Asia

World

Here are the countries evacuating their embassies in Kabul as the Taliban advances

Fearing an attack on the capital, diplomats are leaving the Afghan capital.

Taliban advances closer to Kabul, takes control of key northern Afghan city Mazar-e Sharif

The United States has urged Taliban fighters to halt their advance on Kabul or risk clashes with U.S. forces.

Europe

Europe’s contentious deportations of Afghans grind to a halt as Taliban surges

Deportations have been put on hold amid the insurgents’ advances, providing a reprieve for rejected asylum seekers.

Mass Afghan government surrenders as Taliban fighters overrun three key cities in sweeping territorial gains

The seizures mark the biggest victories yet for the militants, who now control more than a dozen of the country’s provincial capitals and are closing in on Kabul.

‘We are ready to fight’: Seniors at a girls-only high school in Afghanistan face an uncertain future

“Young boys are fleeing the country. But girls remain,” said Zarghoona High School Principal Nasrin Noorzai.

Today's WorldView
Analysis

Afghanistan’s rapid collapse is part of a long, slow U.S. defeat

As Afghanistan's provincial capitals fall like dominoes to the Taliban, the echoes of Saigon 1975 are ringing loudly in Kabul 2021.

Asia & Pacific

In China, the dream of an American education loses some of its gleam

Some experts say the trend is a pandemic-induced blip, but others see a longer-lasting shift underway.

As Taliban widens its grip, Afghans reckon with life under militant rule

Civilians paint a grim picture of how life already has changed, in what might be a harbinger of the country’s future if the Taliban regains control of the country.

Asia & Pacific

WHO covid report that called lab leak unlikely must be respected, China tells diplomats

Beijing says it is open to further covid origins studies, but only based on findings of the U.N. agency, which downplayed the likelihood of a lab origin.

Asia & Pacific

‘There is panic’: Outback outbreak rings covid alarm for Australia’s Indigenous people

Slow vaccine rollout has left a vulnerable Aboriginal population at risk as infections pop up in remote towns such as Walgett.

Asia & Pacific

China’s mental health system has long been inadequate. Can AI change that?

Hundreds of Chinese apps have popped up promising to provide support or healing through chatbots, virtual reality or other newfangled technologies.

‘Fortress New Zealand’ could welcome back international travelers next year — but only if they’re vaccinated

Only the odd billionaire and residents of some neighboring countries have made it into Jacinda Ardern’s effectively covid-free New Zealand in recent times.

Hundreds of Afghan forces surrender in Kunduz as Taliban consolidates hold on country’s north

The move essentially ceded the last island of government control in the provincial capital of Kunduz to the Taliban.

Asia & Pacific

Chinese court sentences Canadian Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison

The verdict in the spying case at the center of a diplomatic feud is seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executive on a U.S. extradition request.

Chinese state media has seized on a Swiss scientist critical of a covid origins probe. The one problem: He might not exist.

The Swiss Embassy in Beijing, fearing "fake news," had to step in.

Asia & Pacific

Ravaged by delta outbreak, Southeast Asia shifts away from China’s vaccines

The growing reliance on Western-made doses shows the limits of Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy even in its own backyard.

North Korea threatens to boost nuclear program ahead of drills between U.S. and ‘perfidious’ South

Pyongyang’s latest warning, delivered by Kim Jong Un's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, comes amid signs that relations between the two Koreas could be improving.

Today's WorldView
Analysis