Afghanistan: First foreigners fly out of Kabul since US pull-out
Some 200 people, including Americans, have flown out of Kabul in the first such operation since US forces left the country.
The Qatar Airways charter flight is now en route to the Qatari capital Doha, with a second flight due on Friday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged help with evacuations during a recent visit to Qatar.
Hundreds of Afghan citizens who had helped the US military were unable to get out in last month's US airlift.
Syria cement plant at centre of terror finance investigation ‘used by western spies’
A cement plant in Syria at the centre of a terror financing investigation in France was used by western intelligence agencies to gather information on hostages held by Islamic State, sources connected to the operation have said.
A Jordanian intelligence officer who was central to the spying effort has confirmed to the Guardian that the Lafarge factory, which continued operating after the terrorist group overran eastern Syria, in one of the most controversial episodes of the war, was the regional hub of a failed effort to rescue up to 30 hostages. Those IS held included the American journalist James Foley, British photographer John Cantlie and Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh, two of whom were later confirmed to have been killed.
Most of remaining fossil fuel reserves must stay underground to limit climate crisis, study warns
About 60 per cent of the current oil and fossil methane gas and 90 per cent of the remaining coal reserves must stay underground by 2050 to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis, according to a new study.
The research, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, noted that strict fossil fuel extraction limits are needed to have at least one-in-two chances of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C and preventing extreme consequences of the climate crisis.
Previous research has shown that at 1.5°C warming, about 14 per cent of Earth’s population would be exposed to severe heatwaves at least once every five years, while at 2°C warming more than a third of the global population may be vulnerable.
Guinea: Unease over coup ripples through West Africa
The Economic Community of West African States has suspended Guinea amid fears that the military takeover could spark further instability in the region. But the bloc faces its own credibility problem.
The Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) suspended Guinea's membership of the bloc after a military coup that saw President Alpha Conde deposed over the weekend.
ECOWAS "has decided to suspend Guinea from all of its decision-making bodies," Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said after the leaders from the 15-member bloc discussed the crisis in a video summit.
Death of an Afghan icon: 20 years since the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud
Two days before 9/11, an Al-Qaeda suicide squad posing as journalists sat down for an interview with Ahmad Shah Massoud, the last major commander resisting the jihadist group's Taliban allies in northern Afghanistan.
Before he could answer a question, they detonated explosives that investigators later said had been cunningly disguised in their camera equipment.
Twenty years on, Massoud's assassination and the September 11 attacks on the United States are for many Afghans the twin cataclysms that started yet another era of uncertainty and bloodshed -- and which continue to reverberate following the Taliban's return.
Taliban accused of torturing journalists for covering protests
Taliban fighters have been accused of beating and detaining journalists for covering protests in the Afghan capital Kabul, raising questions over the group’s promises on media freedom.
Two reporters for the Etilaatroz newspaper – Taqi Daryabi and Nematullah Naqdi – were detained by the Taliban while covering a women’s protest in the west of Kabul on Wednesday morning.
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