A huge explosion has ripped through a crowded mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing 21 people, police say. Another 33 people were injured, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran added. 

British national El Shafee Elsheikh was sentenced to life in prison Friday for his role in an Islamic State scheme that took roughly two dozen Westerners hostage a decade ago. Elsheikh’s hostages gave him a somewhat whimsical nickname — he was dubbed a “Beatle” along with other English-accented captors — but the moniker belied the viciousness of his conduct. 

The United Nations Human Rights Council is due to renew the mandate of its Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, 125 national and international organizations working on Venezuela said today.

Israeli defense officials have confirmed that an Israeli raid on a Gaza cemetery killed five Palestinian children during its assault in early August, according to a new report, contradicting previous statements senior military officials made to local media. 

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told the UN rights chief that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh must return home to Myanmar, from where they had fled waves of violent persecution. 

With 50,000 people locked up since late March for alleged gang ties, El Salvador’s congress has approved another month-long extension of the state of exception that suspends some fundamental rights in the name of combatting the country’s powerful gangs. 

William Ruto was declared the winner of Kenya’'s close-fought presidential poll on a day of high drama Monday, with violent protests in his defeated rival’'s strongholds, claims of rigging, and a split in the commission that oversaw the vote. 

Almost 40 Palestinian children have been killed so far this year in the occupied territories and in many incidents; Israeli forces appear to use lethal force in a manner that violates international human rights law, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said. 

Thirty years after the war in Georgia’s breakaway territory of Abkhazia, victims are still waiting for justice.  

In 1993, Venera Meshveliani was one among more than 300 people who were held hostage by Russian soldiers for around three weeks in Abkhazia, a breakaway region in northwestern Georgia that borders Russia. 

The Taliban imposed several limitations on women’s freedoms since returning to power. 

While the new regime has not directly fired female government employees such as Samar, it has restricted women from entering the workplaces, paying them a significantly reduced salary to stay at home, many working Afghan women told Al Jazeera.