Myanmar’s military government has arrested two more local journalists, the army-owned television reported yesterday , in the latest in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a Feb. 1 coup.

The United States has evacuated 2,500 Americans from Kabul over the past week, senior US officials said on Saturday, adding that Washington is fighting against "time and space" to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

Myanmar's military government has arrested two more local journalists, the army-owned television reported on Saturday, in the latest in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a Feb. 1 coup.

Afghan government employees in Kabul were blocked by Talibans from returning to work on Saturday, the first day of the working week.

A suicide bomber in Pakistan attacked a motorcade of Chinese personnel on Friday, killing one Chinese national and two local children, the Chinese embassy said on Saturday.

The Taliban’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with fellow members of the group and other politicians on establishing a new Afghan government.

The Taliban will be accountable for its actions and will investigate reports of reprisals and atrocities carried out by members, an official of the Islamist militant group told Reuters on Saturday.

When armed members of the Afghan Taliban knocked on the door of their Kabul apartment, the family of 16 inside had crammed into the bathroom, turned off the lights and mobile phones and covered the children's mouths to keep them quiet.

President Joe Biden, rejecting criticism of his handling of the chaotic U.S. pullout from Afghanistan, warned on Friday that the operation to evacuate thousands through Kabul airport carries risks and promised Americans there that "we will get you home."

More than 18,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban took over Afghanistan's capital, a NATO official said on Friday, pledging to redouble evacuation efforts as criticism of the West's handling of the crisis intensified.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Taliban barring at least two female journalists from their jobs in Afghanistan and attacking at least two members of the press covering a protest in the country were “ominous signs” that the militant outfit have no intention of respecting women’s rights or the media.

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have shot and killed a relative of a Deutsche Welle journalist while hunting for him, the German public broadcaster said.

From the surging crowd of people outside Kabul airport, a small girl is lifted up over the high perimeter wall and passed into the hands of an American soldier.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday the Taliban's desire for international recognition is the Security Council's only leverage to press for inclusive government and respect for rights, particularly for women, in Afghanistan.

“On ideology, and beliefs, there is no difference,” longtime Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in his first press conference. “(But) based on experience, maturity, and insight, no doubt there are many differences.

Protests against the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan have spread to more cities, including the capital Kabul, while the militant group called on the country’s imams to urge unity at Friday prayers, the first since they seized control. 

The last surviving senior Khmer Rouge leader denied responsibility for genocide committed more than 40 years in Cambodia during his closing remarks Thursday to an international tribunal. 

Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob moved closer yesterday to forming the next government after securing a parliamentary majority from the same coalition that collapsed earlier this week. 

Thousands of Afghans were packed yesterday between Taliban checkpoints and a US-imposed ring of steel around Kabul’s main airport, desperate to get aboard any flight out following the return of the hardline Islamist group. 

The Taliban must decide whether it wants to be recognized by the international community, US President Joe Biden said in an ABC interview aired yesterday, adding that he did not think the group had changed its fundamental beliefs.