Afghanistan

The Ministry of Interior have confirmed the blasts and said a group of armed insurgents entered the gurdwara in Kart-e-Parwan area. "Before entering, the enemy attacked the guards with a grenade, which caused a fire, and two of our Hindu compatriots, who were injured in the attack, were evacuated and taken to hospital for treatment," the Ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, a car bomb was also detonated by the insurgents before it reached its target.

"We heard a huge blast in Kart-e-Parwan neighborhood at around 6 a.m. It was followed by another explosion which occurred about half an hour. The whole place has now been sealed off," a witness told Xinhua news agency. The security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures, he said. The blast sent a column of thick smoke into the sky and triggered panic.

"The Islamic Emirate asks the UN and human rights advocate agencies not to listen to the propaganda... They must consider and accept the truth in the country. Human rights are respected in comparison to the past 20 years in Afghanistan," he said, adding that the HRW report was "incorrect and baseless".

In a statement, Esmatullah Burhan, spokesman of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP), said land acquisition was an obstacle that had delayed the implementation of the project so far, reports TOLO News. "There is no problem about the procedure. Around 15 per cent of the procedure remains, which is a technical process that will be solved soon," he said.

"Flights will soon start to India, where there are a lot of goods and a number of our passengers are there for treatment. Our flights to India, China and Kuwait will soon start," TOLO News quoted airline chief Rahmatullah Agha as saying. The airline currently flies twice a week to Doha and it remains unclear how much a ticket for the three new routes will cost.

Taking to Twitter on Sunday, Sharif said: "I condemn in the strongest possible words hurtful comments of India's BJP leader about our beloved Prophet. (I have) said it repeatedly India under Modi is trampling religious freedoms and persecuting Muslims. The world should take note and severely reprimand India.

As Afghanistan's economy collapses, its citizens continue to leave the country en masse in a trend that began to rise with the announced withdrawal of foreign forces in the spring of 2021 and which spiked after the Taliban seized power in August. Iran, a major destination country, has clamped down by beefing up security along its 900 km border with Afghanistan and deporting tens of thousands of Afghans, RFE/RL reported.

Media outlets were told of the decree on Wednesday, a religious police spokesman told BBC Pashto. The ruling comes two weeks after all women were ordered to wear a face veil in public, or risk punishment. Restrictions are being tightened on women -- they are banned from travelling without a male guardian and secondary schools are shut for girls, BBC reported.

Led by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the heads of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) member states had a lot on their plates when they met at the Kremlin in Moscow on Monday. Ukraine, NATO, the Caucasus and Afghanistan - the military alliance of former Soviet states in Eurasia agreed that the situation along the entire perimeter of the borders of the CSTO member states remains tense.

The directive was issued by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Khaama Press reported. According to a UNAMA statement, a delegation of Taliban officials from the Ministry said that female employees should consider wearing the hijab, while reporting to duties.