Prabowo in Moscow reboots economic cooperation between Russia and Indonesia

Today's headlines: European governments meet with Tehran's foreign minister, while Xi also reiterates call for ceasefire between Israel and Iran; Paetongtarn Shinawatra retains narrow majority in Bangkok parliament and visits military in the north; Kuki woman killed in a new outbreak of violence in Manipur; Japanese government orders compensation to two asylum seekers for poor detention conditions.

RUSSIA-INDONESIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto in St Petersburg. The two heads of state signed a strategic partnership declaration. Danatara, the Indonesian sovereign wealth fund, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund have signed an agreement to create a €2 billion investment fund. In a statement released after the talks, Prabowo said that relations between the two countries are “becoming stronger again”.

ISRAEL-IRAN

As Israeli raids on Tehran continued in the last few hours and Iranian missiles struck Beersheva again, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany will meet today in Geneva with their Iranian counterpart as part of efforts to end the conflict. The meeting follows the White House statement that Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the United States will join Israeli attacks against Iran, which seems to open the door to negotiations. Yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, also called again for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that the use of force is not the right solution to international disputes.

THAILAND

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra will travel to the north of the country today to meet with General Boonsin Padklang, the local army commander who, in a phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, called him “his opponent”, sparking a political earthquake that threatens to bring down his government in Bangkok. Unlike the Bhumjaithai party, which withdrew its support, two other allied forces in the Pheu Thai-led coalition have reaffirmed their support for the executive, which now has only a very narrow majority.

INDIA

A Kuki woman was killed in the Churachandpur district of Manipur state, hours after a Meitei farmer was wounded by a gunshot. This is the latest episode of violence in the Indian state, which has been rocked by clashes between the two ethnic groups for more than two years. Meitei residents of the village of Phubala have harshly criticised the government for failing to ensure the safety of farmers working near the “buffer zone” that separates the Imphal valley from the surrounding hills where the Kuki-Zo are in the majority. The Kuki Women's Organisation for Human Rights blamed Meitei militiamen for Ms Haokip's death and condemned her murder.

JAPAN

A Japanese district court has ordered the state to pay a total of 1.2 million yen in compensation to two asylum seekers, ruling that, in some cases, their repeated detentions by the country's immigration agency did not take into account their physical and mental conditions. Deniz, a Kurdish man in his 40s with Turkish citizenship, and Heydar Safari Diman, an Iranian citizen in his 50s, had sought approximately 30 million yen in compensation after being detained and released several times over more than a decade.

CHINA-UNITED STATES

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to keep TikTok active in the United States for another 90 days, giving his administration more time to negotiate a deal that would bring the social media platform under US control. Under the executive order, the deadline will be postponed to 17 September 2025. This is the third time Trump has extended this deadline.

KAZAKHSTAN-CHINA

In Astana, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Civil Protection, the Almaty akimat and China's seismology administration signed a memorandum of cooperation on seismic safety, under which an earthquake research centre will be established in the southern capital to prevent events throughout Central Asia.