South East Asia

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been one of Pakistan’s deadliest militant organizations since its inception in 2007. For over a decade, the group terrorized the country with horrific attacks such as the 2014 massacre in Peshawar that killed over 150 people. And while Pakistan security forces had severely curtailed TTP’s ability to launch attacks by 2016, a recent deadly attack in Quetta suggests that the group is rebuilding. While TTP’s lethality remains low, renewed attacks and the resurgence of the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan could potentially revitalize TTP in Pakistan and the region.

A chorus of condemnation has risen in recent months from Western capitals in response to China’s persecution of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Canada have imposed sanctions on Chinese officials, and U.S. President Joe Biden has maintained his predecessor’s stance that Beijing is committing “genocide” in Xinjiang—a position that the Canadian and British Parliaments also back.

A TRIPs waiver will not only impede vaccine production at this moment, it will also cause long-term harm. There are two principal concerns in this regard. First, a waiver for COVID-19 vaccines will obviously decrease the incentive for companies to make vaccines for the next disease. “The recent rhetoric will not discourage us from continuing investing in science,” wrote Bourla, the Pfizer chief. “But I am not sure if the same is true for the thousands of small biotech innovators that are totally dependent on accessing capital from investors who invest only on the premise that their intellectual property will be protected.”

Biden made no distinction between a democratic ally of the United States and a terrorist organization he did not even name. He spoke as if he did not know that the calm was broken by a terrorist organization and by no one else, and that what prevents Palestinians from having freedom, prosperity and democracy is precisely that they are ruled by terrorists and people who supports terrorism.

On April 7, a US Department of State press statement said that the Biden administration had decided to restore US financial “aid to Palestinians”, without requiring that American money not be used for terrorist purposes….

The U.S. State Department says it is offering a $5 million reward for information about an American woman kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2008

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it was offering a $5 million reward for information about an American woman kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2008.

Cydney Mizell, a humanitarian aid worker and her driver, Mohammad Hadi, were kidnapped in southern Kandahar province, where Mizell was teaching English and embroidery at a local girl’s school.

The US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, through its Rewards for Justice (RFJ) office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have offered a reward of up to $5 million for information concerning the kidnapping of Cydney Mizell, a humanitarian aid worker who went missing in Afghanistan in 2008.

This RFJ reward offer is for information leading to the location, recovery and return of Mizell.

“Instead of actively preventing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States is prepared to add fuel to the fire,” China’s diplomat Zhao warned.

China on Tuesday urged the United States to shoulder its due responsibility on the Palestine-Israel conflict and support the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to play its due role in promoting the easing of the situation, rebuilding trust, and political settlement.