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9 JOURNALISTS AMONG THOSE KILLED IN AFGHAN TWIN BLASTS, TOLL RISES TO 26 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo strongly condemned the “senseless and barbaric” bombings in Kabul. KABUL – Explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 26 people on Monday, including nine journalists who had arrived to report on an initial blast and were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber, officials said. The attacks, a week after 60 people were killed as they waited at a voter registration centre in the city, underlined mounting insecurity despite repeated government pledges to tighten defenses. Hours after the attack in Kabul, a suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked a foreign military convoy in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 11 children studying in a nearby religious school, police said. “These attacks caused untold human suffering to Afghan families,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the top UN official in Afghanistan. “I am furthermore outraged by the attack which appears to ...
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Gaza Strip  - In the middle of surgery, the operating theatre went pitch black for a few minutes. Only two tiny monitors showing the patient's vital signs were visible. When the light came back on, powered by a generator, the medics continued their work. Almost 2,000 people were wounded and required urgent medical attention as violence escalated in the border area of  Gaza  in the last several weeks. Doctors and nurses said the current crisis had awakened the trauma of 2014 war in them, several expressing their frustration over not being able to do more for their patients. Weakened by a shortage of drugs and medical supplies, severe restrictions on movement, a chronic energy crisis and a worsening economic situation, Gaza's health sector is struggling to cope with the influx of wounded. Hospital staff face dilemmas of prioritisation. "Every day I have to make a decision; to discharge a patient or keep them in. Many of them live in poverty, and I know that if I di...
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‘CHOCOLATE CITY’ China’s Ugly Exploitation of Africa—and Africans Beijing is often a step ahead of Washington in Africa, as Secretary of State Tillerson is likely to find out this week. But China’s not exactly winning friends. BRENDON HONG 03.06.18 5:43 AM ET HONG KONG—This week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is visiting five nations on the African continent—Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria—to discuss how the United States and these countries can collaborate in counter-terrorism, trade, and investment. Beijing is watching the trip closely, because these and other African nations are considered by the Chinese Communist Party to be stepping stones for the PRC’s rise as a superpower. But China’s relations with Africa, while vast and expanding, are undermined by cultural and sometimes rather extraordinary political insensitivity. Two recent Chinese action films are set in African nations. Wolf Warrior 2 , which was released last July, tells the...
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Saudi Arabia fires top army chiefs in military shake-up Army chief of staff, ministers and top commanders of ground and air defence forces replaced, in series of royal decrees. Saudi Arabia's  King Salman  has fired his top military commanders and reshuffled his cabinet in a shake-up of key security and government ministries. Those dismissed by royal decree overnight on Tuesday included the Saudi army's chief of staff, and the heads of the ground and air defence forces. First Lieutenant General Fayyad bin Hamed al-Ruwayli was appointed the new chief of staff, while Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah was appointed as deputy labour minister in a rare senior post for a woman in the kingdom. Prince Turki bin Talal - the brother of Alwaleed bin Talal - a billionaire businessman who was  detained for months  by the government on allegations of corruption - was also appointed to a deputy governor position. No official reason has been given for the overhaul, but it...
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BERLIN — Shortly after the turmoil surrounding President Trump’s repeatedly rescheduled visit to Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May embarked on a trip to Beijing where she celebrated a new “golden era” and was cheered by the Chinese news media for not bringing up pesky human rights issues. When it was President Emmanuel Macron’s turn earlier in January, the French leader similarly announced his “determination to get the Europe-China partnership into the 21st century.” He gave his host, President Xi Jinping, a rare gelding horse named Vesuvius in what the French said was an “unprecedented diplomatic gesture.” Two new studies, however, suggest that Europe’s embrace of China, even as it warns against Russian meddling, might benefit from a certain degree of wariness. When it comes to Beijing, they argue, leaders of European Union countries appear too willing to overlook China’s authoritarian ambitions. “Political elites in the E.U. and its close neighbors have started ...
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Bangladesh: Trafficking of girls rife in Rohingya camps Noyona Katun, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, said her daughter Yasmin was 13 years old when she was snatched by a man in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in southern Bangladesh and smuggled to India. That was three years ago. Noyona and Yasmin fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2012. Noyona said the trafficker was arrested in India and Yasmin was rescued. Her daughter is living at a safe house for other trafficking victims in Kolkata. Myanmar stripped the Rohingya of citizenship in 1982, which means Noyona and Yasmin do not have passports so they cannot be reunited. Noyona saves a little money every month to chat to her daughter for a few minutes on the phone. "Only God knows the pain I experience every day," she said. "I don't have money to go to India. My daughter warns me not to try and cross into India without passport." Common story Noyona's story is not uncommon in the Rohingya...
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Why Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel US President  Donald Trump  called Jerusalem the capital of Israel on December 6 and began the process of moving his country's embassy to the city.  The move sparked global  condemnation  from world leaders.  Israel occupied  East Jerusalem  at the end of the  1967 War  with Syria, Egypt and  Jordan ; the western half of the holy city had been captured in the  1948 Arab-Israeli war . Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem effectively put the entire city under de facto Israeli control. Israeli jurisdiction and ownership of Jerusalem, however, is not recognised by the international community, including the  United States .  The status of Jerusalem remains one of the main sticking points in efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. International community position  Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan to  divide historical Palestine ...
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