Author: Disha Mishra
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese national in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province, in a post on its Telegram channel late on Wednesday. Afghan police in the province had said on Wednesday that a Chinese citizen was murdered and a preliminary investigation had been launched, but it was not clear who was behind the attack. The Islamic State said it had targeted a vehicle carrying the Chinese citizen, which led to his death and damage to his vehicle. China was the first country to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan under the Taliban and has said…
A vote due on Wednesday in the Irish parliament to elect a new prime minister was delayed by a day after opposition protests over speaking rights for independent lawmakers supporting the incoming coalition government derailed a chaotic sitting. Micheál Martin was due to be elected prime minister at around 1230 GMT following a coalition deal struck last week between the country’s two large centre-right parties and a group of independent lawmakers after a Nov. 29 election. The speaker of the lower house of parliament suspended the chamber on four separate occasions before adjourning it until 1000 GMT on Thursday when…
An executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to suspend refugee admissions has magnified the fears of one Afghan American soldier who has long been worried about the fate of his sister in Kabul. The soldier is afraid his sister could be forced to marry a Taliban fighter or targeted by a for-ransom kidnapping before she and her husband could fly out of Afghanistan and resettle as refugees in the United States. “I’m just thinking about this all day. I can’t even do my job properly because this is mentally impacting me,” the soldier with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne…
Iran delivered a conciliatory message to Western leaders in Davos on Wednesday, with a top official denying it wants nuclear weapons and offering talks about opportunities, days after its arch adversary Donald Trump’s return to the White House. However, the comments by Iran’s Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif coincided with a warning by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog that Tehran is “pressing the gas pedal” in enriching uranium to near weapons-grade. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi has called for diplomacy between Iran and Trump, who in his first term, pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear…
U.S. President Donald Trumpon Tuesday vowed to hit the European Union with tariffs and said his administration was discussing a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports because fentanyl is being sent from China to the U.S. via Mexico and Canada. Trump voiced his latest tariff threats in remarks to reporters at the White House a day after taking office without immediately imposing tariffs as he had promised during his campaign. Financial markets and trade groups exhaled briefly on Tuesday, but his latest comments underscored Trump’s longstanding desire for broader duties and a new Feb. 1 deadline for 25% tariffs against…
The United States, Australia, India and Japan recommitted to working together on Tuesday, after the first meeting of the China-focused “Quad” grouping’s top diplomats since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. In a joint statement after the talks in Washington, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first day in the job, the four nations said officials would meet regularly to prepare for an upcoming leaders’ summit in India, expected this year. The four countries share concerns about China’s growing power and analysts said the meeting was designed to signal that countering Beijing is a…
England begin their white-ball era under Brendon McCullum in a Twenty20 series against India beginning in Kolkata on Wednesday with the coach promising the same attacking brand of cricket that has been the hallmark of his coaching. McCullum injected an aggressive approach to the test squad after taking over in 2022, with Matthew Mott continuing to coach England in the shorter formats. However, Mott stepped down last year after England failed to defend their T20 and 50-overs World Cup titles in the space of seven months across 2023-24 and McCullum was tasked with reviving their limited-overs fortunes. “Obviously, we want…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a boost to a female Oklahoma death row inmate who claimed her 2004 conviction for murdering her estranged husband was tainted by what her lawyers called “sexist stereotyping” by prosecutors who presented to the jury evidence about her sex life and revealing clothing. The justices in an unsigned ruling threw out a lower court’s decision rejecting inmate Brenda Andrew’s claim that her right to due process under the U.S. Constitution was violated by the type of prosecution evidence admitted during her trial. Her lawyers had called the evidence irrelevant and prejudicial. She was…
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear Republican former Iowa congressman Steve King’s bid to avoid paying a small judgment for having used without permission an internet meme – the “Success Kid” photo of a determined-looking 11-month-old baby at the beach – to promote his 2020 reelection campaign. The justices turned away King’s appeal of a lower court’s decision upholding a jury’s verdict that his election campaign organization owed Laney Griner, the mother of boy shown in the copyrighted photo, $750 for posting the image in campaign ads. The 2007 photo of little Sammy Griner became a popular…
Hamas released three Israeli hostages and Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the first day of a ceasefire suspending a 15-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East. The truce allowed Palestinians to return to bombed-out neighborhoods to begin rebuilding their lives, while relief trucks delivered much-needed aid. Elsewhere in Gaza, crowds cheered Hamas fighters who emerged from hiding. Fireworks were launched in celebration as buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah on the West Bank, where thousands of people waited to welcome them. Those freed from Israeli prisons included 69 women and…