The Taliban have moved to prevent Afghans from leaving the country by joining the US-led airlift, declaring the route to Kabul airport only open to foreigners. The Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said: “The road that ends at Kabul airport has been blocked. Foreigners can go through it but Afghans are not allowed to take the road.” The...
Beijing has recalled its ambassador from Lithuania and asked Vilnius to do the same, over plans by the European country and Taiwan to establish reciprocal diplomatic offices. In a statement on Tuesday, the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs accused Lithuania of disregarding “China’s repeated representations and articulation of potential consequences” in agreeing to such a move with Taiwan....
The British government has been criticised by the UN for a lack of resolution over colonial-era crimes committed in Kenya. Six UN special rapporteurs have written to the government expressing concern over its failure to provide “effective remedies and reparations” to the Kipsigis and Talai peoples. The Kipsigis and Talai clans of Kericho county, Kenya were brutally...
Australia’s top cyber spy says China’s actions in the hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software were akin to propping open the doors of thousands of homes and leaving them ajar for criminals to get inside. Rachel Noble, the director general of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), drew the analogy as she said the Chinese government’s actions...
A woman in her 50s from south-western Sydney has died of Covid with police investigating what is the fifth death linked to the current Delta outbreak. The death was announced on Monday afternoon after emergency services discovered her body earlier in the day when attending a home in Green Valley. Officers had responded to reports...
Wildfires in several states are burning with worrying ferocity across a tinder-dry landscape As fires propagate throughout the US west on the heels of record heatwaves, experts are warning that the region is caught in a vicious feedback cycle of extreme heat, drought and fire, all amplified by the climate crisis. Firefighters are battling blazes from Arizona...
A new commonwealth financial support package for locked-down greater Sydney is to be announced after the federal government signed off on a cash boost for affected businesses and households. The new Covid assistance package, which was approved by the federal government’s expenditure review committee on Monday, was finalised by the federal and New South Wales Treasuries before...
Four Tibetan monks were sentenced to up to 20 years jail in secret trials with no apparent evidence of criminal wrongdoing after a violent raid on a monastery in 2019, according to a report from Human Rights Watch, which calls for their release. The raid, details of which the rights organisation says have come to light...
An industry proposal to allow employers to access vaccination data on their staff has been rejected as “unacceptable” by the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox proposed on Friday a raft of changes to help speed up Australia’s lagging vaccine rollout, including allowing large employers to act as vaccine...
As China marks the centenary of its ruling party, we examine key episodes in its tempestuous history, including the Long March, Mao’s purges and Xi Jinping’s rise to the top of an emerging superpower 1921: The first meeting Anyone visiting First Meeting Hall in Shanghai, the museum recreating the site of the first conclave of the Chinese Communist...