A suicide attack on Mar 27 near Afghanistan's foreign ministry killed six civilians and wounded several others.

Security has dramatically improved since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021, ousting the US-backed government and ending their two-decade insurgency, but the Islamic State group has proved an increasing threat.

The attacker was identified by Afghan forces who shot at him in front of a business centre near the foreign ministry.

Two people were shot at a gurdwara in the US state of California, with authorities ruling out the incident as a hate crime.

The shooting took place  at the Gurdwara Sacramento Sikh Society.

A large number of Khalistan supporters staged a protest at the iconic Times Square to express support for the fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh.

The protesters took out a car rally that originated from the Baba Makhan Shah Lubana Sikh Center in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood and culminated at Times Square in the heart of Manhattan city on Mar 26  afternoon amid tight security.

With blaring music and loud horns, a multitude of cars with Khalistani flags and LED mobile billboard trucks displaying photos of Singh criss-crossed the streets near the venue.

Men, women and children gathered in large numbers at the popular New York destination, carrying the Khalistan flags and raising slogans at the rally.

Amritpal has been on the run since March 18 when the police launched a crackdown against him. The elusive preacher gave the police the slip and escaped their dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in Punjab's Jalandhar district.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has named an 8-year-old US-born Mongolian boy as the reincarnation of a spiritual leader. He has been recognised as the reincarnation of the third most important leader in Tibetian Buddhism as the 10th Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche.

The ceremony of his anointment took place in Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh, where Dalai Lama lives in exile.

The eight-year-old has dual nationality and is said to have a twin. The ceremony took place on March 8th and reports indicate that over 600 Mongolians came to witness this ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama will announce his successor when he turns 90.

The Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1989 for his peaceful activism on behalf of his native country Tibet. Born in 1935, he was identified as the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama when he was two years old.

He fled to India in early 1959 from the Tibetan capita Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and has since worked to draw global support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his remote and mountainous homeland.

The much-delayed passenger ferry service between Sri Lanka and India is set to start by the end of April, Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.

Somalia said more than 3,000 al-Shabab militants have been killed and 3,700 more sustained injuries since the government started a military operation against the terror group six months ago.

The Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism said some 70 towns and villages which were under al-Shabab have been liberated by the Somali National Army (SNA) forces with the support of the locals.

The government forces have intensified their attacks against al-Shabab since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an all-out war against the militants last year.

A major tragedy was averted on Mar 24   when an Air India and a Nepal Airlines aircraft came close to collision mid-air but the warning systems alerted the pilots whose timely action prevented the disaster.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has suspended two employees of the air traffic controller department for "carelessness"

On Mar 24  morning, a Nepal Airlines plane coming to Kathmandu from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and an Air India plane coming to Kathmandu from New Delhi almost collided.

The Air India aircraft was descending from 19,000 ft while the Nepal Airlines aircraft was flying at an altitude of 15,000 ft at the same location.

After it was shown on the radar that the two aircraft were in proximity, the Nepal Airlines aircraft descended to 7,000 ft.

The Civil Aviation Authority has formed a three-member probe committee to investigate the matter.

Honduras established diplomatic ties with China on Mar 26  after breaking off relations with Taiwan, which is increasingly isolated and now recognized by only 13 sovereign states, including Vatican City.

Foreign ministers from China and Honduras signed a joint communique in Beijing — a decision the Chinese Foreign Ministry hailed as "the right choice."

The diplomatic victory for China comes as tensions rise between Beijing and the United States, including over China's increasing assertiveness toward self-ruled Taiwan, and signals growing Chinese influence in Latin America. The new China-Honduras relationship was announced after the Honduran and Taiwanese governments made separate announcements that they were severing ties.

For decades China has funneled billions of dollars into investment and infrastructure projects across Latin America. That investment has translated to rising power for China and a growing number of allies.

In Honduras, it has come in the form of construction of a hydroelectric dam project in central Honduras built by the Chinese company SINOHYDRO with about $300 million in Chinese government financing.

Honduras is the ninth diplomatic ally that Taipei has lost to Beijing since pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen first took office in May 2016.

Taiwan still has ties with Belize, Paraguay and Guatemala in Latin America, and Vatican City. Most of its remaining partners are island nations in the Caribbean and South Pacific, along with Eswatini in southern Africa.