Afghanistan

Survivors dug by hand Thursday through villages in eastern Afghanistan reduced to rubble by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 1,000 people, as the Taliban and the international community that fled their takeover struggled to aid the disaster's victims.

Ljubljana – Slovenian police recorded 4,333 attempts at illegal crossing of the border in the first five months of the year, which is 75% more than in the same period last year, when 2,466 such attempts were recorded. Afghanis account for almost a quarter of those intercepted, the police statistics show.

UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly T. Clements has called on the Taliban to discuss the plight of Afghan refugees and their return to the soil as many of them flee the war-torn nation when it seized power in Afghanistan last year.

The Taliban members who killed her activist husband offered Zahra Husseini a deal: Marry one of us, and you'll be safe.

Husseini, 31, decided to flee. Through swaths of lawless flatlands she and her two small children trekked by foot, motorcycle and truck until reaching Iran.

A 25-year-old Afghan citizen has started working as a shepherd in the eastern province of Tunceli to raise enough bride price to marry his beloved he left behind in his home country.

"I will save money and marry the woman I love until the end of summer in Afghanistan," Abdullah Muhammedi told Demirören News Agency on April 20.

Afghanistan's main universities have reopened six months after the Taliban returned to power, but only a trickle of women went back to now-segregated classes.

The Taliban insist they will allow girls and women to be educated this time around, but only in segregated classes and according to an Islamic curriculum.

An 800-year-old minaret considered one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in Afghanistan was damaged by two earthquakes this week and is in danger of collapse, an official has said.

International donors agreed to release $280 million in aid to Afghanistan, the World Bank has said, after repeated warnings that more than half the population face "acute" food shortages this winter.

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on Nov. 21 issued a new "religious guideline" that called on the country's television channels to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors.

Moscow will host today an international meeting on Afghanistan with the participation of the Taliban, AFP reported.

The agency notes that Russia, which presents itself as a guarantor of stability in Central Asia, will use the forum to signal to the Islamist movement its concern about the rise of jihadist groups, and will stress the danger of a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.