Senior NATO officials have revealed that international troops will stay in Afghanistan past May, despite a U.S.-Taliban deal which had guaranteed a full withdrawal by the end of April 2021. Speaking to Reuters, one anonymous NATO official disclosed that “conditions have not been met” to allow for a full withdrawal
On Thursday 10th December, Afghan journalist and women’s rights campaigner, Malalai Maiwand, was killed by gunmen on her way to work in Jalalabad, a city in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. According to Reuters, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, through its telegram communications channel, calling Maiwand a
The Indian Premier League, or IPL for short, is a weird and wonderful spectacle; as a cricket tournament, it shows very few similarities to the archaic, ‘gentlemanly’ game played in crisp whites, over five days, interspersed with pauses for tea and cake. Unlike its stuffy grandfather, test cricket, IPL matches
On Wednesday 25th November, Rishi Sunak, Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, released his Spending Review, which sought to highlight the range of measures the government would take to ‘protect people’s lives and livelihoods’ as the country continues to grapple with the effects of Covid-19. The economic impacts of the virus
Speaking at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Friday 20th November, Abdullah Fadil, the UNICEF Representative in Sudan, raised concerns about the potentially devastating impact Ethiopia’s conflict may place on neighbouring Sudan. Violence in northern Ethiopia between federal troops and forces loyal to the Tigray
Elyas Dayee, a radio journalist working in Afghanistan, was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to his car on Wednesday 11th November, Human Rights Watch (HRW) have reported. According to Voice of America, Dayee was killed when a “magnetic” explosive device, attached to his car, was detonated as
Maher al-Akhras, a Palestinian man who has been on hunger strike since his arrest by Israeli forces in July 2020, has agreed to end his protest after receiving assurances from Israeli authorities that his detention would not be extended, The Guardian reports. Al-Akhras, who refused to eat for 103 days
On Friday, October 30th, police in Pakistan fired teargas on protesters attempting to demonstrate in front of the French Embassy in Islamabad, Reuters reports. Around 3,000 protesters had gathered to demonstrate against the French President Emmanuel Macron’s defence of highly controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, published by the French
Afghanistan has been plagued by on-going war, violence and terror, for more than 40 years. In 1979, the arrival of Soviet tanks marked only the first chapter in a long and bloody series of conflicts that would keep the country in the grip of war for close to half a
A Palestinian man, who has been on hunger strike for over 80 days, is “on the verge of death” according to Israel-based human rights group B’Tselem. The 49-year-old father of six, Maher Al-Akhras, began the strike to protest his arrest and “administrative detention” by Israeli forces in July. Israel has
At least 15 people have been killed, and more than 40 wounded, in an explosion in Eastern Afghanistan, according to Al Jazeera. On Saturday 3rd October, a car bomb was detonated outside government buildings in the Ghani Khel district of Nangarhar province. Following the blast, “several armed attackers tried to
Ongoing violence in the Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique has left more than 300,000 people totally reliant on humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Clashes between the Islamist militant group, Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jamaah (ASWJ), and government forces have caused thousands to flee the region. Although
Tensions continue to rise in the Eastern Mediterranean as a long-standing dispute over sovereign waters risks bubbling over into military confrontation. Bolstered by recent discoveries of natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey has increasingly prospected for oil and natural gas in the disputed waters around Cyprus, which Greek authorities
