Afghanistan

Police in North Macedonia say they have discovered 148 migrants crammed into trucks in two separate operations in central and northern parts of the country, and have arrested two men on suspicion of trafficking migrants.

The Greek Coast Guard rescued 36 migrants from a dinghy off the northwest coast of the island of Lesvos on Sunday.

The migrants - 16 men, 10 women (among them 2 pregnant) and 10 minors - from Iran and Afghanistan were transported to the port of Petra for a medical check, before being taken to the Megala Therma camp, northern Lesvos, where they will be quarantined.

Diplomatic relations between Romania and the United States of America are, 140 years since their establishment, stronger "than ever," President Klaus Iohannis said in a message sent on Sunday.

A Turkish plane carrying medical supplies departed from the capital Ankara for Afghanistan on June 11 in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a first, a Turkish-trained Afghan female police officer has taken charge of an anti-crime branch in Afghanistan's remote Khost province.
The young Zala Zazai got training at Turkey's police academy before taking charge in the province, which has been plagued by the Taliban-led insurgency.

Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate today in a virtual meeting of European Union foreign ministers which main topics are the EU-China relations and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Asia-Pacific region.

President Klaus Iohannis conveyed on Thursday, through a message occasioned by Heroes' Day, his gratitude for the Romanian servicemen killed in action in the theaters of operations outside the national borders and his appreciation for the doctors and medical personnel who are at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic will have a "disastrous" impact on children's rights worldwide, making them more vulnerable to forced labour and underage marriage, a rights group has said, as the World Health Organization warned of an "immediate second peak" in cases if restrictions were lifted too soon.

The Afghan government's negotiating team is ready to begin the long-due intra-Afghan peace talks with the Taliban, President Ashraf Ghani announced in his Eid al-Fitr message on May 24. 

Flanked by his top aides outside the presidential palace's mosque, the Afghan president welcomed the Taliban's unexpected three-day truce declared for the Islamic festival.

Two boats carrying a total of 67 migrants and refugees landed on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos late Thursday.

Most of the passengers were from Afghanistan and African countries, while 16 were from Syria.

Authorities said all the migrants would be kept in quarantine for the next 14 days as part of measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.