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The Taliban shot and killed the director of Afghanistan’s Government Information Media Center on Friday, the latest killing in a series of attacks on journalists and rights activists in recent months. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told The Associated Press that the groups’ fighters had killed Dawa Khan Menapal, who ran …

German prosecutors said Friday they have launched an investigation against the district chief of the flood-hit region of Ahrweiler for negligence as warnings were made belatedly, resulting in the deaths of dozens of residents. Some 189 people lost their lives in severe floods that pummeled western Germany in mid-July, raising …

The Lebanese Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at an open ground near Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on Friday, escalating cross-border hostilities, Reuters reported. In a statement, Hezbollah said the attack with dozens of rockets was a response to Israeli airstrikes on Thursday which the Shi’ite …

Taliban fighters on Friday intensified clashes with Afghan forces and targeted militias allied with the government, officials said, stretching their dominance of border towns and closing in on two provincial capitals as foreign forces leave. At least 10 Afghan soldiers and a commander of armed members belonging to the Abdul …

Australian officials warned Sydney residents on Friday to brace for a surge in COVID-19 cases after the country’s largest city logged record infections for the second straight day despite a weeks-long lockdown to stamp out an outbreak of Delta variant. “Just based on the trend in the last few days …

Leaders of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s political party have endorsed him to be a vice-presidential candidate in next year’s elections, paving the way for him to stay in power for six more years after he steps down in 2022. The move needs to be approved by the party general assembly, …

President Joe Biden on Thursday offered temporary “safe haven” to Hong Kong residents in the United States, allowing what could be thousands of people to extend their stay in response to Beijing’s crackdown on democracy in the Chinese territory. Biden directed the Department of Homeland Security to implement a “deferral …

The New York State Assembly impeachment investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo is nearing completion and the chamber’s judiciary committee has asked his lawyers to submit evidence by the end of next week, the panel’s chairman said on Thursday. The deadline is part of growing pressure on New York’s third-term Democratic …

The development indicates rebels continuing a weeks-long push beyond Tigray that has, according to Ethiopian officials, displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians. Rebels from Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region have seized Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the neighbouring Amhara region famed for its 12th-century rock-hewn churches, residents told the …

Colombian police have confiscated 67 kg (148 pounds) of explosives from former FARC rebels who planned to carry out an attack in the capital Bogota, the government said on Thursday. Defense Minister Diego Molano said the attack was planned by leaders of dissident former members of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed …

The Taliban have switched strategy from targeting rural areas of Afghanistan to attacking provincial cities in response to increased US airstrikes across the war-ravaged country, militant sources say. Some media outlets quoting Taliban commanders said on Thursday that they were focused on capturing the western city of Herat, Lashkar Gah, …

Lebanon’s new Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati says progress, though slow, has been achieved toward forming a desperately-needed cabinet in the cash-strapped country, stressing that donor countries will not help Lebanon unless it helps itself. A caretaker administration by former premier Hassan Diab has run the small country since the aftermath …

An armed group in northern Burkina Faso killed 30 civilians, army soldiers, and pro-government militiamen in a series of attacks near the border with Niger, the defence ministry said on Thursday. The unidentified assailants struck villages near the town of Markoye around midday on Wednesday and then attacked security forces …

The British military was forced to suspend artillery drills at a Kent facility after people landed on a beach amid a record movement of migrants from mainland Europe to the UK. The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that firing exercises were halted after a migrant boat landed on a beach …

Nine months after the 2020 US election, a new poll shows that two-thirds of Republicans still refuse to believe President Joe Biden got his job “fair and square,” despite media efforts to dismiss any claims of fraud as conspiracy. The latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll, released on Wednesday, showed that 66% …

Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, has announced a “new era of bilateral relations” with the US, as the two countries host a joint training exercise involving more than 3,000 soldiers. Announcing an improved partnership between the two nations on Thursday, Marsudi praised America for increasing its support in the Indo-Pacific …

A push to impeach New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is gaining momentum after an independent inquiry said he had harassed multiple women. The state senate leader and fellow Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins called his behaviour “unacceptable” and said he should resign. A majority of the state assembly favour impeachment proceedings, which …

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said authorities were doing “whatever is humanly possible” to tackle wildfires burning across Greece for the third day on Thursday, including near the ancient site of the first Olympic Games.

Four members of a family have been killed in northern Syria in an attack carried out by Turkish forces. Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Turkish warplanes fired several rockets at residential buildings in al-Safawyia village on the outskirts of the city of Ain Issa in the northern countryside …

The illegal Zionist entity and its illegal settlers have violated the rights of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds over 3,800 times in July alone. The media office of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in the West Bank said in a report issued on Wednesday that 3,886 violations …