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Pakistan’s plan to expel most of its Afghan refugees this year will trigger a new humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, aid groups warn, as foreign funding has been slashed and existing infrastructure is inadequate to support returnees. Pakistan is home to about 3 million Afghans, many of whom fled their
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The Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced Thursday that he would review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen. The review will also look at other defense officials’ use of the publicly available encrypted
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Diplomats in Libya have said in a letter to authorities seen by AFP that several international humanitarian organizations were forced to suspend operations after threats by security services and forced resignations. In the letter, which was obtained by AFP on Wednesday, 17 mainly European ambassadors and a UN official accuse
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A new generation of young Turks is at the forefront of mass protests against President Tayyip Erdogan’s government, demanding change in a country they see as increasingly authoritarian. Demonstrations erupted after Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a popular opposition figure, was jailed pending trial on corruption charges. Unlike older generations
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A massive earthquake that rocked Myanmar could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country already wracked by food shortages, mass displacement and civil war, aid groups and the United Nations warned Monday. The official death toll climbed past 1,700, but the true figure is feared to be much
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A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7 centered in the Sagaing region near the Myanmar city of Mandalay caused extensive damage in that country and also shook neighboring Thailand on Friday. How vulnerable is Myanmar to earthquakes? Myanmar lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates and is one of
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The Red Sea, renowned for its coral reefs and marine life, is a major hub for Egypt’s tourism industry, a pillar of the economy. However, a recent series of boating incidents and shark attacks on tourists have raised concerns, with several fatalities reported over the years. Attacks by militant
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South Sudan is enduring its worst cholera outbreak in two decades, the United Nations said Monday, with the country reporting almost 700 deaths in a six month period. The deeply impoverished nation — despite its major oil deposits — has been plagued by insecurity since declaring independence in 2011. Parts of the
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Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled across the borders to Lebanon since sectarian massacres on the Syrian coast earlier this month, Lebanese authorities said on Tuesday. A report from Lebanon’s Disaster Risk Management Unit said 12,798 Syrians had arrived and settled in 23 different villages and towns in Lebanon’
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Fearing for their lives, Syrian men, women and children waded through a river to safety in Lebanon on Tuesday, among hundreds of people who have fled to the neighboring country to escape sectarian killing targeting their Alawite community. A woman who made the crossing on Sunday said she’d seen
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Syria’s Druze minority has a long history of cutting their own path to survive among the country’s powerhouses. They are now trying again to navigate a new, uncertain Syria since the fall of longtime autocrat Bashar Assad. Members of the small religious sect find themselves caught between two
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As his White House meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart devolved into a stunning blowup, President Donald Trump leaned on a familiar refrain to explain his unique kinship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said Friday, raising his voice and gesturing
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From a Bond villain lair in the rugged heights overlooking Damascus, the all-seeing eye of a notorious Syrian military unit gazed down on a city it bled dry. Many of the bases of the elite Fourth Division formerly run by toppled president Bashar Assad’s feared younger brother Maher now
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In the safety of Sudan’s eastern coast, residents preparing for Ramadan were struggling to afford basic holiday staples as the war raging elsewhere in the country has sent prices soaring. The situation was much more dire in areas hit directly by the nearly two-year war, where famine, displacement, severe
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Muslims in Indonesia are shopping for sweets and new clothes and taking part in traditional festivities as millions observe the holy month of Ramadan, which started on Saturday. Celebrations in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country range from colorful nighttime parades and cleaning family graves to preparing food for
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The UN appealed Monday for $6 billion to provide desperately-needed aid to people in war-ravaged Sudan and millions of refugees fleeing “appalling” conditions. The aim is to provide assistance to nearly 26 million people this year, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA and refugee agency UNHCR said in a joint