Iran has repatriated nearly 1.2 million undocumented Afghans since March

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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

TEHRAN, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Iran has repatriated nearly 1.2 million undocumented Afghans since March 21, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said Monday.

More than 70 percent of repatriations during this period were voluntary, the official IRNA news agency reported, adding that the largest number of repatriates crossed the border between Iran's Khorasan Razavi province and Afghanistan's Herat province. –0–

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Chinese and Kyrgyz companies sign 10 cooperation agreements at Kashgar fair

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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

URUMQI, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Ten cooperation agreements were signed between Chinese and Kyrgyz companies at the 15th Kashgar-Central and South Asia Commodity Fair. A special event focusing on Kyrgyzstan was held Sunday within the fair. The agreements cover logistics, energy, agriculture and other priority areas of cooperation.

Kyrgyzstan is an important partner for cooperation in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative, said Guo Yongchang, party leader of the Kashgar Prefecture Industrialists and Traders Association (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China), at an event. In the first half of 2025, Chinese-Kyrgyz trade grew at a fairly high rate, he noted, highlighting Kashgar's trade with the neighboring country, which reached 16.28 billion yuan (about 2.26 billion US dollars).

In recent years, private sector enterprises in Kashgar have shown great interest in expanding abroad, investing capital in the Kyrgyz economy, including projects in the green mining industry, restaurant and hotel business, retail trade and modern agriculture, said Guo Yongchang. In his opinion, great opportunities for cooperation are opening up in clean energy, given Kyrgyzstan's active approach to developing "green" energy sources and the presence of significant technological, investment and production potential on the Chinese side.

The Kyrgyz side highly praised Kashgar's status as an international logistics hub, which, in their opinion, could open up additional opportunities for deepening bilateral cooperation. -0-

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China reports rail freight growth in first 7 months of 2025

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — China's rail freight volumes saw steady growth in the first seven months of 2025, the China State Railway Corporation said Monday, citing more efficient rail system operation and improved services.

Over the seven months, 2.33 billion tons of cargo were transported, which is 3.3 percent more than the same period last year, with an average daily loading of up to 183.3 thousand railcars (an increase of 4.1 percent), according to the corporation’s data.

In particular, the volume of coal transported amounted to 1.19 billion tons; mineral construction materials and grain were transported, respectively, 13.6 percent and 12.7 percent more than a year ago.

International freight transportation also showed stable results. Thus, 8,526 freight trains were sent in the Central Asian direction, which is 23.2 percent more than a year earlier. The China-Laos railway transported 3.44 million tons of cross-border freight, an increase of 6.4 percent.

The corporation announced its readiness to further accelerate the development of a modern railway logistics system, deepen the market-oriented reform of railway freight transportation, and improve the quality and efficiency of logistics services. -0-

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Afghanistan, Uzbekistan sign $243 million contracts for four major energy projects

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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

KABUL, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Afghanistan has signed contracts worth $243 million with Uzbekistan to implement four key energy projects aimed at improving the country's power supply, the office of the acting vice prime minister for economic affairs said in a statement Sunday evening.

The contracts were signed in the presence of Afghanistan's Acting Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Uzbekistan's Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov, as well as government officials in the capital Kabul, the statement added.

The projects are expected to be completed within 18 months. –0–

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South African journalists march in defense of their colleagues in Gaza

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

CAPE TOWN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — South African journalists and media workers marched in Cape Town's Sea Point area on Sunday, calling for greater protection for Palestinian journalists in Gaza and expressing solidarity with their slain colleagues.

The demonstration, which organisers said was attended by more than 2,000 people, came after an August 10 airstrike on a tent outside Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital that killed five Al Jazeera correspondents and a freelance journalist.

The march was organised by the group Journalists Against Apartheid (JAA) and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with the support of several other organisations.

South African journalists have condemned what they say is Israel's systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists for exposing war crimes and genocide. JAA has condemned the "massacre of journalists" in Gaza, accusing Western media of covering the Israeli version of events while silencing Palestinian voices.

JAA also criticized South African media for participating in sponsored propaganda trips to Israel without disclosing the sources of funding for their reporting.

The marchers demanded the release of Palestinian journalists detained in Gaza and the West Bank, the lifting of Israel's ban on media work, and the admission of foreign correspondents to Gaza.

Since October 2023, 269 journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported, citing data from the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and Shireen.ps, a database compiled by Palestinian reporters. –0–

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Strategic cooperation agreement signed at South China Book Festival to promote Xiaobu Ledu series in Central Asia

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — A signing ceremony for a strategic cooperation agreement to promote the Xiaobu Ledu book series in Central Asia was held recently as part of the ongoing book festival in southern China's Guangdong Province, local newspaper Yangcheng Wanbao reported.

According to the agreement, the Chinese publishing house “CITIC Press” established important cooperation with publishing and cultural organizations of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, providing the rights to translate the “Xiaobu Ledu” book series into three languages.

This project marked an important breakthrough for CITIC Press Group in exporting children's literature copyrights to Belt and Road Initiative countries, and provided new high-quality resources for the in-depth development of Chinese language education in Central Asia.

Duan Jiaqiang, CEO of CITIC Press Group, called the export of the Xiaobu Ledu series a practical action by the publishing industry to actively respond to the relevant initiative put forward at the Second China-Central Asia Summit in June this year.

“Xiaobu Ledu” is an original step-by-step reading series jointly developed by CITIC Press Group and China’s leading mother tongue education organization “Hug Chinese”. The series is designed for children aged 4 to 7 years old and covers various aspects: literature, humanities, science and others. The main goal of the series is to help children master characters through reading and understand China through stories.

To date, the publishing rights of Xiaobu Ledu have already been transferred to the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Egypt, Malaysia and other countries. The series has received wide recognition among overseas educational institutions and families. -0-

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Release date of Chinese-Russian film “Red Silk” set in China

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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — The Chinese-Russian retro detective film "Red Silk," directed by Russian filmmaker Andrei Volgin, will be released in China on Sept. 6, the Shanghai Jiefang Ribao (Liberation Daily) daily reported on its website.

The film "Red Silk" is one of the important joint projects of China and Russia within the framework of the cross-cultural Years of both countries. The film stars Milos Bikovic, Elena Podkaminskaya, Gleb Kalyuzhny, as well as Zheng Hanyi and other Chinese actors.

The plot of the film revolves around a historical episode that took place between China and the USSR in 1927, when a courier of the Chinese Communist Party carries secret documents to Moscow along the Trans-Siberian Railway that will determine the future of China and the USSR. Under the guise of ordinary passengers are hidden foreign intelligence agents and real thugs, ready to do anything to get the documents. A young Red Army soldier and a former tsarist agent have to unite to uncover a common enemy.

The film was released in Russia on February 20 this year. As of May 11, it has collected more than 695 million rubles in Russia and other CIS countries.

The film “Red Silk” was shot at the largest Chinese film studio Hengdian World Studio, as well as in the Irkutsk, Pskov and Leningrad regions and in St. Petersburg to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War.

According to film critics, “Red Silk” represents an in-depth collaboration between Chinese and Russian filmmakers, which touched not only on the development of ideas and content creation, as before, but also on pre-production preparation, coordination of efforts during filming, post-production and final editing, as well as final release and marketing. -0-

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Ballet Legend Vladimir Malakhov: Chinese Stories Await Their Realization on the World Stage

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

SHENYANG, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Internationally renowned dancer Vladimir Malakhov stood proudly in the center of the rehearsal hall of the Liaoning Ballet Company in northeast China. His every move was filled with powerful beauty during a master class in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province.

“Seeing these young dancers, full of enthusiasm and having come to the competition, I feel great joy from the opportunity to organize master classes for them, to communicate and collaborate with them,” said V. Malakhov.

The name V. Malakhov is not new to the public. As a dancer, he won gold medals at almost all prestigious world ballet competitions, including Moscow and Paris. At the same time, he devoted himself to choreography. His versions of classical ballets such as “Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake” and “La Sylphide” have entered the repertoire of many famous troupes around the world.

As the company's director, he united three leading Berlin ballet companies to create the united company of the State Ballet Berlin, which within 10 years he brought into the top ten most influential ballet companies in the world.

Today V. Malakhov works in China on a permanent basis as a professor. In September 2022, he accepted an invitation from the Beijing Dance Academy and began his career at the ballet department.

“China is a new chapter for me,” said V. Malakhov. In 2017, he came to Shenyang for the first time to stage Swan Lake with the Liaoning Ballet Company, which marked the beginning of his friendship with the company.

For V. Malakhov, the Liaoning Province Ballet Company is one of the leading ballet companies in China, with enormous potential. It is especially valuable that the company has its own ballet school, which constantly trains and graduates young artists. “During their anniversary gala concert last year, I saw the young generation of dancers. They are like buds ready to bloom, their potential is limitless,” said V. Malakhov.

Malakhov's version of Swan Lake, created especially for the Liaoning Ballet Company, features new sets, original choreography and an innovative ending. This production, which embodies his style of combining classical elegance with a modern approach, is still touring successfully in China.

When staging the ballet, V. Malakhov carefully took into account the unique physical characteristics of the Liaoning troupe's artists, adapting and creating many dance parts especially for them. Whether solo, duet or corps de ballet numbers, they all demonstrate a fresh, unique creative approach, intertwining classics and modernity, while possessing great expressiveness.

Ballet was once considered an exclusively Western art form, but today it is becoming increasingly international. V. Malakhov considers himself a shining example of the internationalization of ballet and ballet education.

“In my youth, I studied ballet in my homeland, Ukraine. Then I continued my studies at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography. Later, my international career brought me to the stages of many leading theaters in the world, and I had the opportunity to learn from teachers from different countries and cultures. Now I am happy to pass on knowledge and share experience with Chinese students,” said V. Malakhov.

According to V. Malakhov, ballet is no longer perceived as belonging to certain cultures or regions. It has become a universal language, an art form through which dancers from different countries can express themselves and interact with audiences around the world. Ballet schools and companies, integrating various dance styles, music and plots into their programs, make ballet a more inclusive and multifaceted art.

"Chinese history and culture are incredibly rich and deep, there are many stories to tell. In the future, I want to integrate Chinese culture, Chinese history and other elements into ballet," he said. -0-

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Australian police seize 80kg of cocaine found in US shipping container

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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

SYDNEY, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Australian authorities have seized 80 kg of cocaine found in a shipping container from the United States that arrived in Sydney.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF) said on Monday that officers at Sydney's Port Botany inspected the container upon arrival from the United States on August 11 after X-ray images showed abnormalities.

Two bags containing approximately 80kg of a substance that tested positive for cocaine were subsequently found, wrapped in blue cling film with the words “464” written on it.

The AFP seized the drugs, estimated to be worth A$26 million (US$16.9 million), and launched an investigation into the crime syndicate responsible for the importation.

No arrests have been made and police have urged anyone with information to contact law enforcement. –0–

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China extends anti-subsidy probe into EU dairy products

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — China has extended an anti-subsidy investigation into EU dairy products, the Ministry of Commerce announced Monday.

Given the complexity of the case and in accordance with relevant regulations, the ministry decided to extend the investigation until February 21, 2026, according to a statement posted on the official website of the aforementioned ministry.

China's Ministry of Commerce launched the investigation on August 21 last year. -0-

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