Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

In Kabul clinic, Taliban and the soldiers they fought confront wounds of war

Former Taliban fighter Mohammad Ishaq, who spent years battling Western troops and local forces in Afghanistan, lost his leg in combat and is now learning to walk with a new limb. Standing near him at a Kabul clinic is one of the soldiers he defeated. In the Red Cross Hospital in Kabul, Ishaq spoke simply of the eight years he spent in Helmand, the southern province where some of the fiercest fighting of the war took place and where thousands of civilians and combatants were killed and maimed.

Air strike hits capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray for second time this week

Ethiopia launched its third air strike this week on the capital of the northern Tigray region on Wednesday, stepping up a campaign to weaken rebellious Tigrayan forces in an almost year-old war. Tigrai Television, controlled by the region’s Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said the attack targeted the centre of the city of Mekelle but gave no details of casualties or damage.

Taliban praise suicide bombers, offer families cash and land

The Taliban praised suicide bombers who died during the war against the former government and its Western allies and offered their families sums of cash and promises of land, the movement’s interior ministry said in a statement. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior ministry who has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head as a “specially designated global terrorist”, met the families at a ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, which was itself targeted by suicide bombers in 2018.

N.Korea confirms submarine launch of new ballistic missile

North Korea test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, state media confirmed on Wednesday, a move that analysts said could be aimed at more quickly fielding an operational missile submarine. The statement from state media came a day after South Korea’s military reported that it believed North Korea had fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) off its east coast, the latest in a string of North Korean missile tests.

A royal rest: Queen Elizabeth told by doctors to take a break

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, decided on Wednesday to rest for the next few days on advice from doctors and cancelled a planned visit to Northern Ireland, Buckingham Palace said. The palace did not say why the queen had been told to rest, though it said the 95-year-old monarch was in “good spirits” and looking forward to visiting Northern Ireland in the future.

Russia’s Navalny wins EU rights prize

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was awarded the European Parliament’s annual human rights prize on Wednesday for his efforts to challenge President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. Navalny, 45, who was poisoned in August 2020 by what Western nations said was a nerve agent, is serving a 2-1/2-year sentence for parole violations he calls trumped up. The EU has imposed sanctions on Russian officials over Navalny’s poisoning and imprisonment.

Barnier talks tough on immigration in quest for France’s centre-right presidential ticket

Europe’s former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, now seeking the centre-right ticket in France’s 2022 election, said the country was deeply divided and accused President Emmanuel Macron of being oblivious to the daily worries of citizens. Barnier said that what he called out-of-control immigration was weakening France’s sense of identity – a pitch to voters within conservative circles of the political right as he seeks to counter the far right.

Russia, hosting Taliban at international conference, calls for Afghan aid

Russia called on Wednesday for international aid to support Kabul, as it hosted the Taliban at a major international conference on Afghanistan for the first time since the group took power in August. Pakistan, China, Iran, India and former Soviet Central Asian states joined Taliban officials at the Moscow meeting. But the United States stayed away, citing technical reasons, while saying that it could attend such talks in the future.

Damascus bomb kills 14, then army shells fall on rebel area killing 12

A blast on an army bus in Damascus on Wednesday killed 14 people, state media reported, the deadliest bombing in the Syrian capital in years, quickly followed by army shelling in rebel-held Idlib which rescue workers said killed 12 people. The bus carrying troops was blown up near a bridge in the centre of Damascus. A military source quoted by state media said two bombs had been attached to the vehicle in advance. Army engineers defused a third.

A year after Lagos bloodshed, Nigerians say police reform promises prove hollow

One year ago, Adebanjo Akinwunmi gleefully waved a Nigerian flag at the Lekki Toll Gate, a stretch of tarmac in front of toll booths on a highway on the outskirts of Lagos. Joined by thousands of his countrymen, he demanded an end to what demonstrators said was endemic police brutality. But the ebullient protests, which had taken place in cities across the nation of some 200 million, ended at the toll gate in a hail of gunfire.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)