Aukus: UK, US and Australia launch pact to counter China

Afghanistan’s former central bank governor has said that he will not return to the country despite assurances from the Taliban that former officials can return with amnesty to their jobs. Ajmal Ahmady told BBC World News that the Taliban had been looking for him, knocking on doors at properties where he had previously lived. Mr…

LJ Rich looks at the best of the week’s technology news stories including: Apple sues spyware firm NSO Group and its parent company for allegedly targeting iPhone users with a hacking tool. NSO Group says its tools were made to target terrorists and criminals Rolls-Royce waits for confirmation that its Spirit of Innovation craft is…

The people responsible for the riots sparked by the jailing of former South African President Jacob Zuma failed in their insurrection because the ground for them was not fertile, the country’s transport minister has said. While the government’s slow response to what was happening gave them a “field day”, they could not achieve what they…

Former Afghan finance minister Omar Zakhilwal says there is no alternative to working with the Taliban. He travelled to Kabul after the city’s fall to the Taliban. Like the rest of Afghanistan he is waiting to see what the Taliban decide to do, but says he is in the capital trying to help form an…

BBC Click’s Paul Carter looks at some of the best technology news stories of the week including: Google’s sister firm, Sidewalk Labs, cancels a smart-city project to track mobility patterns in the US city of Portland, Oregon Boston Dynamics criticises an art installation that will allow people to control a version of the firm’s robot…

Nuns, imams and Buddhist monks are among those sharing successful – and often fun – short-form videos on social media. On TikTok, the hashtags #ChristianTikTok, #Diwali and #Islam have been used billions of times. The “media nuns” of the Daughters of St Paul in Boston, London imam Sabah Ahmedi, and Orthodox Jewish influencer Melinda Strauss…