Pakistan: New citizenship hope for Afghan refugees?

Germany's ambassador to Pakistan said the South Asian nation would play a supportive role in the future of Afghan peace and prosperity and thanked Islamabad for helping Germany evacuate Afghans across its border.

When the Taliban seized Afghanistan, tens of thousands of people fled the country. Among them were former members of the Afghan security forces. Fearing Taliban reprisals, they've fled to neighbouring Iran, which hosts the second-largest population of Afghan refugees in the world. Temporary camps have been set up, but Iranian authorities are already considering sending the Afghans back. Our correspondent Reza Sayah reports from Tehran.

Pakistan's schools have been heavily hit by the pandemic. Students have experienced several school closures, and experts speculate that such a loss could have impacts for years to come.

More than 9,000 people are stranded at military bases in Ramstein and Kaiserslautern. Washington suspended flights when measles were detected among evacuees landing in the US.

Several officials surrounding Prime Minister Imran Khan were named, but experts are skeptical of the possibility of a thorough investigation.

Aftermath scenes in Pakistan's Harnai town after a shallow earthquake hit the country's southwest in the early hours of Thursday. The tremor left at least 20 people dead and dozens injured as of Thursday afternoon.

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.

Huddled around cooking fires as winter looms in Bosnia, refugees are risking beatings and humiliation from Croatian police in the desperate hope of a new life in the European Union. Largely from Afghanistan, many of them have endured months or years of flight from war and poverty, only to be met by Croatian police clubs and pointed guns at the gates to EU territory. At a ramshackle camp near the northwest Bosnian border town of Velika Kladusa, a group of mostly Afghans is hoping to cross into the EU. Some have been on the road for years and others left as the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government in August.

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.

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.

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.

Rights groups say hundreds of Afghans fled to neighboring Uzbekistan to escape the Taliban. But, without official refugee status in the Central Asian country, they are vulnerable and could face deportation.