Warship to be launched in late 2020 or early 2021: reports, experts say It has been nearly two years since the Xinhua News Agency revealed that China’s third aircraft carrier was under construction, and recent media reports suggest that work is progressing smoothly and the launch of the warship is near.

Warring sides in Afghanistan have accused each other of staging fresh battlefield attacks as their representatives held a second day of historic, U.S.-brokered peace talks Sunday away from home in Qatar.

The wife of Asim Umar, a senior leader of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent who was killed during a raid in a Taliban stronghold last fall, was among the 5,000 prisoners released by the Afghan government.

Afghanistan’s warring factions are set to begin their first direct peace talks early next week in Qatar amid U.S.-led international calls for them to seize the “historic opportunity” to end the country’s long war.

A roadside bomb in Kabul targeted first Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh on Wednesday morning but he escaped unharmed, his spokesman said. The attack killed at least 10 people.

U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has held a meeting in Doha with the head of the new Taliban team due to open peace talks with a team representing the Afghan government, the Islamist insurgent group said on Tuesday.

For the first time in two decades of conflict in Afghanistan, a historically secure province, Panjshir, has come under attack. Authorities say several members of the Taliban kidnapped locals on Tuesday, with residents saying they have taken up arms to help Afghan security forces.

Pakistan’s bid to curb money laundering and terror financing hit a political wall when the opposition-dominated upper house recently voted down two related bills tabled by the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI).

Representatives of Afghanistan’s warring factions have gathered in Qatar for historic U.S.-brokered peace negotiations starting Saturday that aim to find a political settlement to the South Asian country’s long war.

A letter signed by more than 40 civil rights groups says Facebook has failed to address hateful content in India. Civil rights groups on Wednesday said Facebook has failed to address hateful content in India as they demanded that the company’s head of public policy there be removed.