The Taliban have fired gunshots to disperse a rally on Tuesday in Kabul and arrested several Afghan journalists who were covering the demonstration, witnesses and Afghan media outlets said.

The protest began outside the Pakistan Embassy in the Afghan capital to denounce what the demonstrators allege as Pakistan's interference in Afghanistan, especially Islamabad's alleged support for the latest Taliban offensive that routed anti-Taliban fighters in Panjshir province.

The European Union moved Tuesday to force Poland to comply with the rulings of Europe's top court with plans to seek daily fines against the nationalist government in Warsaw linked to a long-running dispute over justice independence in the country.

The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, said that it wants the European Court of Justice to "impose financial penalties on Poland to ensure compliance" with one of the tribunal's previous legal rulings.

A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, will be taken down on Wednesday as a symbol of racial injustice, more than 130 years after it was erected in tribute to the South's Civil War leader.

While many other Confederate symbols across the South have been removed without public announcements beforehand to avoid unruly crowds, Gov. Ralph Northam's office is expecting a multitude and plans to livestream the event on social media.

Travelers arriving in Hong Kong from China will no longer need to quarantine, Hong Kong's top official said Tuesday, easing curbs imposed after summer outbreaks of the coronavirus on the mainland.

Starting Wednesday, people who haven't been to medium- or high-risk areas on the mainland or Macao can enter the city, capped at 2,000 travelers daily, chief executive Carrie Lam said in a news conference. Travelers will still need a negative COVID-19 test prior to arrival and must take several tests while in Hong Kong to ensure they're not infected.

China's import and export growth accelerated in August despite disruptions due to the spread of the coronavirus's delta variant.

Exports rose 25.6% over a year earlier to $294.3 billion, up from July's 18.9% growth, customs data showed Tuesday. Imports rose 33.1% to $236 billion, up from the previous month's 28.7%.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans Tuesday to fulfill a election promise to grapple with the rocketing cost of the long-term care needed by Britain's growing older population.

To do it, he appears set to break another election vow: not to raise taxes.

Shaken by haunting images of surging rivers, flooded roads and subways and other damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, lawmakers from both parties are vowing to upgrade the nation's aging infrastructure network.

As the deadly storm moved from the Gulf Coast through the Northeast, members of Congress said the deluge offered irrefutable evidence that power lines, roads, bridges and other infrastructure are deteriorating even as storms and other extreme weather are strengthening. At least 50 people from Virginia to Connecticut died as storm water from Ida's remnants cascaded into people's homes and engulfed automobiles, overwhelming urban drainage systems unable to handle so much rain in such a short time.

The lifting of a mandatory evacuation order for South Lake Tahoe's 22,000 residents is a confident milestone in the fight against the Caldor Fire, but it remains only 48% contained and still threatens areas south of the resort town.

Firefighters are confronting aggressive winds and flames in some southeast sections of the Caldor Fire, which could still reach Meyers, a community more than a mile high known as the gateway to Lake Tahoe, and other areas including the Kirkwood ski resort.

A car passed, the driver's window rolled down and the man spat an epithet at two little girls wearing their hijabs: "Terrorist!"

It was 2001, mere weeks after the twin towers at the World Trade Center fell, and 10-year-old Shahana Hanif and her younger sister were walking to the local mosque from their Brooklyn home.

French energy giant Total signed mega contracts with Iraq worth $27 billion to develop oil fields, natural gas and a crucial water project that officials said Monday will be key for the oil-rich country to maintain crude output.

The deals were inked Sunday with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in attendance, according to an Oil Ministry statement.