Category: World

United States President Donald Trump used his second State of the Union address on Wednesday to inform his nation that his administration is holding talks with several groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. “In Afghanistan, my administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban,” he announced. “As we make progress in […]

Two journalists were shot and killed when gunmen stormed their radio station in northeast Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday, underscoring the dangers faced by reporters in the war-torn country. The pair, both men in their 20s, were gunned down inside the studios of Radio Hamsada, a private broadcaster based in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar […]

YANGON: Facebook has banned four insurgent groups fighting against Myanmar’s military from its social network, the company said on Tuesday, saying it wanted to prevent offline harm by removing groups it branded “dangerous organisations”. The US-based social media giant says it has removed hundreds of accounts, pages and groups for links to Myanmar’s military, or […]

International rights groups and foreign aid organisations with deep roots in India say they are struggling to operate under the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has elevated the role of homegrown social groups while cracking down on foreign charities. Greenpeace India said this month that it was forced […]

WASHINGTON: Top US commander in Afghan­istan said on Tuesday that political talks with the Taliban were a key part of the US endgame in Afghanistan. In an interview to ABC News, General Scott Miller also said that neither the US nor the Taliban were in a position to win the war and that’s why it was […]

NEW YORK: Many US companies that gorged on cheap debt with forgiving terms over the last decade now find themselves shackled by it, spending much of their earnings paying off lenders rather than investing in their businesses or hiring. As small firms, which together account for half of US employment, begin to feel the squeeze, […]

If you, like us, were obsessed with the true-crime podcast Serial in 2014, we’ve got some news. HBO has released a trailer for its upcoming four-part documentary, The Case Against Adnan Syed. The enthralling podcast debuted to an instantly obsessed audience and follows producer and presenter, Sarah Koenig’s re-investigation of the long cold case of a high-school teen, […]

DOHA: Qatar is running out of time to stamp out widespread serious labour abuse for tens of thousands of migrant workers before hosting the 2022 World Cup, Amnesty International warned on Tuesday. The rights watchdog said that despite well-publicised “nascent reforms” Qatar risked breaking its promises to deliver meaningful change before the Middle East hosts […]

The Taliban demanded a new constitution for Afghanistan and promised an “inclusive Islamic system” to govern the war-torn country at a rare gathering with senior Afghan politicians in Russia on Tuesday that excluded the Kabul government. The insurgents’ manifesto, outlined in Moscow before some of Afghanistan’s most influential leaders, comes a week after the Taliban […]

The Taliban launched a pre-dawn attack on an army base in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 26 members of the security forces, a provincial official said, the latest brazen assault by insurgents amid stepped-up efforts to resolve the country’s protracted war. The raid on the base in northern Kunduz province came as representatives of the Taliban […]