![Jubilant SPD supporters watch the exit polls at the party's headquarters in Berlin [Odd Andersen/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_9NK8EF.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
![The S-400 'Triumph' surface-to-air missile system is seen after its deployment at a military base near Kaliningrad, Russia [File: Vitaly Nevar/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/55bb949a5cde4edbb2cd45d7b97a9d49_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
![Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Kandahar, southwest Afghanistan [Sidiqullah Khan/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP21227530778064.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![A Kosovo Serb is pictured waving a Serbian flag as he protests against a government ban on entry of vehicles with Serbian registration plates in Jarinje, Kosovo [Laura Hasani/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-20T180942Z_374713371_RC2OTP9F9ZBK_RTRMADP_3_KOSOVO-SERBIA-BORDER.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Jarrar has spent years in Israeli prisons in administrative detention without trial or charge [Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/104162cc6b8d421cbbff0f899b316e8d_18.jpeg?resize=120%2C80)
![Protesters from the Beja tribes in eastern Sudan have been shutting ports and blocking roads to protest against what they describe as poor political and economic conditions in their region [Ibrahim Ishaq/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_9N84GX.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Demonstrators in the capital, Tunis, protest against President Kais Saied's seizure of governing powers [Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-26T111813Z_1601886647_RC2MXP9VKFTB_RTRMADP_3_TUNISIA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![India's National Disaster Response Force personnel arrive in preparation for Cyclone Gulab [National Disaster Response Force /AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP21269459320732.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![The S-400 'Triumph' surface-to-air missile system is seen after its deployment at a military base near Kaliningrad, Russia [File: Vitaly Nevar/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/55bb949a5cde4edbb2cd45d7b97a9d49_18.jpeg?resize=120%2C80)
Exit polls suggest tight race as voting ends in German election
Exit polls show neck-and-neck race between Merkel’s Christian Democrats and rival Social Democrats.
![Tens of millions of voters headed to polling stations on Sunday to determine the country’s next government and the chancellor who will lead it [Michaela Rehle/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-26T135526Z_1364839765_RC2PXP9BVKAW_RTRMADP_3_GERMANY-ELECTION-VOTING.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Iceland elects Europe’s first women-majority parliament
Voters elect 33 women to parliament, up from 24 in the last election.
![Iceland's PM Katrin Jakobsdottir talks to supporters of her Left-Green Movement at a party event in Reykjavik [File: Tom Little/ AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_9NK2X7.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
From: Inside Story
Should digital currencies be regulated?
China bans the trade of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, as the US considers tighter rules.
Opinion
LONG READ
Lebanon: What life is like in a ‘failed state’
As the economic crisis grinds on, Lebanese navigate soaring food costs and fuel and medicine shortages.
![Lebanon is struggling amid a two-year economic crisis that the World Bank has described as among the worst the world has witnessed since the mid-1850s [File: Hassan Ammar/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP21243475455832.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Lewis Hamilton wins 100th Formula One race
Briton becomes first F1 driver to win 100 races with victory in Russian Grand Prix.
![Hamilton has now won the Russian Grand Prix on five of eight occasions [Anton Vaganov/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-26T141259Z_235838629_UP1EH9Q13HLD1_RTRMADP_3_MOTOR-F1-RUSSIA.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Russia says ‘top priority’ to hold Taliban to rights pledges
It is essential Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers keep their promises, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
![Lavrov said the interim government announced by the Taliban does not reflect 'the whole gamut' of Afghan society [File: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AP_21077425684181.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Lebanese voice concerns and mixed emotions on new government
Najib Mikati’s new government has been met with cautious hope after 13 months of political deadlock.
![People queue to refill domestic gas cylinders at a petrol station in the Ouzai area of the capital Beirut [Nabil Mounzer/EPA-EFE]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/h_57129647.jpg?resize=570%2C380)