Skip to main content

Afghan Taliban carry out over 1,100 floggings, six public executions in past year

The Afghan Taliban flogged at least 1,186 people and carried out six public executions in Afghanistan during the the last year – March 2025 to March 2026. The official statements and data compiled by an Afghan television channel, and drawn from statements issued by the Taliban’s Supreme Court, indicate the continued application of corporal punishment in most parts of the country. The total excluded the final 12 days of July 11 to 22, implying that the actual number of floggings could be higher. These punishments took place across dozens of provinces, including Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Khost, Badakhshan, Ghor, Paktia, Paktika, Faryab, Laghman, Kapisa, Parwan, Uruzgan, Zabul, Kunar, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, Badghis, Farah, Nimroz, Logar, Jawzjan, Helmand, Sar-e-Pul, Daikundi and Bamiyan. Read More: Govt rejects Afghan Taliban’s claim of Pakistan breaking truce Taliban court statements showed an increase in the use of corporal punishment du...

Yulia Navalnaya demands authorities release husband's body, calls Putin's faith 'fake'

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, on Saturday demanded that Russian authorities release his body for burial and accused a "demonic" Russian President Vladimir Putin of "torturing" his corpse. In a six minute video posted on YouTube, Navalnaya accused Putin of holding her husband's body "hostage", and questioned Putin's often-professed Christian faith. Navalny's mother Lyudmila said on Friday that Russian investigators were refusing to release his body from a morgue in the remote Arctic city of Salekhard until she agreed to lay him to rest without a public funeral. She said an official had told her that she should agree to their demands, as Navalny's body was already decomposing. On Saturday, Navalny aides said that authorities had threatened to bury him in the remote prison colony where he died unless his family agreed to their conditions. In the video, an emotional Yulia Navalnaya claimed that Putin personally was responsible for the whereabouts of Navalny's body, and that he was "torturing" Navalny in death as he had in life. Read also: Navalny’s death "We already knew that Putin's faith was fake. But now we see it more clearly than ever before," said Navalnaya, dressed in black. "No true Christian could ever do what Putin is now doing with Alexei's body." Since returning to the Russian presidency in 2012, Vladimir Putin has positioned himself as a defender of traditional, conservative values against what he portrays as corrosive Western liberalism. He has also trumpeted his closeness to Russia's Orthodox Church, regularly appearing at services around religious festivals, and speaking of his personal faith. Navalnaya said her husband had been a devout Christian, who attended church and had fasted for Lent even while in prison. She said his political activism had been inspired by Christian values. Concluding her video, she said: "Give us back the body of my husband. We want to hold a funeral service and bury him in a humane way, in the ground, as is customary in Orthodox Christianity."

from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/52EXB4h

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

At least 32 miners dead after bridge fails at cobalt site in southeast DR Congo

A bridge collapsed at a cobalt mine in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo killing at least 32 wildcat miners, a regional government official said Sunday. The bridge came down Saturday onto a flooded zone at the mine in Lualaba province, Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the provincial interior minister, told reporters. He said 32 bodies had been recovered and more were being searched for. The DRC produces more than 70 percent of the world supply of cobalt, which is essential for batteries used in electric cars, many laptop computers and mobile phones. More than 200,000 people are estimated to be working in giant illegal cobalt mines in the giant central African country. Local authorities said the bridge collapsed at the Kalando mine, about 42 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the Lualaba provincial capital, Kolwezi. "Despite a formal ban on access to the site because of the heavy rain and the risk of a landslide, wildcat miners forced their way into the quarry," said Mayonde. He said ...

US, Philippines kick off joint military drills in South China Sea with 16,000 troops

Some 16,000 US and Philippine troops kicked off the annual joint military drills on Monday in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), local media reported. WPS is the official designation by Philippines to the parts of the South China Sea that are included in the country's exclusive economic zone. The 19-day exercises, dubbed "Balikatan 2024," will involve around 5,000 Philippine and 11,000 US troops, making it the largest joint military drills between the two allies conducted in decades, local English daily Manila Times reported citing the military. A total of 14 nations, including Japan and India, will take part in the drills as observers amid mounting maritime tensions in the South China Sea. Contingents from the Australian Defence Force and the French Navy will also join the exercise as participants. Read also: China urges US to stop using Philippines as a pawn to destabilise South China Sea France will join the group sail but will only navigate on the edge of the Philippine E...

Indian devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Hindu temple opens

The private jet parking lots at airports near the Indian city of Ayodhya are full and the shops have run out of gold-plated idols, as wealthy devotees prepare for the invite-only opening ceremony of one of Hinduism's holiest temples. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani are among the 8,000 or so attendees at Monday's inauguration event for the Ram Temple, which devotees believe is built on the birthplace of Lord Ram, a sacred Hindu deity. The construction of the temple, which began after the Supreme Court awarded the site to Hindus in 2019 more than two decades after a Hindu mob razed a mosque there, triggering deadly riots, fulfils a key campaign promise of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. Read BJP-promised temple transforms Ayodhya: Muslims, locals feel neglected The opening ceremony, organised by the trust that built the temple, comes months before a national election which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to w...