restraint and avoid further violence. Read the full story

North Korea said Friday it will confiscate five South Korean-owned properties at a jointly-operated mountain resort in the isolated communist country, a development likely to worsen already-soured relations. Read the full story

A tycoon who only recently topped China’s rich list has gone on trial on charges of insider trading and bribery. Huang Guangyu – the founder of China’s second largest chain of electronics stores – has been in detention since January last year. Read the full story

An emotional President Lee Myung-bak vowed Monday that South Korea would respond “resolutely and unwaveringly” against those behind the deadly sinking of a naval ship near the tense maritime border with North Korea. Read the full story