WORLD

Afghanistan's Taliban-run higher education ministry on Tuesday suspended access to universities by female students until further notice, drawing strong condemnation from the United States, Britain and the United Nations.

Iran signalled its readiness for dialogue with regional states during a conference its arch foe Saudi Arabia attended in Jordan on Tuesday which yielded few signs of progress and no meeting between the two sides.

Officially, 500 people died but rights groups claim the true number was in the thousands.

That unannounced trip came as Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to meet senior military officials Wednesday to weigh the results so far of Russia's war and set goals for next year after a series of battlefield defeats.

Farhadi, who notably directed Alidoosti in his Oscar-winning film "The Salesman", said he stood by the celebrated actor who he said was in jail merely because of her "rightful support" of fellow Iranians.

Jordan hosts a Middle East summit Tuesday bringing together regional and international players hoping to help resolve regional crises, particularly in neighbouring Iraq.

On Monday, Russia launched a swarm of attack drones at critical infrastructure in Kyiv as the war showed no signs of relenting.

For nearly two years the United States has tried and failed to negotiate a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal yet Washington and its European allies refuse to close the door to diplomacy.

Pakistani authorities on Monday opened talks to try to resolve a stand-off with Islamist militants who were holding several security personnel hostage after seizing control of a counter-terrorism facility in the country's northwest a day earlier.

Their appeal for the life of Mehdi Mohammad Karami comes as Amnesty International warns that at last 26 people are at risk of execution over the protests, the biggest challenge to the authorities since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The United States accused U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of "apparently yielding to Russian threats" and not sending officials to Ukraine to inspect drones used by Russia that Washington and others say were supplied by Iran.

He arrived at the French capital's Charles de Gaulle airport on Sunday morning, an AFP correspondent saw, the culmination of a lengthy judicial saga after his deportation.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said protecting Ukraine's borders was a "constant priority" and his country was ready for all possible scenarios with Russia and its ally Belarus, which Kyiv has warned could be drawn into the 10-month conflict.

At least 19 people were killed and 32 were injured in the incident, Hekmatullah Shamim, spokesman for the governor of Parwan, told reporters.

Colonel Abdul Razzaq Dalabeh, the deputy police chief of Maan province, died of a gunshot to the head in the town of Al-Husseiniya on Thursday while confronting what the authorities called "riots".

Alidoosti, 38, was arrested on Saturday, official media said, after making a string of social media posts supporting the protest movement -- including removing her headscarf and condemning the execution of protesters.

Islamist militants seized a counter-terrorism centre in the northwestern Pakistani area of Bannu on Sunday and took hostages to negotiate with government authorities, officials said.

Workers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka helped build many of Qatar's eight stadiums, and to fill them for the matches. India was one of the top ticket-buying nations.

Members of Russia's Pussy Riot band were detained on Sunday after trying to storm the pitch at the World Cup final in Qatar to protest the war in Ukraine, the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the oppression of women in Iran, activists said.

How the war in Ukraine has played out serves as a cautionary tale on the potential dangers of launching such an invasion.

Fuel prices in Jordan have nearly doubled compared with a year earlier, particularly the diesel used by trucks and buses, and kerosene for heating.

A small fire broke out Thursday in machines that operate the historic Miraflores Lock on the Panama Canal, which delayed the crossing of some ships but did not shut down interoceanic navigation.

Despite Russia's humiliating retreat from Kherson in November, the city remains within the reach of Moscow's weaponry and under constant threat.

Biden announced $2.5 billion in new assistance on food as price increases lead to hunger across the continent, especially in the drought-struck Horn.

The World Bank's private investment arm on Thursday said it had launched a $2 billion support package for Ukraine to help build the resilience of the Ukrainian private sector devastated by Russia's war and to prepare for reconstruction.

The Islamic republic has seen waves of protests since the September 16 death in custody of Amini, a young Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for allegedly violating the country's dress code for women.

Eva Kaili, a 44-year-old former newsreader and until this week one of the vice presidents of the Strasbourg parliament, is one of four suspects charged with receiving bribes from World Cup host Qatar to influence EU policy.

At stake is the future of the planet and whether humanity can roll back habitat destruction, pollution, and the climate crisis, which are driving the sixth mass extinction of plant and animal species.

A Turkish court sentenced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to jail on Wednesday and imposed a political ban on the opposition politician who is seen as a strong potential challenger to President Tayyip Erdogan in elections next year.