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Britain's BAE Systems (BAES.L), Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T), and Italy's Leonardo (LDOF.MI) have agreed the next steps to deliver the concept phase of a next-generation combat aircraft, BAE Systems said on Tuesday.

The three nations agreed in December 2022 to collaborate to build an advanced front-line fighter to enter service around the middle of the next decade.

The new Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) agreement will support discussions to set out working arrangements and capability requirements for the aircraft, BAE said.

Herman Claesen, BAE's GCAP leader, said a "high tempo of engagement with industrial and government partners in Italy and Japan" had been maintained since the launch of the programme.

The three nations will update on the project's progress at London's DSEI international arms fair this week, BAE said.

GCAP is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars but the parties have not yet finalised how the budget will be split.

Britain's defence ministry had committed 2 billion pounds to the project, formerly known as Tempest, before Japan and Italy joined. (Reuters)

The coming meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could help reshape how the reclusive and distrustful North has dealt with its partners in Moscow and Beijing, analysts say.

When Kim visited Russia for the first time in 2019, his summit with Putin was almost an afterthought amid the flashier meetings with then-U.S. President Donald Trump and multiple visits to meet with North Korea's only treaty ally and main economic partner, China.

This year, Pyongyang's relations with Moscow are in the spotlight, with Kim choosing Russia - not China - as his first foreign visit since before the COVID-19 pandemic, raising the prospect that he may be looking to balance the two major powers on his borders against each other, analysts said.

It remains to be seen whether Putin and Kim agree on anything substantive such as an arms deal or economic aid, but their moves to repair ties may have implications for the war in Ukraine, tensions with South Korea and Japan, and the China-U.S. rivalry.

“North Korea has basically been on its own, without any true allies,” said Artyom Lukin of Russia's Far Eastern Federal University. “Now North Korea needs allies in the full politico-military sense of the term.”

China will be Pyongyang's main ally and protector, but Russia will have a role too, he said.

“Unlike the China-North Korea alliance, the Russia-North Korea alliance will be that of equals,” he added.

Early in his rule, Kim's relations with Beijing and Moscow were chilly, with both countries joining international sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Since 2018, however, Kim has moved to repair ties and has capitalised on rivalries that have split China and Russia from the United States and others.

Pyongyang and Moscow have denied that North Korea would supply arms to Russia, but they have vowed to boost military ties, possibly including joint drills, and discussions may also include Russian humanitarian aid to the North.

Some analysts and Beijing-based diplomats say China may view Kim's decision to visit Russia in his first international trip in years as somewhat of a slight.

Kim visited Xi in Beijing in his first known foreign trip as leader in 2018, and they last met when Xi visited Pyongyang in 2019, just before the COVID pandemic erupted.

"If you are Xi Jinping, you have to wonder why Kim is visiting Vladivostok and not Beijing on the first trip outside North Korea since before the pandemic," said John Delury, a professor of Chinese Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.

"During the Cold War, Kim's grandfather (Kim Il Sung) subtly and effectively played on the vanities and anxieties of Beijing and Moscow, who were locked in a competition for dominance within the socialist bloc," he added. "In this new Cold War-ish environment, we should not dismiss the possibility that the Chinese are a bit miffed seeing Kim choose Putin over them."

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the summit. Several Chinese academics asked to comment on the summit declined, saying the matter was too sensitive. The few reports in Chinese state media have referred only to official statements from Russia and North Korea on the meeting.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said he was unsurprised that Kim chose Russia as his first post-pandemic destination abroad given the North Korean leader's interest in exploiting "new Cold War" geopolitics.

Even so, tensions and distrust linger among North Korea, China, and Russia, and that may limit cooperation on things such as joint military drills or transferring sensitive military technology, he said.

"Putin is unlikely to provide Kim with technology to miniaturise nuclear devices or propel nuclear-powered submarines because even a desperate war machine does not trade its military crown jewels for old, dumb munitions," Easley said. "Trust is so low among Russia, North Korea, and China that a real alliance of the three isn’t credible or sustainable." (Reuters)

The Afghan Taliban criticised the closure of its main border crossing with Pakistan this week after clashes between security forces, saying the halt in trade would see heavy losses for businesses.

The busy Torkham border crossing closed on Wednesday after Pakistani and Afghan Taliban forces started firing at each other, according to local officials.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan deems the closure of Torkham gate and opening of fire on Afghan security forces by the Pakistani side contrary to good neighbourliness," Taliban administration's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement late on Saturday.

The statement said the incident had started after Pakistani security forces fired at Afghan Taliban forces fixing an old security outpost near the border. Pakistan's foreign office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Hundreds of trucks laden with goods have been halted and traders have complained that trade is affected.

"The closure of Torkham gate can adversely affect bilateral and regional trade, and cause trade and financial losses to common mercantile class on both sides," the statement said, adding many travellers were also stuck on each side of the border.

Disputes linked to the 2,600 km (1,615 mile) border have been a bone of contention between the neighbours for decades. (Reuters)

Whether he’s lobbying for Airbus to sell aircraft to Bangladesh or scouring for rare earths in Mongolia, French President Emmanuel Macron is on the offensive in Asia, pitching France as a useful alternative to bigger powers.

After two days of high-level talks with G20 leaders in New Delhi, where he was treated to lunch with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Macron set off for neighbouring Bangladesh, a fast-growing South Asian nation of 170 million people.

The two-day stopover in Dhaka was part of a French strategy to target mid-sized countries in a region where superpowers such as China, Russia or the U.S. are jostling for influence.

"In a region facing new imperialism, we want to propose a third way," Macron told Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after landing in a sweltering Dhaka late on Sunday.

"All our strategy is focused on strengthening the independence and the strategic autonomy of our friends to give them the 'freedom of sovereignty'," Macron said.

The French leader, who Hasina called "a breath of fresh air in international politics", was hot on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited Bangladesh a few days before the G20 summit.

Russia is building a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, a $13 billion project financed by a Russian government loan.

The French are also trying to sell their nuclear expertise, even if a power plant contract is a more distant prospect.

They are making more progress in the aerospace sector, however. In a country long dominated by Boeing, Macron on Monday clinched a deal for Airbus to sell 10 A-350 aircraft to national flagship carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd.

The Bangladesh trip comes after a series of short but high-level trips by Macron this year to Asian nations such as Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka.

Macron, who launched France's Indo-Pacific strategy in 2018, the first European country to do so, has talked of Europe as a "third way" in a region increasingly under the sway of China-U.S. rivalry.

"We’re a country of 60 million, so of course we can’t compete head-on with China," a French diplomat told Reuters.

"But although the U.S. are our allies, we have our own interest and can help countries in the region diversifying their alliances, so they’re not reliant on one country alone." (Reuters)