AFGHANISTAN:  The Taliban carried out a double public execution at a stadium in south-east Afghanistan today, with thousands watching the killing of two convicted men as their victims’ relatives fired the gunshot.

The Taliban’s supreme court had ruled that Syed Jamal from central Wardak province and Gul Khan from Ghazni were responsible for the stabbing-to-death of two victims in separate attacks, according to a court statement.

ALBANIA: Albania’s parliament today approved a deal for the country to hold thousands of refugees rescued by Italy in international waters while their asylum applications are processed, despite protests from opposition lawmakers and human rights groups.

Dominated by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party, parliament voted 77 to zero to approve the deal, as conservative opposition lawmakers tried to disrupt the vote with whistles. 

IRAN: Candidates for Iran’s parliament began campaigning today in the country’s first election since the bloody crackdown on the 2022 nationwide protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Iranian television said that 15,200 candidates will compete for a four-year term in the 290-seat chamber, controlled by hardliners for two decades.

GERMANY: Four students were wounded in a stabbing today at a school in the western German city of Wuppertal before the assailant suspect, believed to be a student himself, was arrested, authorities said.

The incident took place today morning at the Wilhelm Dorpfeld high school. Police said the suspect, a teenage student, was wounded, German news agency dpa reported.

There was no word on a possible motive, and the suspect was believed to have acted alone.