World News Roundup: Paris attacks suspect tells trial he's "an Islamic State soldier"; Russia's Putin accuses EU of 'discrimination against Crimea's residents -Kremlin and more

The Taliban on Tuesday announced a new government and named Mullah Hasan Akhund, an associate of the movement's late founder Mullah Omar, as the head of the interim set-up, with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement's political office, as one of the two deputies. Italian court seeks opinion on Berlusconi's health due to trial delays A Milan court on Wednesday ordered an expert opinion on Silvio Berlusconi's health as the former Italian prime minister's trial on bribery charges has been repeatedly delayed due to his hospital visits.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Paris attacks suspect tells trial he's "an Islamic State soldier"

A French-Moroccan believed to be the only surviving member of a group that killed 130 people in a rampage across Paris described himself on Wednesday as "an Islamic State soldier" at the start of the trial into the 2015 attacks. Salah Abdeslam appeared in court dressed in black and with a black face mask, one of 20 men accused of involvement in attacks by gunmen in suicide vests on six restaurants and bars, the Bataclan concert hall, and a sports stadium on Nov. 13, 2015.

Russia's Putin accuses EU of 'discrimination against Crimea's residents -Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told European Council President Charles Michel that the European Union was continuing to discriminate against residents of Crimea, the Kremlin said in a statement. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, prompting Western sanctions. The West and most of the world say the territory is Ukrainian. Kyiv wants the peninsula back.

Analysis: The West owes Qatar a favor over Afghanistan. That was the point

Since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the world's top diplomats have been beating a path to Qatar, long the gateway to the Taliban and now the essential go-between as the West tries to deal with the new Kabul government. This is no accident. Analysts describe Qatar's emergence as a broker in Afghanistan as a part of a carefully nurtured strategy by the tiny but rich state to bolster its own security, by becoming indispensable as a venue for international mediation.

Guarded reception for Taliban's new Afghan government in Asia, Europe

Germany, China, and Japan offered a lukewarm reception on Wednesday to the Taliban's provisional government in Afghanistan, following the Islamist militants' lightning seizure of Kabul last month. Taliban leaders filled all the top posts in Tuesday's government list - which had no outsiders and no women - while an associate of the group's founder was named prime minister and the interior minister figured on a U.S. terrorism wanted list.

Fire kills 41 in overcrowded Indonesia prison block

A fire killed 41 inmates in an overcrowded prison block in Indonesia's Banten province on Wednesday, a government minister said, injuring scores more in a blaze that police said may have been caused by an electrical fault. The fire, the country's most deadly since 47 perished in a firework factory disaster in 2017, broke out at 1.45 a.m. local time in a Tangerang Prison block, said Indonesian law and human rights minister Yasonna Laoly, after visiting the scene.

Strong Acapulco quake aftershocks unnerve Mexican resort's residents

Shaken residents slept in cars and on the streets of Mexico's famed Acapulco beach resort early on Wednesday, as a series of strong aftershocks rippled through the city after a powerful earthquake that killed one man. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit 11 miles (17.7 km) northeast of Acapulco in southwestern Guerrero state late on Tuesday. It damaged the control tower at the beach resort's international airport, cracked walls in a hospital attending COVID-19 patients, and triggered landslides and gas leaks.

Pakistan suggests inviting Taliban-run Afghanistan to regional forum

Pakistan on Wednesday suggested inviting Taliban-run Afghanistan to a regional forum of six countries to help avert a humanitarian and economic crisis in the country. The Taliban on Tuesday announced a new government and named Mullah Hasan Akhund, an associate of the movement's late founder Mullah Omar, as the head of the interim set-up, with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement's political office, as one of the two deputies.

Italian court seeks opinion on Berlusconi's health due to trial delays

A Milan court on Wednesday ordered an expert opinion on Silvio Berlusconi's health as the former Italian prime minister's trial on bribery charges has been repeatedly delayed due to his hospital visits. The trial began in 2017, with 84-year old Berlusconi charged with bribing witnesses in a previous case where he was accused of paying for sex with a minor, in which he was finally acquitted. He has pleaded not guilty.

Slow and steady may win the race: Canada opposition leader seeks to dethrone Trudeau

A month ago the prospect of Canada's charismatic Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau, losing power to a little-known ex-air force navigator would have been faintly ridiculous. When Trudeau called the Sept. 20 election, he had a hefty lead in opinion polls. But with less than two weeks to go, public opinion has soured on him to such an extent that Conservative leader Erin O'Toole could end Trudeau's six years in office.

Toys and bouncy castle for Afghan kids stranded at U.S. base in Germany

A sprawling U.S. airbase in a remote part of Germany has become a temporary home for Afghan children separated from their parents during the chaotic evacuation from Kabul airport, and officials are scrambling to reunite them with their families. The two dozen or so children housed in heated tents at Ramstein airbase near the western town of Kaiserslautern share their fate with several hundred other minors left unaccompanied after the airlift.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)