Taliban lay siege to Afghan city of Kunduz

Prison inmates freed, residents try to flee

Hundreds of Taliban fighters launched a multipronged attack on the northeastern Afghan city of Kunduz on Monday, trading heavy fire with police and soldiers in their third attempt this year to capture the provincial capital. More than 500 prison inmates were freed by the Taliban, and fighters also claimed to have seized a 200-bed hospital. The siege came a day after a bomb attack on a volleyball match killed 13 and the Islamic State group carried out coordinated strikes against police in the country's east. Dozens of panicked residents fled to the city's main airport but were turned away by security forces.

Separatists win Spain regional vote

Pro-independence parties in Spain’s Catalonia region won an absolute majority in regional elections. The main separatist alliance and a smaller nationalist party won 72 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament. The separatists say the victory gives them a clear mandate to form an independent Catalan state. Spain’s central government in Madrid has pledged to challenge any unilateral moves towards independence in court.

Beijing says Hillary biased on Chinese women’s issues

A Chinese government official said on Monday that Hillary Clinton was biased on women’s issues in China, while a newspaper compared her to Donald Trump for a tweet in which Clinton said it was shameless for China’s president to preside over a United Nations conference on gender equality. Rights activists had criticised Chinese President Xi Jinping’s co-chairing of Sunday’s UN women conference because of China’s detentions of women, including five who were detained for 37 days this year over their plans to advocate against sexual harassment on public transportation.

Maldives president escapes blast, wife injured

Maldives president Abdulla Yameen was saved from an explosion on his speedboat on Monday, but his wife and two aides were injured on board when the boat approached the capital Malé on Monday, a senior aide said. Mohamed Hussain Shareef, minister at the president’s office said it was unclear if the blast was due to explosives or a fault in the engine.

Evacuations stepped up as typhoon nears Taiwan

Evacuations were stepped up in Taiwan on Monday as super typhoon Dujuan moved towards the island, gathering strength on its approach to the east coast. Torrential rains and high winds were forecast across Taiwan from Monday onwards. Almost 3,000 people, most of them tourists, were evacuated on Sunday from Taiwan’s Green Island and Orchid Island, popular with visitors. Around 4,000 more were moved on Monday ahead of the storm.