Taliban rulers and other officials gathered at Afghanistan's traditional Loya Jirga assembly hall on Saturday to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their return to power, touting what they described as restored stability and an end to decades of conflict.

A top United Nations official, however, warned of a grave human rights crisis in Afghanistan, where girls over age 12 are barred from attending school.

The Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, 2021, as the US and other NATO troops withdrew following a costly two-decade war. The US withdrawal led to chaos at Kabul airport as crowds of people tried to flee the country in desperation.

Soon after taking power, the Taliban administration imposed a ban on girls' education beyond the sixth grade and later banned higher education for women, despite having pledged before the takeover that women would be allowed access to education, employment and public participation.

Women have also been banned from public spaces such as gyms and parks, from taking part in sports and travelling to distant locations without a male guardian. AP

An enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that is believed to be Europe's tallest was inaugurated on Saturday in a small Polish village, in the presence of legendary anti-communist leader Lech Walesa.Hundreds of people took part in the consecration of the monument, which towers 55.6 meters (182 feet) over Konotopie in central Poland, the home of fewer than 150 people. While helicopters scattered miniature red roses over the crowd, priests in white robes celebrated Mass and the popular Mazowsze folk ensemble sang and danced to traditional Polish music.The Polish statue is taller — if less dramatically located — than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which measures some 38 meters (125 feet) including its pedestal. Its height includes a crown-shaped 15-meter (49-foot) pedestal. It also surpasses another recent large-scale religious monument in Poland, the Christ the King statue in the western town of Swiebodzin, which was unveiled in 2010 and — complete with the mound it stands on — rises some 52 meters (170 feet) above the ground. There is a taller statue of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines, which measures some 98 meters (322 feet). AP

President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns over the prolonged deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying its more than eight-month mission at sea was “not nearly long enough”, even as CNN reported the concerns among sailors and their families over conditions aboard the US aircraft carrier.

According to the CNN report, sailors aboard the Lincoln, which has been deployed continuously for more than 240 days, have complained about low morale, shortages of food and hygiene supplies, and problems with water and sanitation systems.

Three military pilots have been captured by Qatari forces after two Iranian Su-24 fighter jets were downed during a March operation against the US base in Qatar, Fars News Agency reported on Saturday.

According to Fars News Agency, Mohammad Bagherzadeh, Commander of the Search Committee for the Missing of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, said the three pilots have been identified as Javad Salehi, Abdol-Majid Dashtian, and Emran Behrushian. Bagherzadeh said they have been held by Qatari forces for the past six months.

He further claimed that the Qatari government has so far not allowed the three pilots to meet one another, be interviewed, or have contact with their families or Iranian officials pursuing their case.

The Iranian news agency said the Iranian official called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to be given access to the pilots.

"According to the Third Geneva Convention, the International Red Cross must meet with the Iranian pilots in Qatar as soon as possible, investigate their health status, and facilitate the conditions for their release," Fars reported.

Five people were shot outside Virginia State University residence halls early Saturday, and one person was in a critical condition, ⁠according ​to Chesterfield County Police.

* Police responded to a report of a ​shooting at ​1:28 a.m. ⁠ET (0528 GMT) outside the school's residence halls ‌and found five people suffering from gunshot wounds, the department said in a post on X.

* All five were ⁠transported to ⁠area hospitals. Four of them sustained non-life-threatening ⁠injuries.

* ‌The university ​lifted a lockdown ‌but a significant law enforcement presence remains on ‌campus as ​the ​investigation continues, ​police said.

* VSU is a historically ​Black university founded ⁠in 1882. The campus is less than 25 miles ‌south ⁠of Richmond.

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people Saturday, in the deadliest attacks since a precarious truce between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on June 20.Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency said one of the airstrikes that targeted a home on the edge of the village of Ansar killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17.Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon, in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. It also envisions steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the two countries — which technically remain in a state of war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the deal.Prime minister says Israeli strikes undermine efforts at stabilitySaturday's strikes are the deadliest since the truce went into effect two months ago. AP

A large-scale Ukrainian attack struck industrial infrastructure in Russia’s southwestern Samara region Saturday, a Russian official said.Ivan Noskov, head of the region's capital, Samara, said air defense forces had repelled a “massive” missile attack, with “localized damage” to the city’s industrial sites. He also said that medical assistance has been provided to those injured in the attack, but did not give further details.Ukraine has stepped up its long-range aerial attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion, now in its fifth year.Zelenskyy says need for peace has to be felt in RussiaWriting on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv’s forces had carried out a strike against Samara’s Progress Center, which operates under Russian space agency Roscosmos and is involved in producing rocket technology and electronics.He said that the strike used Ukraine’s domestically produced Flamingo missiles to hit the site, which is approximately 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the Ukrainian border.Zelenskyy also said Russia's Savasleyka air base, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the front line, had also been hit.“Peace is needed, and this must be evident in Russia — through concrete damage to specific facilities,” Zelenskyy wrote. AP

A shooting involving multiple suspects and multiple people shot at Virginia State University prompted a campus lockdown early Saturday. None of their injuries appeared to be life-threatening, the university said.The shooting happened near the university's Quad Annexes, and both campus and Chesterfield County police are actively investigating, a university statement said. Campus police said multiple victims were transported to area hospitals as officers remained on the scene. AP

Iran's Armed Forces General Staff said in a letter published by the semi-official Fars ⁠news ​agency on Saturday that it had appealed ​to the ​International Committee ⁠of the Red Cross to ‌help secure the release of three Iranian pilots it says are being ⁠held ⁠by Qatar.

It said the ⁠pilots were ‌held ​after their ‌aircraft were hit during a ‌March mission ​against ​what ​Tehran described as "an enemy military ​base" in ⁠Qatar.

There was no immediate confirmation from ‌Qatari ⁠authorities.

The European Union deployed three helicopters and two water bomber aircraft to tackle a wildfire raging in eastern Belgium on Saturday, the bloc's crisis commissioner said, after Belgium requested emergency reinforcements to control its biggest blaze in decades.

The wildfire in the High ⁠Fens, ​Belgium's largest nature reserve, has been burning since Friday, with local firefighters, farmers and the army deployed to battle the blaze.

By early Saturday afternoon, ​it ​had burned 1,600 hectares, local media ⁠reported, citing statistics from the governor of Liege, the local province.

That would make ‌the fire the biggest on record in Belgium, surpassing a blaze in 2011 which burned nearly 1,400 hectares, data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed. European countries including Belgium suffered their fifth heatwave of the ⁠summer this ⁠week, fuelling the hot and dry conditions that support wildfires. Scientists have confirmed human-caused ⁠climate ‌change is increasing the "fire-prone" weather conditions ​that allow wildfires to spread ‌faster and burn longer. The EU coordinates the deployment of extra resources pooled from European countries, ‌when a ​country requests ​emergency ​help. The aircraft sent to Belgium on Saturday were from the Czech Republic, Sweden ​and the Netherlands, EU Crisis ⁠Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said in a post on X.

Firefighters and farmers were pumping water from local ‌lakes to ⁠battle the blaze, a spokesperson for the infrastructure department for the region of ​Wallonia told on Saturday.

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake ⁠struck ​near the north ​coast ​of Papua ⁠New Guinea ‌on Saturday, German ⁠Research Centre ⁠for ⁠Geosciences ‌said.

The quake ​was ‌at a ‌depth ​of ​10 ​km (6.21 ​miles), GFZ ⁠said.

An earthquake of ⁠magnitude ​6.8 struck Northern ​Sumatra, ​Indonesia ⁠on Saturday, the ‌German Research Centre ⁠for ⁠Geosciences (GFZ) ⁠said.

The ‌quake ​was ‌at a ‌depth ​of ​158 ​km (98.18 ​miles) GFZ ⁠said.

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least nine people Saturday, in some of the deadliest attacks since a precarious truce between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on June 20.Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency said one of the airstrikes that targeted a home on the edge of the village of Ansar killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed two and wounded nine.Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon, in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. It also envisions steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the two countries — which technically remain in a state of war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the deal.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticized Israel's airstrikes on southern Lebanon, saying they intimidate “residents in their homes" and undermine efforts to stabilize the situation in the south. AP

At least 38 people died after an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 and dozens of aftershocks struck off eastern Indonesia on Saturday, officials said, as rescue workers rushed to reach areas closest to the epicentre.

Tsunami waves of less than 1 metre (3 feet) were recorded in several areas of the Southeast Asian nation after the early morning tremor. The tsunami warning was lifted about three hours after the quake.

"As of 15:00 (0800 GMT), the recorded figures are 38 fatalities, two ⁠people seriously ​injured, 11 with minor injuries," Suharyanto, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB, told a televised press conference. He added that approximately 2,000 people had fled to safer ground.

Earlier, rescuers in the port town of Maumere found 20 dead, six injured and two trapped under the rubble, said Fathur Rahman, head of the city's rescue agency. Maumere is the main town in Sikka ​Regency ​on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia's vast archipelago.

The US aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, is set to return to the United States after an extended deployment of more than 250 days, Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao said, as reports of low morale and mental health concerns among sailors aboard the aircraft carrier have drawn scrutiny from US Congress and families of the sailors.

Cao, in a statement on Friday, said the carrier had "crushed their deployment" and would return home soon as part of a planned rotation, while stressing that the safety and security of sailors and Marines remained the Navy's priority.

"The USS Abraham Lincoln crushed their deployment and will return home soon as part of a planned rotation. Details will come, but let me be clear: the safety and security of our Sailors and Marines always comes first. Mission accomplishment. Troop Welfare. This is how we lead," Cao said in the statement.

The carrier's prolonged deployment has come under scrutiny amid reports concerning the conditions faced by sailors aboard the ship.

An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon killed seven people and injured three on Saturday, in one of the deadliest attacks since a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on June 20. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that the strike hit a house on the outskirts of Ansar village. Paramedics were continuing to search the rubble. Intense Israeli airstrikes also targeted Ali Taher hill, a strategic location overlooking parts of Nabatiyeh and key roads in the region, NNA reported. The attacks came despite a June 26 framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon that outlined a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in return for the disarmament of Hezbollah.

At least 20 people have died after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake, followed by dozens of aftershocks, struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, according to a rescue agency. The quake also triggered tsunami waves of under a metre in several coastal areas, though the warning was lifted around three hours later.

Iran has called on the United States to accept defeat in their ongoing conflict, while President Donald Trump branded Tehran "very evil" and told Americans to expect fuel prices to stay high because of the war. Peace talks remain stalled and oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is still largely frozen, with neither side showing signs of moving toward an end to the fighting, which the US and Israel launched on 28 February.

Jason Arday, who until recently was a professor at the University of Cambridge, has died at the age of 41. He had been under scrutiny this year over claims that sections of his 2015 PhD thesis were copied from other work, allegations he rejected. Earlier this month he stepped down from his post as professor of sociology of education after the claims sparked widespread debate in academic circles. He had been Cambridge's youngest ever Black professor.

He was discovered unresponsive at a residence in Battersea, south London, and paramedics confirmed his death at the scene. The Metropolitan Police said his family has been told and is receiving support, and added that although the death is being treated as unexpected, it is not currently seen as suspicious. Officers from the force's Central South Command Unit are looking into the case. Cambridge had already launched a review this week into how Arday came to join its Faculty of Education in 2022 and into his conduct while there.

Six persons including a suspect were found dead Friday in Michigan, where an extensive search unfolded around two homes and a wooded area, according to police.

Law enforcement was responding to reports of a shooting at a home in Missaukee County, about 272 km northwest of Detroit, just before noon when they found three people dead and another in critical condition, Michigan State Police said in a statement. The wounded person was taken to hospital.

The suspect, Chad Hickman, 39, fled before law enforcement got to the home, according to police.

As law enforcement conducted a large-scale search for him, they found a fourth person dead at another home, according to officials.

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Flores Island, killing two people and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake struck early Saturday at 5:58am local time (21:58 GMT Friday), with an epicentre about 68 kilometres (42 miles) north-northwest of the city of Ende, in East Nusa Tenggara province. USGS put the depth at 10km (6.2 miles).

BUILDINGS SWAY VIOLENTLY and CRUMBLE as 7.7 MONSTER QUAKE ROCKS INDONESIA https://t.co/qMl0QaNyzT pic.twitter.com/fvePye9AJo

An Indian data analytics professional, who was rejected in the US H-1B visa lottery three times, has described how he turned to the O-1 visa, a category for workers who can demonstrate extraordinary ability in their field, to continue his career in the country.

Sohan Sethi, 29, recounted his experience in an as-told-to essay for Business Insider, describing the months he spent building an O-1 application after repeated H-1B lottery setbacks.

US President Donald Trump says that he will soon be declaring the Strait of Hormuz a US territory, escalating his rhetoric over the vital waterway that carries a significant share of global oil supplies.

However, Iran’s deputy foreign minister has responded directly to Trump’s latest escalation of rhetoric against Iran, in which he said that he will declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory after Iran’s defeat.

“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech. Iran neither fears threats nor cowers before displays of power,” Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X.

“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian; this strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command, and as long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and cease your fanciful delusions, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” he added.

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.7 in magnitude struck off the coast of Indonesia early on Saturday morning, the US Geological Survey said. No casualties or damage have been reported so far.