Asia

The 20th Asian Games ended in Nagoya on Sunday. China won 169 golds and 341 medals, hosts Japan set their own record with 269, and a 13-year-old swimmer was named women’s MVP. The Games were also marked by transport and housing failures.

Imran Khan’s party began its five-day march towards Islamabad on Sunday from Lakki Marwat. Chief Minister Sohail Afridi told supporters “we are not yes-men”, while Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned that anyone breaking the law would be pursued “one by one”.

The main stories from across Asia on Sunday, 4 October 2026: Pakistan’s opposition march, Taiwan’s first F-16V jets, Vietnam’s fastest growth in four years, Indonesia’s cabinet reshuffle, Kazakhstan’s AI pitch and more.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has endorsed the voluntary AI safety accord signed at the White House and suggested it could form the core of an international treaty under the UN. Kazakhstan plans to bring proposals to the G20 summit in December.

President Prabowo Subianto has reshuffled his cabinet, moving Sugiono out of the foreign ministry and appointing career diplomat Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir. A day later he swore in a 26-member Presidential Advisory Council.

Two new F-16V Block 70 fighters landed at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung on October 2, the first of 66 jets Taiwan ordered from the United States in 2019. More are due before the end of the year.

Imran Khan’s party is set to begin a five-day march towards Islamabad from Lakki Marwat on Sunday after overnight talks with the government ended without a deal. The government says the march will not be allowed into the capital.

India summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires Saad Warraich over cross-border infiltration after the BSF shot two men on the Punjab border. Pakistan, which summoned India’s envoy first, says the dead were unarmed civilians.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area toward the sea on Saturday morning, South Korea and Japan said. A day earlier Kim Yo Jong rejected Seoul's demand for an apology over a landmine blast in the DMZ.

The US is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group and about 9,000 sailors and Marines to the Middle East. President Trump has rejected Iran's latest proposal as "not good enough".

Pakistani airstrikes hit Kunar and Helmand overnight into Thursday. The UN mission says at least 10 civilians, mostly children, were killed. Pakistan says it killed 22 militants and harmed no civilians.

China's official manufacturing PMI rose to 50.1 in September, ending two months of contraction, and services also returned to growth. A private survey hit a five-month high, but input prices jumped and hiring stayed weak.