Pakistan is setting up a new religious body as part of efforts to push for an "Islamic welfare state." But activists warn that the new authority could jeopardize the lives of women and religious minorities.

Justice Department officials say the law is "plainly unconstitutional" and want it blocked until legal clarity is found on the matter. The court previously allowed the ban to go into effect.

The hard-line TLP party has agreed to suspend a three-day-long march after the government agreed to drop charges against its leader and consider expelling the French ambassador over caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.

A cocktail bar owner in Bangkok hopes fruity mocktails seasoned with Kratom, a recently decriminalised tropical herb, will help keep his business afloat amid a seven-month ban on alcohol service in the Thai capital. The city, once a popular nightlife spot, is under a curfew and bars, pubs and restaurants are prohibited from selling alcoholic drinks as part of coronavirus restrictions.

After the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, a petition calling for a ban on live firearms on Hollywood film sets has gathered more than 15,000 signatures.

The anti-terror law was amended in 2019 so that a person can be held for six months without any evidence. Some students are being investigated for celebrating Pakistan's victory over India at the T20 World Cup.

Nigerian's in UAE are facing harsher times as restriction on work permits bites harder. Some of them spoke exclusively to The Guardian about what led to the current situation.

Cricket in Pakistan has become about politics and religion, with narratives like "avenging" the "mistreatment" of Muslims by defeating the Indian team, or "teaching a lesson" to New Zealand for walking away from a match.

Democratic Republic of Congo's environment minister said on Thursday (October 28) the country intends to ban all log exports and implement other measures to lessen threats to its carbon-absorbing tropical rainforest, a major bulwark against climate change. Home to a majority of the world's second-largest rainforest, Congo is under pressure to improve forest management and curb a high deforestation rate that has doubled in the last decade, according to U.N. figures. Environment Minister Eve Bazaiba announced the suspension of log exports to reporters in the capital Kinshasa, but did not say when it would come into effect.

The far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik party has called off a march on the capital, and the government has said allowing the party back into the political mainstream is in the "national interest."

The 20-month US entry ban due to COVID-19 is finally a thing of the past. German companies are happy to return to business as usual.

Anger in Poland after a woman died from complications in her pregnancy. A termination had been delayed because doctors feared breaking Poland's near-total ban on abortion. Also we meet those in Iraq who are challenging the norms of highly traditional society that encourages women to stay at home. Plus providing a much needed social media platform for women in midlife; Annette Young talks to the chief creative officer of hellorevel.com, Nina Lorez Collins.