The Taliban is registering 1,800 unemployed Afghans expelled from neighboring countries for the chance to work in Qatar in the latest round of a labor agreement with the Gulf nation.

Author, who takes home $60,000, says finding out he won Australia’s most esteemed literary prize left him ‘in such shock that I lost all feeling in my hands and legs’ * Audacious, stimulating and ‘utterly bonkers’: Siang Lu, the thrilling new face of Australian literature * Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email When Siang Lu found out he’d won the Miles Franklin literary award, he had a physical reaction. “I was in such shock that I lost all feeling in my hands and legs,” the Brisbane-based author says. “I teared up. I lost my voice a little bit. It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever had to ask someone with a straight face, ‘Can you just please confirm to me that I’m not dreaming?’” The feeling Lu describes is akin to the surreal nature of his experimental, prize-winning novel, Ghost Cities. Set between modern and ancient times, and inspired by the vacant megacities of China, the sprawling, ambitious novel is shot through with absurdist humour, cultural commentary and satire in what the Miles Franklin judges describe as “at once a grand farce and a haunting meditation on diaspora”, and “a genuine landmark in Australian literature”. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...