In Taliban’s first news briefing since their return to power in Kabul, the group’s spokesperson said the new regime would be “positively different” from their 1996-2001 stint, which was infamous for deaths by stoning, girls being banned from school and women from working in contact with men.

Four women have been killed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government said yesterday, as local sources identified at least one of the victims as a rights activist.

I’ve received countless notes of congratulations after being blacklisted and sanctioned, for life, by the #CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Many are jealous for not being recognized; some ask where they can apply for it. To deserve the rare honor, I’ll keep fighting for #Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.

The head of the United Nations body investigating the most serious crimes in Myanmar has said that preliminary evidence collected since the military seized power on February 1 shows a widespread and systematic attack on civilians “amounting to crimes against humanity”.

From Bangladesh to Britain to Nigeria, many young campaigners on the frontlines of the global fight for climate justice now face a new problem: the impact the crisis is having on their mental health. 

Vietnam's VietJet Aviation on Sunday signed a $400-million contract with Rolls-Royce for the provision of aircraft engines and services, the budget airline said.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government is pressing for the release of billions of dollars of central bank reserves as the drought-stricken nation faces a cash crunch, mass starvation and a new migration crisis.

Win Htein, a senior aide to Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday on charges of high treason, media and one of his family members said.

Reports on Myanmar by two United Nations envoys used unreliable sources, made sweeping allegations and infringed on the country’s sovereignty, the ruling junta said in its latest swipe at the international community’s response to its crisis.

Millions of Afghans, including children, could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken to pull Afghanistan back from the brink of collapse, a senior United Nations official warned, calling for frozen funds to be freed for humanitarian efforts.

Malaysia's Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin reminded his fellow politicians to put on their masks in meetings, seeing that "many politicians have diabetes, hypertension and are probably obese".

The UN said Friday it feared an even greater human rights catastrophe in Myanmar amid reports of thousands of troops massing in the north of the Southeast Asian country, which has been in chaos since a February coup.

Myanmar’s junta chief on Monday (Oct 18) announced the release of more than 5,000 people jailed for protesting against a February coup, days after a regional bloc delivered a major snub to the military regime.

Eleven students drowned and 10 others were rescued during a school outing for a river cleanup in Indonesia’s West Java Province, officials said Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that battle-hardened militants from Iraq and Syria are “actively” entering Afghanistan as the country’s new rulers are struggling to steady the ship as it faces problems from multiple fronts.

The Taliban held their first face-to-face talks with a joint US-EU delegation yesterday in Qatar as Brussels pledged one billion euros ($1.2 billion) in aid for Afghanistan.

The US State Department said Sunday that this weekend’s talks with representatives of the Taliban in Doha, Qatar -- the first such gathering since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August -- were “candid and professional” while emphasizing that the Taliban “will be judged on its actions, not only its words.”

An earthquake of 5.6 magnitude jolted Myanmar early today, with tremors being felt in parts of Bangladesh.

Girls have returned to some secondary schools in a northern province of Afghanistan, Taliban officials and teachers said yesterday, but they remain barred from classrooms in much of the country.

The Taliban said yesterday they had destroyed an Islamic State cell in the Afghan capital, hours after a suspected IS attack on a mosque killed five people.