Four men who kidnapped a businessman and his son in Herat are shot dead by Taliban police during a gunfight. The bodies of the kidnappers have been hanged in public, in an apparent warning to others to not commit similar crimes. (BBC News)
Norway lifts its social distancing rules and capacity limits on business, sport, and cultural venues, and other COVID-19-related restrictions, and also allows the reopening of nightclubs, as 67% of people have been fully vaccinated. (The New York Times)
South Korea reports a record for the second consecutive day of 3,273 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 298,402. (The Asahi Shimbun)
Vanuatu launches a global campaign to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Vanuatu bases its decision on being incapable with its own decisions to address rising sea levels and other challenges linked to climate change and wants the ICJ to establish responsibilities for climate change under international law. (Al Jazeera)(RNZ)
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says that the international recognition of the Taliban government "at present juncture is not on the table". The comments come after Taliban-appointed foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi appointed Suhail Shaheen as the representative of the Taliban to the United Nations. (Reuters)