The Taliban has responded violently as Afghan protests defied the regime for a second day, amid growing challenges to their rule.

Artists say the star is providing “soft propaganda” as she skips quarantine to film Expats, a “Sex in the City meets Lost in Translation” series for Amazon.

The US Vice-President is embarking on a visit to Singapore and Vietnam that aims to counter China’s growing influence.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed the first cases of the new wave recorded outside of Auckland.

Despite calmer winds and cooler weather, the fire has forced thousands to flee and ravaged woodlands raged for a fourth day.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

A “close source” suggested the couple were unimpressed by the Queen’s claim that “recollections may vary” in response to their allegations of racism.

The United Arab Emirates announced it had accepted hosting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his family, citing humanitarian grounds. He’s not the first leader to surface there.

About 36 per cent of Mississippi is fully vaccinated, the second-worst vaccination rate in the country, above only Alabama

Crowds of people seeking to flee Afghanistan have thronged the airport since Taliban insurgents swept to power on Sunday, with some seen falling from airborne planes.

There has been an outpouring of support for David Lidstone since he was jailed on July 15 and accused of squatting for nearly 30 years on someone else’s property. 

Makoto Nagamine said Japan also has serious concerns about human rights violations in Xinjiang as calls for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics mount.

Officials evacuated parts of the Capitol and sent snipers to the area after officers saw a man holding what looked like a detonator inside a ute with no licence plates.

Police say Raffaele Imperiale, an alleged kingpin in the Naples-based Camorra organised crime syndicate, bought two stolen Van Gogh paintings on the black market with drug money.

During an interview in Sydney on August 20, 1979, the eldest son of US President Jimmy Carter revealed some engaging thoughts on politics here and back home.

Quarantine-free travel between Europe and south-east Asia is set to resume next month with Singapore announcing a corridor with Germany for fully vaccinated passengers.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

Witnesses said Taliban fighters killed at least three people and injured more than a dozen during a protest in Jalalabad just a day after promising a peaceful takeover of the country.

The Taliban will have to negotiate with the US and their allies to gain access to $12.9 billion in foreign reserves needed to keep the country running.

The singer demanded absolute fealty from the many women and underage girls he recruited for sex in a two-decade racketeering scheme, the prosecutor said as the trial began.

New Zealand went into a lockdown of at least three days for the entire country and at least seven days in Auckland on Tuesday.

The problem for Biden is not his decision to end the war but the way his administration has handled it.

The Queen, 95, has until now been one of the few senior members of the Royal family to escape the Sussexes’ criticism.

The near-legendary fighter is expected to lead the country after twenty years of US-friendly government rule.

The US President doesn’t think there was a better way to handle the withdrawal.

While two vaccine doses remain highly effective at preventing severe illness and death, studies show they are becoming less effective at preventing infection.

The WHO’s initial study was panned by the international community, which said it had been frustrated by China.

Instigated by the “Gang of Eight”, the coup attempt of August 19 was overcome in just two days. The damage to the Soviet Union, however, would be irreparable.

Nearly 200 passengers have boarded a flight towards Darwin from Indonesia, where there have been more than 1000 COVID deaths per day for the past month.

Its spokespeople promise rights for women and protection for minorities, but reports from the regions suggest they don’t always practice what they now preach.

Three more cases have been added since this afternoon to a total of 10 cases in the community.

Although in small numbers, breakthrough infections accounted for at least one in 5 newly diagnosed cases in six of these states and higher hospitalisation and death rates.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors

Known as the “Godfather of Sudoku”, Kaji never trademarked it except within Japan, which helped drive a worldwide craze.

For many there is a real, deeply personal, sense of loss, but as a former solider I would like to offer a different perspective.

Images circulated on social media earlier this week of Afghans desperate to leave Kabul rushing toward a C-17 and clinging to its side.  

Afghans flee the country as Taliban fighters take control

The UN refugee agency estimates that about 550,000 Afghans have been driven from their homes so far this year, and there are fears that thousands more may now follow. 

The positive tests comes a day after Abbott tweeted a picture of himself not wearing a mask while speaking indoors near Dallas to a group of Republicans, most of whom were unmasked.

Buttigieg, the first openly gay Cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate, posted on Twitter: “For some time, Chasten and I have wanted to grow our family”.

The government’s sourcing of 500,000 doses of Pfizer from a facility set up for poorer nations has not been welcomed.

Afghans working on Australian-led aid programs say they expect to be hunted down door-to-door after the Taliban seized control of Kabul.

The body of the man, believed to be in his 60s, was found in a tomb that dated to the final decades of Pompeii, before it was destroyed by the Vesuvius volcano in 79AD.

“Nobody is going to harm you, nobody is going to knock on your doors,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said during the Taliban’s first official news conference since their shock seizure of Kabul.

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron joined Boris Johnson in blaming the US for the fall of Kabul but Joe Biden doubled down on his decision to withdraw.

Zarifa Ghafari has survived three assassination attempts but has never felt as much despair as now.

“We are better to start high [with restrictions] and be cautious,” PM Jacinda Ardern said. “We only need to look at Australia to see the alternative.”

The price of Chinese cooperation and economic investment is for an Islamist Afghanistan to remain silent on the plight of more than 1 million Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.

One of the river’s dams is just a few metres away from having its hydroelectric shut off. “What we hoped we’d never see is here,” said an official.