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Pakistan Sets April 1 Deadline For 'Afghan Card' Holders, 'Illegal Foreigners' To Leave
Pakistan ordered Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders and “all illegal foreigners" to leave the country, either voluntarily or through deportation starting on April 1, raising fears among the Afghan community of repressionshould they return to their homeland. “The Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Program has been implemented since November 1, 2023.
American Porn Star Whitney Wright Sparks Fury With Trip To Afghanistan
Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban rulers have banned education and most jobs for Afghan women, who are also barred from parks, gyms, and bathhouses. They are not supposed to leave their houses without a male guardian and live under draconian Taliban morality laws. With such constraints, Afghan women are furious after photos and videos emerged of an American porn actor visiting their country.
Taliban Declares End To Doha Agreement With The United States
Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamist Taliban rulers say they no longer consider the Doha agreement -- a peace deal with the United States that paved the way for the withdrawal of Western forces from the country -- to be valid. Speaking on February 28, the fifth anniversary of the agreement, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the accord was limited to a particular time frame, which has now expired.
Afghan Attack Suspects Put Migrants At Heart Of German Elections
As Germany heads into pivotal federal elections on February 23, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is making unprecedented gains. The rise of the AfD, known for its nationalist, anti-immigration, and Euroskeptic positions, has been fueled by public fears over migration and a series of brutal attacks reportedly committed by migrants. But the party has also faced strong opposition from people who accuse it of exploiting a series of brutal attacks by migrants for political ends.
Two Killed In Botched Suicide Bombing Attack On Taliban Ministry
A suicide bombing attack on the Taliban-led Ministry for Urban Development office in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed two people and injured three more. Taliban authorities said the attacker was one of the people killed in the February 13 attack. “The suicide bomber was identified and eliminated at the entrance of the ministry,” said Mohammad Kamal Afghan, a spokesman for the Taliban's Urban Development Ministry. He told journalists that the attack happened just before noon local time.
Taliban Divisions Laid Bare As Afghanistan Power Struggle Intensifies
The Taliban has for years presented a united front to the outside world and kept a tight lid on dissent within its ranks. But unprecedented displays of discord have laid bare the rifts in the secretive militant group and exposed an intensifying power struggle. The internal divisions could spill over into violence, experts warn, and trigger a new civil war that would further destabilize the volatile region.
Russian Champion Skaters Naumov, Shishkova Reportedly Among Passengers In D.C. Plane Crash
Former Russian World Champion figure skaters Vadim Naumov and his wife, Evgenia Shishkova, are reportedly among those killed after a passenger jet collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River near the Pentagon in Washington. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the collision occurred shortly before 9 p.m. local time on January 30 and that a major search and rescue operation is under way.
Serbia's Vucic Weighs New Government, Snap Elections Amid Disarray
BELGRADE -- Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the ruling party will decide in the next 10 days whether it will put forward a new government or call snap parliamentary elections after the resignation of the prime minister sent the Balkan nation's leadership scrambling for answers. "In the next 10 days, we will make a decision whether we will go to elections or whether we will join the new government.
Kyiv Dismisses Deputy Defense Minister Dmytro Klimenkov Amid Procurement Controversy
Ukraine's cabinet officially fired Deputy Defense Minister Dmytro Klimenkov in what appears to be a broader shake-up of the Defense Ministry's procurement operations. RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
EU Renews Russia Sanctions After Assuring Hungary On Energy Matters
The European Union has renewed its wide-ranging sanctions against Russia after it provided assurances to the government of Moscow-friendly Hungarian leader Viktor Orban on energy-related issues. “Europe delivers: EU Foreign Ministers just agreed to extend again the sanctions on Russia,” EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas wrote on X on January 27. “This will continue to deprive Moscow of revenues to finance its war. Russia needs to pay for the damage they are causing,” she added.
Protesting Serbian Students Set 24-Hour Belgrade Blockade, Joined By Farmers, Others
BELGRADE -- Serbian farmers on tractors joined students on the main thoroughfares of Belgrade as demonstrators launched a 24-hour protest blockade against President Aleksandar Vucic’s handling of the aftermath of a deadly railway station disaster late last year. Protests on January 27 also intensified in more than a dozen other Serbian cities, including in Novi Sad, site of the November 1 collapse of a concrete canopy that killed 15 people at the city’s rail station.
Tensions Rise As U.S., Taliban Exchange Threats
Tensions between Washington and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are rising a week into President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened on January 25 to place a bounty on Taliban leaders if the United States determines the group has imprisoned American citizens. “Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported.
Hungary Blocks Joint EU Statement On Presidential Elections In Belarus -- Sources
Hungarian representatives have blocked a joint statement by European Union countries to reject the presidential election in Belarus, according to information from RFE/RL sources in Brussels. Lacking the signatures of representatives from all 27 EU countries, EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas issued her own statement, saying that the January 26 vote was not free and fair and calling on the Belarusian authorities to release all political prisoners.
Belarus Releases Detained U.S. Citizen Anastasia Nufer, Says Washington
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on January 26 that American citizen Anastasia Nufer was released from a Belarusian prison. Without offering details, Rubio wrote on X that Nuhfer had been detained during the presidency of Joe Biden and had been "unilaterally released" by Belarus. Details surrounding Nufer’s detention remain unclear, with her name previously absent from public discourse.
Protests Held Across Serbia As Students Continue To Demand Accountability In Deadly Canopy Collapse
Thousands of people took to the streets on January 25 in several cities in Serbia to demand political and criminal responsibility for the deaths of 15 people in the collapse of a canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad. Marches and demonstrations took place in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and more than a dozen other cities across the country in the latest in a series of protests spearheaded by students, who continue to call for accountability in the deadly canopy collapse nearly three months ago.
4 Sentenced To Death For 'Blasphemous' Posts In Pakistan
A court in northwestern Pakistan has sentenced four men to death for allegedly posting sacrilegious materials about the Koran and Islamic figures. On January 25, Tariq Ayub, a judge in Rawalpindi, a city adjacent to the capital, Islamabad, sentenced the four to death by hanging. They were also fined more than $16,000. Ayub said the contempt of figures sacred to Muslims and insulting the Koran were unforgivable offenses that don’t deserve clemency.
Kremlin Says Macron Sat At Long Table With Putin After Refusal To Take COVID-19 Test
MOSCOW -- Russia says French President Emanuel Macron was made to sit at the opposite end of a long table for his talks earlier this week with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin due to his refusal to take a Kremlin-administered COVID-19 test. Macron was in Moscow on February 7 amid Western efforts to deescalate tensions amid fears Russia is planning a further invasion of Ukraine amid a massive buildup of troops on Ukraine's borders.
Left Out: Afghanistan Watches Its Own Peace Process From The Sidelines
When the United States' special representative for Afghan reconciliation arrived in Kabul this week amid ongoing peace talks with the Taliban, the country's national-unity government was in disarray. Zalmay Khalilzad met with the leaders of the government, President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, separately on April 1: Ghani with his running mate in the upcoming elections; and Abdullah, the de facto prime minister, with the country's foreign minister, an electoral ally.
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