Russia’s Foreign Minister to Visit North Korea Oct. 18-19 

In this photo released by the Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Beijing, China, on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo released by the Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Beijing, China, on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)
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Russia’s Foreign Minister to Visit North Korea Oct. 18-19 

In this photo released by the Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Beijing, China, on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo released by the Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Beijing, China, on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will visit North Korea on Wednesday and Thursday this week, North Korea's state media KCNA and Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday.

Lavrov's visit comes a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare trip to Russia during which he and President Vladimir Putin discussed military cooperation, including over North Korea's satellite program and the war in Ukraine.

The growing diplomatic exchanges between the countries have fanned concerns that they could shore up Russia's military in Ukraine while North Korea obtains missile technology banned under UN resolutions.

Washington has accused Pyongyang of providing weapons to Moscow for its war in Ukraine, including through a recent shipment from an ammunition depot in North Korea, though both have denied any arms transactions.

Nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States held talks in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Monday and warned against any illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The envoys also pledged "stern responses" if the North launches a spy satellite this month as it had announced, after two failed attempts.

"They reaffirmed that there will be a clear price for North Korea's illegal actions that undermine peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the international community as a whole," the ministry said in a statement.



Pakistan: Qaeda Leader Arrested by Counter-terrorism Authority

Members of the Special Security Unit of police stand guard after a fire broke out in the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi, Pakistan July 8, 2024. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
Members of the Special Security Unit of police stand guard after a fire broke out in the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi, Pakistan July 8, 2024. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
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Pakistan: Qaeda Leader Arrested by Counter-terrorism Authority

Members of the Special Security Unit of police stand guard after a fire broke out in the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi, Pakistan July 8, 2024. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
Members of the Special Security Unit of police stand guard after a fire broke out in the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi, Pakistan July 8, 2024. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

Pakistani counter-terror officials have arrested an Al-Qaeda leader, Amin ul Haq, describing him as a close associate of the dead Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the most populous province of Punjab said it had registered a legal case against ul Haq, accusing him of having planned sabotage targeting important installations in the province.
"In a significant breakthrough in the fight against terrorism, CTD, in collaboration with intelligence agencies, successfully apprehended Amin ul Haq, a senior leader of Al-Qaeda," the department's spokesperson added in a statement.
Bin Laden was killed in 2011 during a US raid on his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.