BEIJING (AP) — Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will visit Beijing next week for talks, China’s Foreign Ministry said Friday, marking the latest exchange in a relationship in which Russia is becoming increasingly reliant on China for economic and diplomatic support.

“During the visit, the two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on practical cooperation in bilateral relations and issues of common concern,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan dialed down his campaign of defiance on Friday, saying he would allow a police search of his home over allegations that he was harboring suspects wanted in recent violence during anti-government protests by his supporters.

Khan, who is facing about 100 legal cases against him, also appeared before a court in his hometown of Lahore to seek protection from arrest in multiple terrorism cases that authorities have raised against the country’s top opposition leader.

TOKYO, May 19 (NNN-NHK) – Japan’s trade deficit dropped by almost 50 percent, to a one-year low of 432.4 billion yen (3.14 billion U.S. dollars) in Apr, owing in part to imports retreating for the first time in over two years, on lower prices for crude oil, the government said yesterday.

18 May 2023; AA: On the eve of general elections that will determine who will lead Greece for the next four years, the ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) party emphasized the need for stability as opposition parties highlighted a growing living cost crisis.

Greece, with its economy mostly dependent on the service sector and tourism, was struck hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Greek economy consequently contracted by nearly 10% in 2020.

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — A new mayor has been sworn in in northern Kosovo after a vote in April that was boycotted by the ethnic Serb minority which dominates the area.

Erden Atic, who is from the Bosnian minority, took up his post in the northern, Serb-dominated part of the divided city of Mitrovica on Friday, calling on citizens to cooperate.

“We shall work for all citizens of Mitrovica’s northern commune, without any discrimination,” said Atic, who represents the Self-Determination Movement, or Vetevendosje! of Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

NEW DELHI, May 19 (Reuters) - China said on Friday that it is opposed to a G20 tourism meeting next week in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir in India and will not attend.

India, which holds the chair of G20 this year, has organised a series of meetings across the country in the run-up to the summit in New Delhi in September.

"China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jordan Neely, whose chokehold death on the New York City subway set off a debate about vigilantism, homelessness and public safety, will be mourned by his family Friday at a church in Harlem.

A former Michael Jackson impersonator who had been struggling with mental illness and homelessness in recent years, Neely died May 1 when a fellow subway rider pinned him to the floor of a subway car in a chokehold that lasted several minutes.

TEHRAN, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran's foreign minister on Friday urged Taliban to allow the visit of Iranian technical teams to Afghanistan's Kajakai Dam to measure its water level and verify drought claims.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a post on his Twitter page, reacting to Taliban's claims that the low water level of the Hirmand River is the reason for their failure to honor Iran's water rights under a 1973 treaty.

The Hirmand Treaty between Iran and Afghanistan entitled the former to receive 20 million cubic meters of water from the river per year.

BEIJING, May 19. /TASS/: Cooperation between China and Russia is very strong with great potential, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Friday.

"Cooperation between China and Russia, the largest neighbors and major countries with forming markets, is very robust, it has great potential," the diplomat said, commenting on a visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to China. He noted that during the visit, the sides "will hold a profound exchange of opinions on the subject of practical cooperation and the issues of mutual interest."

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised to build more railway and other trade links with Central Asia and proposed jointly developing oil and gas sources at a meeting Friday with the region’s leaders that highlighted Beijing’s growing influence.

The two-day China-Central Asia Summit in the western city of Xi’an came as President Joe Biden and other leaders of the Group of Seven major economies met in Japan. It reflected Beijing’s efforts to develop trade and security networks centered on China, which resents U.S. domination of global affairs.

HIROSHIMA, May 19 (NNN-NHK) – Japanese and U.S. top leaders, yesterday met in Hiroshima, prior to the larger gathering of Group of Seven (G7) nations, overshadowed by protests.

Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, who holds the G7’s rotating presidency and is hosting the three-day G7 summit which starts today, held talks with U.S. President, Joe Biden, last night.

CARACAS, May 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. sanctions against Venezuela are undermining women's rights, a Venezuelan official said Thursday at a UN meeting.

The unilateral coercive measures of the United States "have a direct impact on the lives and rights of the women who suffer them," said Diva Guzman, Venezuelan Minister of People's Power for Women and Gender Equality, when addressing the 85th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, being held in Geneva, Switzerland.