AFGHANISTAN
Bomber kills at least five
A suicide bomber on foot yesterday targeted a wedding party in eastern Nangarhar Province, killing at least five people and injuring 40, local officials said. Atahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the province’s governor, said that a boy set off his explosives inside the house of a pro-government militia commander in Pacheragam District. Khogyani said that 40 wounded men and women were rushed to hospitals, while local residents said that 10 people were killed. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Islamic State militants have carried out a string of suicide bombings and attacks on government offices, schools and aid groups in the past few years in Jalalabad, Nangarhar’s main city.
PAKISTAN
Train crash deaths rise to 23
The death toll from a train collision yesterday rose to 23 after several people succumbed to their injuries overnight, officials said. The incident took place in Rahim Yar Khan District in Punjab Province on Thursday, when a passenger train from Lahore rammed into a cargo train that had stopped at a crossing. The accident left mangled carriages flipped on their sides and debris strewn by the sides of the tracks as rescuers used cranes to pick through some of the twisted wreckage. “According to the latest updates available with us, the death toll rose to 23 overnight after more people died of their wounds in different hospitals,” a senior Pakistan Railways official told reporters. A total of 73 people were still being treated for injuries, he said. Another senior railways official confirmed the toll. “Rescuers have pulled out all the dead and injured from the wreckage... We are now focusing on quickly clearing the track,” he said, adding that an investigation has already been ordered.
UNITED STATES
R. Kelly faces more charges
R. Kelly has been arrested on child pornography and other charges, the New York Times reported, in the latest criminal investigation into the rhythm and blues superstar dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct. The 52-year-old, whose legal name is Robert Kelly, was taken into custody by federal agents in Chicago late on Thursday, the newspaper said. Federal prosecutors have issued a 13-count indictment against the singer, which also includes enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice charges, it said. Kelly has a decades-long history of abuse allegations, especially of underage girls. Prior to Thursday’s arrest, Kelly was on bail for a slate of charges in Chicago, including five felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault. If convicted of the most serious charges in that case, Kelly would face mandatory sentences of six to 30 years in prison on each count. In a March interview, Kelly vehemently denied the charges, saying: “I didn’t do this stuff.”
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten. Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French army as it battled to maintain its colonial rule of Indochina. He fought for France against the Viet Minh independence movement in the 1950s, before leaving the military — as either a defector or a captive — and making a life for himself in Vietnam. “It’s very emotional for me,”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other