AFGHANISTAN
Targeted bombing kills 22
An Afghan official said a bombing in the northern Kunduz province has killed 22 members of illegal armed groups, including four leaders. Provincial governor spokesman Abdul Wadood Wahidi said the bombing late on Saturday targeted a meeting of criminal groups that in the past have clashed with both national security forces and Taliban insurgents. He said seven others were wounded by the blast in Khan Abad district. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the attack. The Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country since US and NATO forces shifted from a combat to a support and training role at the end of last year.
BRAZIL
Bus station porno-hacked
Hackers infiltrated the travel information video screens at a bus station and replaced arrival and departure times with hardcore pornography. The sex footage ran for 15 minutes on Friday evening at the Boqueirao station in the southern city of Curitiba. The depot was packed with travelers at the time. The police cybercrime unit has been notified and is trying to trace the hacker or hackers, the municipal transport company said. A Curitiba city hall official said the company with the contract to operate the screens has also been notified and told it must improve its security. Social media lit up with screen grabs of the pornography and jokes about the hack. With a population of about 2 million, Curitiba is the capital of Parana state and one of the largest cities in the south of the nation.
BAHRAIN
Newspaper to publish again
Bahrain has given permission to a pro-opposition newspaper to resume publishing after a two-day ban that drew criticism from human rights groups, state media said. A statement from the Information Affairs Authority reported by the official BNA news agency said that the decision had been taken after al-Wasat’s editors undertook to respect the law on publications. Announcing the paper’s suspension on Thursday, the authorities had accused it of “violation of the law and repeated dissemination of information that affects national unity and the kingdom’s relationship with other countries.” Bahrain has seen frequent unrest since the Sunni minority rulers of the small Gulf kingdom crushed a Shiite-led uprising for reform four years ago. At the height of the 2011 uprising, al-Wasat was suspended by authorities, and its chief editor Mansoor al-Jamri was tried and fined for allegedly publishing false information. It was later allowed to reopen.
UNITED STATES
Mom charged with baby death
The mother of a three-week-old boy who died after plummeting from a fourth-floor window in New York was charged on Saturday with intentionally killing her child. The woman, Rashida Chowdhury, 21, is accused of throwing the boy out the window, the police said. The infant, identified by the police as Rizwan Ahmad, was found in a pool of blood outside his family’s apartment building in Queens at about 4am on Friday by a neighbor who heard a thump in the courtyard. The city medical examiner ruled the death a homicide on Friday night. An autopsy showed that Rizwan, who was born on July 18, died from blunt impact to his head and torso that left him with skull fractures, among other injuries. Chowdhury was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in New York for a psychiatric evaluation on Friday because she was acting strangely, the police said, and then taken to a station house for questioning.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
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