Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's Special Representative for Afghanistan, held talks with J.P. Singh, Joint Secretary for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran in the Ministry of External Affairs, here on Wednesday.

Kabulov is the Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and also the Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department.

Interestingly, his visit to the national capital comes just two days after India and Iran signed a 10-year agreement on Chabahar port which the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to include in the framework of the multilateral International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project.

Late last month, Kabulov travelled to Kabul to hold meetings with the interim senior leadership of Afghanistan, including Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Kabir, Foreign Affairs Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Acting Minister of Interior Affairs, Sirajuddin Haqqani.

A seasoned diplomat with a firm grip over the affairs in the region, Singh too was in Kabul in the first week of March to hold talks with Muttaqi, including on India-Afghanistan relations and economic transit matters.

It is pertinent to mention that besides working on maintaining peace in the region, India remains keen to expand trade with the Central Asian countries, Russia, and beyond through the Chabahar port in Iran which has played a key role in enhancing regional connectivity.

India has also used the port to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance, especially to Afghanistan during the Covid-19 pandemic by shipping tonnes of wheat and pulses to Kabul via the Shahid Beheshti Terminal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all trips abroad in the coming days in light of the advancing Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, his spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov said on Wednesday.

Zelensky was to visit Spain and Portugal at the end of the week.

Russia began a ground and air assault on Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, in the north-east and the surrounding region last week.

In what analyst describe as one of the most perilous moments for Kyiv in the war, Moscow's forces have been able to capture several villages as they continue to bombard Kharkiv with missiles.

Worries are mounting that Russia is using the wave of attacks on the city to possibly lay the groundwork to capture Kharkiv.

The military leadership in Kyiv - struggling with a lack of weapons, ammunition and soldiers - said earlier on Wednesday that troops were being withdrawn from some Kharkiv positions.

A Shiite militia in Iraq on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a drone attack on a site in Eilat in southern Israel.

The militia, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said in an online statement that its fighters launched a drone attack "on a military site in Eilat on Tuesday" without providing additional details about the specific location targeted or any resulting casualties, Xinhua news agency reported.

The statement stressed that the attack was carried out "in solidarity with the people of Gaza," and the militia pledged to persist in targeting "the enemy's strongholds."

Since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has launched multiple attacks on Israeli and US bases in the region.

 At least two people have died in the riots rocking New Caledonia after France's National Assembly approved contentious voting reforms to the Pacific territory that angered independence supporters.

French media, citing New Caledonia High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, gave the death toll on Wednesday. Several hundred people have been injured during the unrest.

Earlier, the French High Commission said more than 130 have been arrested after a second night of protests, looting and vandalism.

The riots began on Monday as France debated a bill which would give thousands of French citizens in the archipelago in the South Pacific the right to vote in provincial polls.

New Caledonia's pro-independence movement fears that change will result in a weakening of political influence among the Indigenous Kanak people.

The National Assembly in Paris adopted the reform overnight, by 351 votes to 153.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on RTL television that one of the deaths was caused by a bullet but not by a police officer. The exact circumstances would have to be clarified, he said. There was initially no information on the second death.

"There must be no violence in a democracy. There must be absolute calm," Darmanin declared. He said there had been attacks on police stations with axes and heavy ammunition.

Several French lawmakers have called for a state of emergency to be declared.

On Wednesday, the High Commission said that about 60 police officers had been injured in the riots.

Numerous buildings, including schools, had been set alight. A planned escape at the prison in the capital of Noumea had been thwarted, it added.

An overnight curfew is in place, and people are asked to limit their movements during the day, the commission said. There is also a ban on gatherings, selling alcohol and carrying weapons. The airport had been closed.

For Paris, New Caledonia is important geopolitically, militarily and also because of its nickel deposits.

The territory, with about 270,000 residents, has gained extensive autonomy through the Noumea Agreement. The island is located some 1,200 kilometres east of Australia.

Residents voted to remain part of France in each of the three referendums on independence in 2018, 2020 and 2021.

However, the independence movement boycotted the last vote and announced that it would not accept the result.

European Commission and NATO officials, on Wednesday, criticised Georgia's adoption of a law requiring foreign-funded organisations to register as "foreign agents".

"The spirit and content of the law are not in line with EU core norms and values," said a statement by EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi.

On Tuesday, Georgia's Parliament passed the controversial legislation despite angry protests in Tbilisi and urging by the EU and the United States not to adopt it.

Thousands of people once again took to the streets of the capital on Tuesday evening. One of their chief concerns is that the law threatens Georgia's path to European Union membership. Many also fear that in the former Soviet republic - as in neighbouring Russia - critical organisations and media will be silenced.

"Despite large protests and unequivocal calls by the international community, the Georgian government ruling majority adopted the law 'on transparency of foreign influence' in Parliament," the statement by Borrell and Varhelyi said.

The two commission officials also condemned attacks on Georgian activists and journalists.

"The intimidation, threats, and physical assaults on civil society representatives, political leaders, and journalists, as well as their families is unacceptable. We call on the Georgian authorities to investigate these documented acts."

In a post on X, NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah said that the law's passage "is a step in the wrong direction and takes Georgia further away from European and Euro-Atlantic integration. We urge Georgia to change course and to respect the right to peaceful protest."

Later on Wednesday, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili plans to meet with the foreign ministers from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Iceland who had travelled to the country.

Unlike the ruling Georgian Dream party, Zourabichvili is seen as pro-European. She has already announced that she will veto the law - but Parliament has the votes to overturn it.