Portal:Asia

The July 2009 Ürümqi riots were a series of violent riots over several days that broke out on 5 July 2009 in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), in northwestern China. The first day's rioting, which involved at least 1,000 Uyghurs, began as a protest, but escalated into violent attacks that mainly targeted Han people. A total of 197 people died, most of whom were Han people or non-Muslim minorities, with 1,721 others injured and many vehicles and buildings destroyed. Many Uyghurs disappeared during wide-scale police sweeps in the days following the riots; Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented 43 cases and said figures for real disappearances were likely to be much higher.

Rioting began following the Shaoguan incident, where false accusations of rape of a Han woman by Uyghur men led to a brawl between ethnic Han and Uyghur factory workers in Shaoguan, resulting in the deaths of 2 Uyghurs who were both from Xinjiang. The Chinese central government alleges that the riots themselves were planned from abroad by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and its leader Rebiya Kadeer, while Kadeer denies fomenting the violence in her fight for Uyghur "self-determination". (Full article...)

Azerbaijan (UK: /ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn, -ˈdʒæn/ (listen), US: /ˌɑːzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn, ˌæz-/; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan [ɑːzæɾbɑjˈdʒɑn]), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia (Republic of Dagestan) to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918 and became the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state. In 1920, the country was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan SSR. The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the same year. In September 1991, the ethnic Armenian majority of the Nagorno-Karabakh region formed the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh. The region and seven surrounding districts are internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, pending a solution to the status of Nagorno-Karabakh through negotiations facilitated by the OSCE, although became de facto independent with the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. Following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the seven districts and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh were returned to Azerbaijani control. (Full article...)

Antiochus XI's portrait on the obverse of a tetradrachm

Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus (Greek: Ἀντίοχος Ἐπιφανής Φιλάδελφος; died 93 BC) was a Seleucid monarch who reigned as King of Syria between 94 and 93 BC, during the Hellenistic period. He was the son of Antiochus VIII and his wife Tryphaena. Antiochus XI's early life was a time of constant civil war between his father and his uncle Antiochus IX. The conflict ended with the assassination of Antiochus VIII, followed by the establishment of Antiochus IX in Antioch, the capital of Syria. Antiochus VIII's eldest son Seleucus VI, in control of western Cilicia, marched against his uncle and had him killed, taking Antioch for himself, only to be expelled from it and driven to his death in 94 BC by Antiochus IX's son Antiochus X.

Following the murder of Seleucus VI, Antiochus XI declared himself king jointly with his twin brother Philip I. Dubious ancient accounts, which may be contradicted by archaeological evidence, report that Antiochus XI's first act was to avenge his late brother by destroying Mopsuestia in Cilicia, the city responsible for the death of Seleucus VI. In 93 BC, Antiochus XI took Antioch, an event not mentioned by ancient historians but confirmed through numismatic evidence. Antiochus XI appears to have been the senior king, minting coinage as a sole king and reigning alone in the capital, while Philip I remained in Cilicia, but kept his royal title. Antiochus XI may have restored the temple of Apollo and Artemis in Daphne, but his reign did not last long. In the autumn of the same year, Antiochus X regrouped and counter-attacked; Antiochus XI was defeated and drowned in the Orontes River as he tried to flee. (Full article...)

• ... that a few months after Lü Peijian was appointed China's auditor general, he announced the discovery of more than US$1.6 billion worth of tax evasion, fraud, and waste?
• ... that comedian Atsugiri Jason became the first non-Japanese finalist on the R-1 Grand Prix in 2014?
• ... that a collection of kimono assembled by Nasser Khalili covers four periods of Japanese history?
• ... that the anandalahari is an Indian chordophone musical instrument used by religious singers of the Baul faith?
• ... that Liang Baibo and Yu Feng were among China's first female cartoonists?
• ... that the yawara is a Japanese weapon that is used for martial arts and was used by American police?
• ... that Gongnyong Ridge in Seoraksan National Park, South Korea, acquired its name (lit. 'Dinosaur Ridge') from its peaks looking as "vigorous and dynamic as a dinosaur rising from the ground"?
• ... that students participating in the 1968–69 Japanese university protests were known for ruthlessly interrogating and verbally abusing professors, sometimes for days on end?
• ... that the death of Uyghur writer Nurmuhemmet Tohti has been linked to mistreatment in the Xinjiang internment camps, a claim China denies?
• ... that Pennsylvania Treasurer-elect Stacy Garrity was nicknamed "The Angel of the Desert" in the Iraq War?

Updated: 1:33, 20 March 2022

15 February 2023 – Iran and state-sponsored terrorism

A United Nations report says that former Egyptian Army colonel Saif al-Adel has become the new leader of Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, and is being harboured in Iran, allegedly under house arrest. (AFP via France 24)

15 February 2023 –

An investigation by a consortium of journalists uncovers a major disinformation campaign by an Israeli firm named Team Jorge, led by ex-Israeli special forces member Tal Hanan, which is alleged to have influenced more than 30 elections in several countries. (The Guardian)

14 February 2023 – Syrian civil war

Iranian involvement in the Syrian civil war

United States Central Command says U.S. forces have shot down an Iranian UAV near a patrol base and oil field in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria. (Newsweek)

14 February 2023 – Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Three Pakistani Taliban members are killed by fellow militants who were trying to free them while being transported from Miranshah to Bannu, Pakistan by counter-terrorism officers. Four of the attackers are also killed in the ensuing shootout. (Tribune)

14 February 2023 – China–Philippines relations

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea

More current events...

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