The Chinese army has carried out a “naval and air force combat readiness patrol” near the Taiwan Strait following a contentious visit to the island by a group of American lawmakers, a spokesperson said. Tensions between Beijing and Washington have soared over the fate of democratic self-ruled Taiwan, which China has vowed to one day مزید پڑھیں

The Taliban co-founder and now prime minister of Afghanistan Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund pledged Saturday that his government will “not interfere” in other countries’ internal affairs, and urged international charities to continue offering aid to the war-ravaged country. Hassan’s audio speech broadcast on state television — his first address to the nation since the Taliban مزید پڑھیں

Next week’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference, the global trade body’s biggest gathering in four years, was postponed at the last minute on Friday due to the new Omicron Covid-19 variant. The WTO hoped the four-day gathering in Geneva would breathe new life into the crippled organisation, which has been stuck for years trying مزید پڑھیں

More than 1,000 Shia Hazaras pledged their support on Thursday to Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, saying that the “dark period” of previous Western-backed governments had ended with the return of the Islamists. Afghanistan’s Hazaras have been persecuted by Islamists for a long time, but on Thursday community elders gathered in Kabul alongside Taliban leaders in a مزید پڑھیں

UN Secretary General António Guterres urged governments on Thursday to redouble their efforts for ending violence against women by 2030 as the world began 16 days of activism to highlight the issue. “Violence against women is not inevitable,” the UN chief said in a message. “Change is possible, and now is the time to redouble مزید پڑھیں

A gas leak in a Siberian coal mine killed at least 52 people on Thursday, Russian news agencies said, including six rescuers who were sent down to try to bring out dozens of men in what was one of Russia’s worst mining disasters since Soviet times. The regional Investigative Committee said three people, including the مزید پڑھیں

At least 11 miners died in a coal mining accident in Russia’s Siberia on Thursday and an operation to rescue dozens more people stuck underground was suspended due to the risk of an explosion, the region’s governor said. Coal dust caught fire in a ventilation shaft in the Listvyazhnaya mine in the snowbound Kemerovo region مزید پڑھیں

An Emirati general accused of torture was elected president of Interpol on Thursday, despite the concerns of human rights organisations who fear the agency will be at risk of exploitation by repressive regimes. The decision follows generous funding by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Lyon, France-based body and accusations that Abu Dhabi has مزید پڑھیں

French President Emmanuel Macron says stronger co-operation is needed between European countries to tackle human trafficking. “France is a transit country,” Macron tells reporters in Zagreb during his visit to Croatia. Five people have been arrested in France accused of involvement in yesterday’s tragedy. Despite the drownings, there have been further attempts to make the مزید پڑھیں

Libya’s top electoral body said on Wednesday that the son and one-time heir apparent of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is disqualified from running in presidential elections that are supposed to take place next month. According to a list of barred candidates issued by the country’s High National Elections Committee, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi is مزید پڑھیں