At least 30 people were killed in air raids carried out by Russian or Syrian warplanes near the city of Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria on Friday, a group monitoring the war said.

A Taliban suicide car bomber has targeted a van carrying employees working for a private Afghan television channel, killing seven people during evening rush hour close to the Russian embassy.

Russian air strikes, which began in September 2015, have killed at least 1,000 people, including over 300 children, monitoring groups said.

Police in Tajikistan have shaved nearly 13,000 men’s beards and closed more than 160 shops selling traditional Muslim clothing last year as part of the country’s fight against what it calls “foreign” influences.

Several Taliban gunmen have attacked Bacha Khan University in northwest Pakistan, reportedly killing up to 21 people and injuring 50 others.

The hearing of a hunger-striking Palestinian journalist whose weight has fallen below 30kg must be moved forward in order to save his life, the defendant’s lawyers said.

At least 42 people have been killed in suspected Russian air strikes in Syria’s Raqqa province, activists and a monitoring group say.

At least 14 people have been killed and 20 others injured in an explosion near a polio centre in the city of Quetta, police have told Al Jazeera.

A Syria-linked suicide bomber has detonated a bomb in a historic district of Istanbul popular with tourists, killing at least 10 people, including nine Germans, Turkish officials said.

At least 10 people have been killed and Sunni mosques firebombed in suspected reprisal attacks following a series of ISIL attacks on Shia Muslims in Iraq that left scores dead.