Indonesia: Army scraps ‘virginity test’ for female cadets

The Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan caught the West by surprise, as no one had expected that the Afghan government forces would not put up a fight and vanish into thin air so quickly.

Kasegeran is a remote town in Java that most Indonesians would struggle to find on a map. But it’s also home to an unlikely collection of emerging YouTubers, as villagers swap their traditional jobs for the big earnings of online video stars.

Afghan refugees in Indonesia express concerns about the safety of their family members after the Taliban takeover of the country. They demand to be reunited with their relatives from Afghanistan after living in limbo at a shelter in Indonesia for years without certainty.

Army putschists in the west African nation of Guinea say they have captured President Alpha Conde and dissolved the government, after gunfire was heard in the country’s capital and troops seen on the streets.

Guineans say they are optimistic the day after a military-led coup toppled 83-year-old President Alpha Conde and scrapped the contested constitution. Public discontent had been brewing for months over a flatlining Covid-hit economy and Conde’s leadership of Conde, who became Guinea's first democratically elected president in 2010. Five years later, he was re-elected -- but in 2020 he sparked fury after ramming through changes to the constitution enabling him to serve a two-term limit.

The fire at a prison in the Banten province also injured around 80 inmates, with eight suffering severe burns. The overcrowded prison was designated for drug offenders and housed a much higher number than its capacity.

Seventy-five children who were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria's northwestern state of Zamfara were freed after their abductors came under pressure from a military crackdown, a state official said on Sunday (September 12). Gunmen took the students from the village of Kaya on Sept. 1, the latest in a spate of mass kidnappings from schools across the region. More than 1,100 children have been abducted since December last year. Authorities say heavily armed gangs of bandits, seeking ransom payments, are behind the abductions.

Sudan army foils coup attempt.

The Serb member of Bosnia's presidency, Milorad Dodik, has laid out plans for a Bosnian Serb army. But the Croat member of the presidency, Zeljko Komsic, has described it as a "criminal act of rebellion."

Cigarettes in Indonesia are already among the world's cheapest, but in times of economic hardship, a boom in illegal cigarettes is continuing.

It's the UK's worst fuel crisis in decades, with images of motorists forming long lines at fuel stations to secure scarce supplies damaging government credibility.

Measures designed to ease the UK's worst fuel crisis in decades don't go far enough, one industry body has told DW. The situation remains ''challenging." Now, the military is stepping in to assist.