Taliban government forces destroyed an Islamic State cell in the north of Kabul late on Sunday in a prolonged assault that broke the calm of a normally quiet area of the capital with hours of explosions and gunfire, officials and local residents said. With Afghanistan’s economy close to collapse and …

More than 21 million biometric IDs have been distributed ahead of the polls scheduled to take place on October 10, deputy spokesperson for the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), Nebras Abu Souda, said on Monday. Abu Souda told Shafaq News Agency that the long-term biometric IDs distributed over the past …

Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch, revelations that could lead to new ways of treating pain or even heart disease. Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian identified receptors in the skin that respond to …

The UK government on Monday said it stood ready to abandon a post-Brexit trading accord for Northern Ireland “soon” unless the EU agreed to wholesale changes. Addressing the annual conference of the ruling Conservative party, Brexit minister David Frost said: “The long bad dream of our EU membership is over. …

Ukrainian police said on Monday they had arrested a 25-year-old man who hacked more than 100 foreign companies and caused damage worth more than $150 million. The hacker, who was not identified, used phishing attacks and hijacked software that allows computers to be accessed remotely, a police statement said. The …

A group of 600 investigative journalists on Sunday published new papers over the alleged involvement of a number of world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and King Abdullah II of Jordan and other high-profile individuals in tax havens. In an “unprecedented leak”, the financial secrets of 35 current and …

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, attended on Monday the final electoral simulation ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 10. Al-Kadhimi tweeted, “We attended the final electoral simulation today – a successful experiment & testimony to the hard work that went into the process.” “This is a reassurance …

Ethiopia’s parliament confirmed incumbent Abiy Ahmed as prime minister for a five-year term on Monday, cementing his power domestically amid mounting international concern about his government’s handling of the conflict in northern Ethiopia. Abiy’s party won a landslide victory in June’s election. He was sworn in on Monday, and a …

Facebook Inc’s suite of apps, including popular photo-sharing platform Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp, were down for tens of thousands of users, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. Reuters could not immediately confirm the issue affecting the services. However, the error message on Facebook’s webpage suggested a Domain Name System …

Russia said on Monday it had successfully test-launched a Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile from a submarine for the first time, a weapon President Vladimir Putin has lauded as part of a new generation of unrivaled arms systems. The defense ministry, which tested firing the Tsirkon missile from a warship …

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s health has suffered from her frequent appearances before a court run by the military junta that deposed her government, her lawyer said Monday. Suu Kyi went on trial in June, four months after she was taken into custody in a coup that plunged …

Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who stirred worldwide controversy in 2007 with offensive drawings depicting the Prophet Mohammed, was killed in a car crash near the southern town of Markaryd on Sunday, police said. Vilks, 75, who had been living under police protection since the drawings were published, was traveling in …

Iraq recorded 1,956 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said today, Monday. The daily epidemiological report on the COVID-19 situation stated that 27 COVID-19 deaths were registered today. On the other hand, 3,184 patients achieved full recovery. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Iraq, …

Australia’s delta outbreak appears to have levelled off, with more than half the country in extended lockdowns and vaccination rates starting to approach national targets, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday. Hunt said 80 percent of Australians will have had their first COVID-19 jabs this week, while the overall …

An independent commission examining sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in France believes 3,000 child abusers — two-thirds of them priests — have worked in the church over the past 70 years. The estimate was given by the commission president, Jean-Marc Sauvé, in an interview published Sunday in the …

New Zealand on Monday abandoned its strategy of eliminating coronavirus, easing some COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in its biggest city Auckland, and will instead look to live with the virus while controlling its spread. The Pacific nation was among just a handful of countries to bring COVID-19 cases down to zero …

North and South Korea restored a stalled communication hotline after weeks of a hiatus in a small, fragile reconciliation step Monday, as the North pushes hard to win outside concessions with a mix of conciliatory gestures and missile tests. Liaison officials from the two Koreas exchanged messages over a cross-border …

The Chinese military flew 16 warplanes over waters south of Taiwan on Sunday as the US expressed concern about what it called China’s “provocative military action” near the self-governing island that China claims. China sent 38 warplanes into the area on Friday and 39 aircraft on Saturday, the most in …

Hundreds of women and children among those detained during raids in Gargaresh town. A major crackdown in western Libya has resulted in the detention of 4,000 migrants, including hundreds of women and children, according to officials. The raids took place on Friday in the western town of Gargaresh as part …

US President Joe Biden has lost support among independent voters that helped catapult him to the White House, according to recent surveys. The polls have shown Biden’s numbers falling drastically with the key demographic: independents. The current gridlock on Capitol Hill coupled with the humiliating US retreat from Afghanistan and …