The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan on Monday, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban's return to power.

A Taliban spokesman yesterday said a US drone strike targeting a suspected suicide bomber in Kabul on Sunday resulted in civilian casualties, and condemned the US for failing to inform the Islamist group before ordering the strike.

Delhi Disaster Management Authorities yesterday announced guidelines including setting up of quarantine room for emergency use and staggered lunch-break as schools, colleges and coaching centres across Delhi resume in-person classes from September 1 after a nearly five-month hiatus.

Flood waters rose across northeastern India yesterday, where hundreds of thousands of people are stranded on the roofs of their homes or have fled to higher ground as more torrential rain fell.

Beijing yesterday banned written exams for six- and seven-year-olds, as part of sweeping education reforms aimed at relieving pressure on pupils and parents in China’s hyper-competitive school system.

North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor that is widely believed to have produced plutonium for nuclear weapons, the UN atomic watchdog said in an annual report, highlighting the isolated nation’s efforts to expand its arsenal.

The Taliban has assured 100 countries that it will continue to allow foreigners and Afghans with foreign travel papers to leave the country “in a safe and orderly manner,” even after the US troop withdrawal ends today, the countries said in a statement Sunday.

Islamic State militants fired a volley of rockets at Kabul’s rapidly emptying international airport on Monday, with just hours left before a deadline for US forces to withdraw at the end of America’s longest war.

As evacuations from Kabul wind down in coming days, "a larger crisis is just beginning" in Afghanistan and for its 39 million people, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Monday, appealing for support.

As schools, colleges and coaching centres across Indian capital Delhi resume physical classes from September 1, after nearly five months’ closure due to Covid-19, Delhi Disaster Management Authorities today announced guidelines including setting up of quarantine rooms for emergency use.

US anti-missile defences intercepted as many as five rockets that were fired at Kabul's airport early on Monday morning, a US official said, as the United States rushed to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end its longest war.

France, Britain and Germany are working on a United Nations proposal aimed at establishing a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

A huge explosion was reported near Kabul airport yesterday after a rocket had hit a neighbourhood, hours after US President Joe Biden warned of another terror attack. 

Two Japanese regions yesterday suspended use of some Moderna Covid-19 shots after more cases of contamination were spotted, the local governments said.

Singapore has fully inoculated 80 percent of its 5.7 million people against COVID-19, according to officials, becoming the world’s most vaccinated country and setting the stage for further easing of curbs.

For many affluent young Chinese consumers, modern simplicity is out and tradition is back in when it comes to jewellery.

Japanese oil company Inpex Corp sold two Venezuelan oil and gas assets to Caracas-based Sucre Energy Group, three people familiar with the transaction said, as multinational firms retreat from the crisis-stricken OPEC nation. 

American forces launched a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday targeting a suicide bomber in a vehicle who was aiming to attack the airport, U.S. officials said, as the United States nears the end of its military presence in the city.

The 12 Bangladeshis and 160 female Afghan students who were evacuated from Afghanistan and went to Qatar on Saturday have been under quarantine at a US base in Doha.

Former officials and lecturers at Afghanistan universities have called on the Taliban to maintain and upgrade the country’s education system instead of creating a new one.