The Taliban have banned women from taking long-distance road trips in Afghanistan on their own, requiring that a male relative accompany them for any distance beyond 45 miles, according to a Taliban official speaking to CNN.

Many countries in Latin America were hit with soaring Covid-19 death rates early in the pandemic, as coronavirus raged throughout the region. The tide is turning in many Latin American nations today, where vaccination rates are outpacing countries in Europe and North America and helping drive down deaths.

Memorial International, a prominent human rights organization, said Tuesday that Russia's Supreme Court has ruled it must cease all its operations, in the latest blow to the country's shrinking civil society.

The death toll from floods and heavy rain, which has blighted the Brazilian state of Bahia since November, rose to 20 after flooding intensified over the weekend, causing two dams to burst and the displacement of an estimated 62,800 people, state officials say.

Iraq's Supreme Court has ratified the results of October's parliamentary election, dealing a blow to Iran-backed factions who have staged protests against the outcome of the vote.

The defense ministers of Japan and China on Monday agreed to set up a joint communication hotline by the end of 2022, a news release from Japan's Defense Ministry said, amid tensions between the East Asian neighbors.

The southern French port city of Marseille has made headlines in recent months over the deaths of several young people in drug-related shootouts, in what is often referred to as a "settling of scores."

Year two of the pandemic was, in many ways, just as challenging and weird as the first.

Israel said on Sunday that it intends to double the population of the contested area of the Golan Heights in the coming years, drawing the ire of the Syrian government.

Usually, Jay Lacia wakes at midnight on Christmas Day to start the festivities -- but this year, all he wished for was enough food to eat.