Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour
The Afghan Taliban have announced a new leader to replace Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a US drone strike.
In a statement, the Taliban acknowledged Mansour's death for the first time and named his successor as Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Little is known of the direction he will take the militants but analysts say he is an uncontroversial choice.
Last year the Taliban were plunged into turmoil when Mansour replaced the group's founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Mansour was killed in a strike on his car in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Saturday.
Under his stewardship the Taliban refused to take part in peace talks: instead, militant attacks escalated and became more daring.
Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious scholar and former head of the Taliban courts, was a deputy leader to Mansour.
U.N. fears for 10,000 families trapped in ISIS-held Falluja as Iraq army advances
Updated 0329 GMT (1129 HKT) May 25, 2016
The United Nations says it fears for the safety of an estimated 10,000 families trapped in Falluja as Iraqi forces press in to retake the city from ISIS.
Fierce fighting has been raging around Falluja since Iraq's military launched an offensive Monday to reclaim the traditionally Sunni-dominated city, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad, from the terror group.
And with tens of thousands of residents unable to flee the clutches of ISIS, the U.N. fears that civilians will pay a heavy toll for the liberation of the city.
The Russian Threat: NATO Struggles to Recover after Years of Budget Cuts
By Konstantin von HammersteinA recent study set off widespread concern about NATO's readiness to confront Russian aggression. Now, alliance member states are ratcheting up defense spending -- but the numbers still don't add up.
RAND Corporation simulations aren't for the faint of heart. The think tank in Santa Monica, California is a progeny of the Cold War and the 1960 study conducted by legendary systems theorist Herman Kahn -- which examined the consequences of nuclear war -- has not been forgotten.
He believed the aftermath could be managed. Following a nuclear conflict, Kahn proposed, contaminated food should be reserved for the elderly since they would likely die before contracting cancer as a result of radiation. The researcher thus became one of the inspirations for Stanley Kubrick's film satire "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."
Several weeks ago, the California-based game theorists released another study that received a fair amount of attention. Financed by the Pentagon, they created a series of simulations for a hypothetical Russian invasion of the two Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia.
Paris attacks survivor writes letter to Eagles of Death metal frontman Jesse Hughes over 'hateful' Bataclan claims
Hughes claimed he saw 'Muslims celebrating in the street during the attack' and made allegations of a Bataclan conspiracy
A man who survived the Bataclan massacre during the Paris attacks has written an emotional open letter to the lead singer of Eagles of Death Metal condemning his “stupid and hateful” claims of a Muslim conspiracy.
Ismael El Iraki was among 1,500 fans watching the rock band’s performance on 13 November last year when three Isis militants burst in and opened fire, killing 90 people in the ensuing hostage crisis and suicide bombings.
In an open letter, he spoke of his love for Eagles of Death Metal but said his “heart was bleeding” after reading an interview with Jesse Hughes where the frontman claimed the attackers had help from inside that venue and that he saw Muslims “celebrating in the street during the attack”.
G7 in Japan: concern over world leaders' tour of nationalistic shrine
Prime minister Shinzo Abe, a fervent Shinto devotee, wants to escort Barack Obama and David Cameron to Ise Jingu shrine during summit
With an impeccably observed combination of bowing and handclapping, the pilgrims give thanks to Amaterasu, the mythological sun goddess from whom all of Japan’s emperors are said to be the direct descendants.
Behind them, hundreds more slowly make their way up the steps in front of the hidden main sanctuary, waiting their turn to pray at Ise Jingu, Japan’s most revered Shinto shrine.
The millions of people who visit Ise Jingu every year will soon by joined by Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and other leaders of the world’s richest nations during the G7 summit in nearby Ise-Shima, which begins on Thursday. The shrine, Abe said, “is a very good place to get in touch with the Japanese spirit.Why Donald Trump's plan for Japan would be a nightmare for Asia
Updated by Sheila A. Smith
President Barack Obama's historic visit to Hiroshima, Japan, on May 27 to honor the memory of those killed and injured when the US dropped the atomic bomb on the city in 1945, comes, ironically, as the argument that Japan should reconsider the nuclear option has reemerged.
But it is not the Japanese who are breaking the "nuclear taboo"; it is a prominent American: the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for president.
Japan has long eschewed the acquisition of nuclear weapons, choosing instead to rely on the United States to deter any potential threat from its nuclear neighbors. But Donald Trump recently stated that should he become president, he would consider ending the US commitment to Japan’s defense and encouraging it to develop its own nuclear arsenal.
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