Afghanistan: ‘World silently watches this war against women’

Deaths from opioid use in the US have skyrocketed over the last year. Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that 88,000 people had died from drug overdoses in the 12 month period ending in August 2020 – an increase of 27% on the previous year. The US authorities say…

The President of Malawi Lazarus Chakwera has denied that bringing his wife, daughter and son-in-law with him as part of his 10-person delegation to a virtual international summit being hosted in the UK is nepotism. Each member of the delegation has a specific function and provide services that justifies their presence at the summit, Mr…

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…

At least 120 people have died and hundreds are unaccounted for after some of the worst flooding in western Europe in decades. The acting mayor of Liege in Belgium, Christine Defraigne, told BBC World News that while the river level was now dropping, the city was now facing a “terrible aftermath”. “I think our population…

Audio app Clubhouse, is a combination of social network, events platform and live podcasts and has been receiving a lot of attention in Silicon Valley. Despite being in beta, available only on iOS and invite-only, the app has had millions of downloads. The app has also attracted some concerns over cyber-security which the company has…

The advance of the Taliban across Afghanistan represents a betrayal and catastrophic failure by the US, UK and Nato, says Rory Stewart, a former UK International Development Secretary. He told BBC World News that Western involvement in Afghanistan had involved around 2,500 troops supporting Afghan forces and air support. That support had confined the Taliban…