US army exit from Afghanistan sets stage for Taliban warlords to scramble for drug profits and power
The United States spent more than $8 billion over 15 years on efforts to deprive the Taliban of their profits from Afghanistan’s opium and heroin trade, from poppy eradication to airstrikes and raids on suspected labs. As the United States wraps up its longest war, Afghanistan remains the world’s biggest...
DRC and US counter-terror forces pursue Islamic militia that’s killed 6,000 in seven years
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has authorised US special forces to help the Congolese army battle the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group linked to ISIL (ISIS). The ADF, which the United States has deemed a “terrorist” group, is considered the deadliest of dozens of armed...
Abdul Ghani Baradar: Taliban poised to become president of Afghanistan after ouster of US-backed Ashraf regime
With Taliban seizing control of Kabul and all top provincial capitals of Afghanistan, its top leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is most likely to become the next president of the war-ravaged nation. On Sunday, speculation was rife that Abdul Ghani Baradar would transform into the brand-new president of Afghanistan by...
Fall of Kabul: No reason to believe a new Taliban regime in Afghanistan won’t be another humanitarian eyesore
Afghanistan’s US-trained forces appeared to readily collapse in the face of a concerted push by Taliban forces. Names and places that became familiar to Americans during their country’s long involvement there – including Kunduz and Kandahar – fell like dominoes in recent days as the Taliban swept toward the capital....
Election win by Zambian opposition Hichilema sets stage for Lusaka to resume lending talks with IMF
Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has defeated incumbent Edgar Lungu in Zambia’s presidential election, the electoral commission declared when releasing the final results from 156 constituencies, barring one. The election was keenly followed by investors, who had temporarily suspended engagement with Africa’s second biggest copper producer, which made the continent’s first...
Muhammad Ali’s grandson Nico Ali Walsh wins first professional boxing fight via TKO
Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, has won his first professional boxing fight after a first-round stoppage in Oklahoma, USA. Ali Walsh, who wore trunks made for his legendary grandfather, claimed victory against Jordan Weeks just one minute and 49 seconds into the first round. The 21-year-old is...
Euphoric reopening of countries was ill-timed as it occurred as Delta variant was rampaging
Your chance of being crushed in bed tonight by a falling satellite is minuscule. It is also non-zero. Ronald Howard, a Stanford engineering professor and founder of a discipline called decision analysis, made a point of noting the latter, the risk of splat. Perhaps best known for studying questions of...
US records more firearm-related deaths than any other wealthy nation, 2020 was deadliest in 20 years
Maeve Wallace has studied maternal health in the United States for more than a decade, and a grim statistic haunts her. Five years ago, she published a study showing that being pregnant or recently having had a baby nearly doubles a woman’s risk of being killed. More than half of...
