POLAND: An appeals court has ordered a retrial of a women’s rights activist who was convicted of supplying another woman with abortion pills.

The Warsaw Appeals Court said the 2023 trial was presided over by a judge whose appointment was invalid and whose promotion by the previous hard-right Law & Justice government shortly afterwards may have been a reward.

Helping a woman have an abortion is illegal in Poland and can result in up to three years in prison.

SYRIA: A national dialogue conference will advise on a new constitution and include representatives of all rebel factions in the civil war bar the Kurds.

Organisers said participants will be selected based on “expertise, public influence and inclusivity.”

However, former officials of the Assad government would be excluded as “their place is in [receiving] justice,” while the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have refused to be incorporated into the new national military, are also out.

AFGHANISTAN: A blast at a government ministry compound in Kabul killed one person and injured three, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Mohammad Kamal Afghan, a spokesperson for the Urban Development and Housing Ministry, said a man had attempted to carry out an attack inside the compound but was killed by guards before he reached his target.

The perpetrators of the terrorist attack in the Taliban-ruled country are unknown.

UNITED STATES: Vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jnr was confirmed as US health secretary by the Senate today.

Mr Kennedy lobbied to block the vaccination rollout during the Covid pandemic, and has promoted claims inoculations are linked to autism. He has since expressed support for polio vaccinations.

Democrats lined up to denounce him as an anti-science candidate, but the Republican Senate majority assured his appointment went through.