AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban expressed “deep regret” today as they strongly condemned a cross-border attack into neighbouring Tajikistan that killed three Chinese workers and wounded a fourth.

An initial assessment indicated that “this incident involves elements that are trying to create chaos, instability, and distrust between countries in the region,” said Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal. He said Afghanistan “assures full co-operation with the government of Tajikistan.”

FIRE DISASTER: Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency said today that it had arrested eight people connected to the renovation of the high-rise apartments that were engulfed in a massive fire that left 128 people dead.

The seven men and one woman include scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consultant company and project managers supervising the renovation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a statement.

NORD STREAM: A Ukrainian man accused of blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany on September 26, 2022, has been placed in custody in Germany.

German prosecutors said that Serhil Kuznietsov was one of a group of people who placed explosives on the pipelines and is believed to have been the co-ordinator.

They said he is suspected of causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures.

PERU: Peru’s Supreme Court sentenced former president Pedro Castillo to 11.5 years in prison for conspiracy to commit a rebellion in 2022, when he tried to dissolve the Congress as lawmakers prepared to impeach him.

A special panel of the court also banned Mr Castillo from public office for two years. He has been in custody since being arrested in December 2022.