Record number of journalists killed in 2024, Israel mostly responsible, CPJ says

Washington DC, US Reuters A record number of journalists was killed around the world last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday, adding that Israel was responsible for nearly 70 per cent of the deaths. At least 124 journalists in 18 countries died in 2024, the deadliest year for reporters and media workers […]
Trump aid freeze strands Afghan visa holders in Albania

Shengjin, Albania Reuters Ali Amini was just days from starting a new life in the United States when President Donald Trump halted aid for resettling Afghan refugees last week, a move that Amini worries could put his life in danger if forced to return home. After processing in Albania, he had a flight booked for […]
Dozens of migrants may have drowned in attempt to cross to Spain, NGO says
Madrid, Spain Reuters As many as 50 migrants, many of them Pakistanis, may have drowned in the latest deadly wreck involving people trying to make the crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday. Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had left […]
One in seven global Christians faces ‘high-level’ persecution: Open Doors report

United States RNS Driven by Islamic extremism, authoritarian regimes and war, high-level persecution and discrimination impacted 380 million Christians around the world in 2024, according to the annual World Watch List report by the evangelical non-profit Open Doors released on Wednesday. The World Watch List ranks the 50 countries where Christians experienced the most persecution […]
StrangeSights – Does Giorgia Meloni step on ants?; Pakistan’s Trump lookalike; and, a new war game in Taiwan…

DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Malala Yousafzai urges Muslim leaders to back gender apartheid legal push

Islamabad, Pakistan Reuters Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders on Sunday to back efforts to make gender apartheid a crime under international law, and called on them to speak out against Afghanistan’s Taliban over its treatment of women and girls. At a summit on girls’ education in Muslim communities attended by international […]
Wow!: How a driving school program empowers Pakistani women

MUBASHER BUKHARI, of Reuters, reports on the Women on Wheels (WOW) driving program offered free by the Lahore traffic police…
Afghan Taliban forces target “several points” in Pakistan in retaliation for airstrikes – Afghan defence ministry
Kabul, Afghanistan Reuters Afghan Taliban forces targeted “several points” in neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan’s defence ministry said on Saturday, days after Pakistani aircraft carried out aerial bombardment inside Afghanistan. The statement from the Defence Ministry did not specify Pakistan but said the strikes were conducted “beyond the ‘hypothetical line’” – an expression used by Afghan authorities […]
Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan kill 46 people, Taliban official says
Kabul, Afghanistan Reuters Bombardment by Pakistani military aircraft in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province on Tuesday killed at least 46 people, most of whom were children and women, the Afghan Taliban said, adding it would retaliate. Six people were also injured in the bombing at four locations in Afghanistan, deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said on Wednesday. […]
US, UK and EU condemn Pakistan military courts over sentencing of civilians

Washington DC, US Reuters The US, UK and EU criticized Pakistan’s military courts on Monday over the sentencing of 25 civilians in connection with attacks on military facilities in 2023 after the arrest of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The civilians were sentenced by a Pakistani military court to periods of two to 10 […]