Eid ceasefire proved "wide support" for Afghan Taliban, they say

Taliban walk as they celebrate ceasefire in Ghanikhel district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on June 16, 2018. (REUTERS)
Updated 18 June 2018
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Eid ceasefire proved "wide support" for Afghan Taliban, they say

  • Western diplomats based in Kabul said they were issuing fresh travel warnings for the country
  • Ghani had committed "a grave mistake" by allowing Taliban fighters to enter government-controlled areas, said, a politician

KABUL: The Afghan Taliban said their three-day Eid ceasefire, which ends on Sunday, proved the unity of their movement and its "wide national support" as the presidential palace extended its own ceasefire with the militants by 10 days.
Taliban fighters headed into cities across Afghanistan over the weekend as they celebrated their Eid cessation of hostilities with feasts, hugs and selfies, raising questions about what happens when their ceasefire ends at midnight (1930 GMT) on Sunday.
"Mujahideen throughout the country are ordered to continue their operations against the foreign invaders and their internal puppets as before," they said in a statement.
"The announcement (of the ceasefire), implementation and the wide national support and welcome of the Mujahideen by the people proves that the demands of the Islamic Emirate and the nation are identical – all want the withdrawal of foreign invaders and establishment of an Islamic government," they said.
"...Our enemies used to propagate that 20 different groups operate against them in Afghanistan or that the Islamic Emirate is not cohesive and unified. But it has now become abundantly clear to everyone that this assertion is baseless..."
President Ashraf Ghani said on Saturday he would extend the government ceasefire beyond June 20 and on Sunday the presidential office said it would be extended by 10 days.
Some have criticized his move, which allowed the Taliban to flow into cities across the country, though the militants said they would withdraw by sunset on Sunday.
"I have seen several Taliban vehicles and motorcycles leaving the city today in the afternoon," Sohrab Qaderi, provincial council member of Nangarhar province in the east, told Reuters.
Ghani had committed "a grave mistake" by allowing Taliban fighters to enter government-controlled areas, said Amarullah Saleh, a politician and former head of the National Directorate of Security.
"We don't have mechanisms in place to mitigate the breach of ceasefire by the Taliban," Saleh told Reuters.
Members of parliament opposing Ghani's move said he had not consulted politicians and would be left with no recourse if the Taliban rejected his impromptu request.
A senior Western diplomat in Kabul earlier said Ghani's decision was "a bold move" but questioned what happens if the Taliban do not extend their halt in hostilities against government forces.
"The consequences could be disastrous," he said.
A suicide bombing in Jalalabad, close to the governor's office in Nangarhar province, killed at least 18 people on Sunday and wounded scores, an official and doctor said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
A car bomb killed 36 people at a gathering of Taliban and Afghan armed forces in the same province on Saturday. Islamic State, not covered by the government ceasefire, claimed responsibility for that attack.
"NO CLUE HOW MANY TALIBAN IN CIVILIAN AREAS"
Western diplomats based in Kabul said they were issuing fresh travel warnings for the country.
"The Taliban can always use a ceasefire as an opportunity to attack foreigners," one Western diplomat said. "Nobody has any clue how many Taliban militants are now hiding in civilian areas."
The Taliban also said the "entire nation" should realize that there are "no public or secret talks taking place with the puppet Kabul regime".
"All the baseless propaganda and attempts to confuse public opinion by the opposition in this regard only serves to complicate the ongoing crisis and negatively impacts efforts for peace," the group said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, echoing Ghani's announcement on Saturday, said peace talks would have to include a discussion on the role of "international actors and forces". 

"Ghani has full blessings of the U.S. administration and it is crucial for the U.S. officials to prove that (U.S. President Donald) Trump's policies are working and talks with the Afghan Taliban are imminent," said a senior diplomat who met Afghan officials on Sunday to discuss the chance of back-channel talks with Taliban leaders.
The United States wants Pakistan, which it accuses of harbouring Afghan Taliban commanders, to exert more influence on the group to bring it to the negotiating table.
The only time direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been held, in 2015, they broke down almost immediately.
The Taliban are fighting U.S.-led NATO forces combined under the Resolute Support mission, and Ghani's U.S.-backed government to restore sharia, or Islamic law, after their ouster by U.S.-led forces in 2001.
But Afghanistan has been at war for four decades, ever since the Soviet invasion in 1979.
"What we witnessed over the last two days was an overwhelmingly positive response by all Afghans to peace," Lt-Colonel Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for Resolute Support and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, told Reuters.
"Not even the attack on peace yesterday in Nangarhar by the enemies of Afghanistan will slow the nationwide momentum or quiet the celebration of a long-overdue cessation of hostilities and a chance for lasting peace."

The Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright government victory.


German court to rule on claim against Berlin over US strikes in Yemen

Updated 4 sec ago
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German court to rule on claim against Berlin over US strikes in Yemen

  • “The German government must put an end to the use of this base — otherwise the government is making itself complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians,” said Andreas Schueller, program director for international crimes at the NGO

BERLIN: Germany’s constitutional court will rule Tuesday in a years-long legal saga over whether Berlin can be held partly responsible for US drone attacks on Yemen due to signals sent through the Ramstein air base.
The case is being brought by two Yemeni men, Ahmed and Khalid bin Ali Jaber, who lost members of their family in a US drone strike on the village of Khashamir in 2012.
The survivors say they were there for a wedding of a male family member and eating dinner when they heard the buzz of a drone and then the boom of missile attacks that claimed multiple lives.
A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could have groundbreaking implications regarding Germany’s responsibility toward third countries in international conflicts.
The two men, supported by the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), argue that Germany is partly responsible for the attack because the strike was aided by signals relayed from the Ramstein base in the west of the country.
“Without the data that flows through Ramstein, the US cannot fly its combat drones in Yemen,” according to the ECCHR.
“The German government must put an end to the use of this base — otherwise the government is making itself complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians,” said Andreas Schueller, program director for international crimes at the NGO.
The plaintiffs first took their case to court in 2014, arguing that Germany had a responsibility to ensure the US military was respecting international law in using the Ramstein base.

The case was initially thrown out, before the higher administrative court in Muenster ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2019.
However, the government appealed and a higher court overturned the decision in 2020, arguing that German diplomatic efforts were enough to ensure Washington was adhering to international law.
In a hearing scheduled for 0800 GMT, the constitutional court must now decide what conditions are necessary for those affected abroad to sue the German state for the protection of their right to life, according to the ECCHR.
This includes whether data transmission alone is enough of a connection to German territory for Germany to be held responsible.
Ahead of the latest proceedings, which opened in December 2024, the German defense ministry said Berlin was “in an ongoing and trusting dialogue” with the United States about its activities at Ramstein.
The government has repeatedly obtained assurances that drones are not launched, controlled or commanded from Germany and that US forces are acting lawfully, the ministry said.

 


Japan warns of China’s military moves as biggest strategic challenge

Updated 6 min 41 sec ago
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Japan warns of China’s military moves as biggest strategic challenge

  • China’s increasing dispatch of aircraft carriers in the Pacific underscores the country’s attempt to advance its sea power in distant waters, the report said

TOKYO: Japan raised strong caution against China’s rapid acceleration of military activity in extensive areas from around its southwestern coasts to the Pacific, describing the moves as the biggest strategic challenge.
China’s growing joint operations with Russia also pose serious security concerns to Japan, along with increasing tension around Taiwan and threats coming from North Korea, the Defense Ministry said in an annual military report submitted to Cabinet on Tuesday.
“The international society is in a new crisis era as it faces the biggest challenges since the end of World War II,” the report said, citing significant changes to the global power balance while raising concern about an escalation of the China-US rivalry.
The security threats are concentrated in the Indo-Pacific, where Japan is located, and could get worse in the future, report says.
Japan has accelerated its military buildup on southwestern islands in recent years, preparing to deploy long-distance cruise missiles, as it worries about a conflict in Taiwan, which China claims as its territory to be annexed by force if necessary. Taiwan launched 10-day annual live-fire military exercises last week intended to guard against Chinese threats to invade. Japan tested a short-range, surface-to-ship missile at home earlier last month.
Chinese warships’ advance into the Pacific has steadily increased, with the frequency of their passage off southwestern Japan tripling in the past three years, including in waters between Taiwan and its neighboring Japanese island of Yonaguni, the 534-page report said.
The report comes days after Japan demanded China stop flying its fighter jets abnormally close to Japanese intelligence-gathering aircraft, which it said was happening repeatedly and could cause a collision. Beijing, in return, accused Japan of flying near Chinese airspace for spying purposes.
Two earlier close encounters in June occurred over the Pacific Ocean, where Japan spotted two Chinese aircraft carriers operating together for the first time.
China’s increasing dispatch of aircraft carriers in the Pacific underscores the country’s attempt to advance its sea power in distant waters, the report said. It said China’s frequent dispatch of bombers for long distance flights in the Pacific by more sophisticated flight routes and fleet organization is seen as Beijing’s attempt to show off its presence around Japan and to further advance its operational capability.
The Defense Ministry noted two cases last year — a Chinese warplane’s brief violation of Japanese airspace over waters off islands near Nagasaki and an aircraft carrier’s entry into a zone just outside of Japan’s territorial waters further southwest in the Nansei island chain.
With US President Donald Trump focusing on the strengthening of the US economy and security, Japan and other US allies face expectations to play a greater role for peace and stability in the region, the report said.
North Korea poses “an increasingly serious and imminent threat” for Japan’s security, the report said, noting the North’s development of missiles carrying nuclear warheads into the Japanese territory and solid-fuel ICBM that can reach the US mainland.
Russia maintains active military operations around Japan and violated the country’s airspace in September, the report added, saying its increasing strategic cooperation with China has posed “strong concern” for Japan’s security.
 

 


Japan’s ruling coalition seen losing upper house majority, Asahi reports

Updated 49 min 11 sec ago
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Japan’s ruling coalition seen losing upper house majority, Asahi reports

  • Asahi said its report was based on phone and Internet surveys conducted on voters July 13-14, as well as research nationwide by the newspaper’s journalists

TOKYO: Japan’s ruling coalition will likely lose its majority in the upper house election on July 20, the Asahi newspaper said on Tuesday, heightening the risk of political instability at a time the country struggles to strike a trade deal with the US
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito will likely struggle to retain the 50 seats needed to defend its majority in the upper house of parliament, the Asahi said.
The LDP will likely win just around 35 seats, the paper said. The LDP currently hold 52 seats.
Asahi said its report was based on phone and Internet surveys conducted on voters July 13-14, as well as research nationwide by the newspaper’s journalists.
Ishiba’s administration has seen approval ratings slide as the rising cost of living, including the soaring price of Japan’s staple rice, hit households. 

 


What to know about the Grand Canyon as wildfires burn, claiming a historic lodge

Updated 15 July 2025
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What to know about the Grand Canyon as wildfires burn, claiming a historic lodge

Nearly 5 million people visited the Grand Canyon last year, from day trippers and campers to people sleeping overnight in historic lodges and cabins.
This year will be different, at least for one portion of the park. A wildfire has torn through a historic lodge and ended the season for the canyon’s North Rim, a place where visitors could find less bustle in one of the country’s most iconic national parks.
As firefighters continue to fight the blaze, here’s what to know about Grand Canyon National Park.
Bigger than Rhode Island
The Colorado River cuts through Grand Canyon National Park for about 278 miles , pushing across northwestern Arizona. The eastern boundary is near the state’s northern border with Utah, while the western edge is near Nevada.
Grand Canyon National Park is about 1,900 square miles, according to the National Park Service, which makes it bigger than Rhode Island.
The park is unique because of its canyon walls, which boast horizontal layers of red, orange and purple rock. The average depth of the iconic formation is about a mile , while the average width is about 10 miles .
“Four Empire State Buildings stacked one atop the other would not reach the rim,” Lance Newman wrote in the introduction to the 2011 book, “The Grand Canyon Reader.”
The north and south rims
Within the park are the north and south rims, which are the primary travel destinations because of their accessibility.
The North Rim receives 10 percent of park visitors and is known for more quiet and solitude, according to the park service. It’s open from mid-May to mid-October because of the snow. But the wildfires have closed it for the rest of the season, destroying a historic lodge and dozens of cabins.
The South Rim is open all year. It’s more bustling and boasts a historic district, which dates to when the first steam-powered train arrived in 1901.
A car trip between the rims takes five hours, according to the park service. That’s because there’s only one way across the Colorado River by vehicle, and its 137 miles  from the South Rim Village.
Hiking between rims is a shorter distance, 21 miles , though by no means easy. It includes crossing the river on a narrow foot bridge 70 feet  above the water.
Unexplored by Europeans for 235 years
The Grand Canyon was formed with the shifting of tectonic plates, which lifted layers of rock into a high and relatively flat plateau, according to the park service. About 5 million to 6 million years ago, the Colorado River began to carve its way downward, slowly deepening and widening the gorge.
The oldest human artifacts in the area date to about 12,000 years ago, when small bands of people hunted bison, the park service said. There were gradual shifts to agriculture, the building of pueblos and the development of trade routes. Today, 11 tribes have historic connections to the canyon, including the Hopi and the Diné .
The Spanish were the first Europeans to the see the Grand Canyon in 1540, according to the park service. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his Spanish army were searching for fabled cities of gold.
“The Hopi were able to fool the Spaniards into thinking that the area was an impenetrable wasteland and was not navigable anyway,” the park service wrote on its website, adding that the canyon “was left unexplored by Europeans for 235 years.”
In the late 1850s, an Army lieutenant explored the Grand Canyon in search of a viable trade route, the park service said. Joseph Christmas Ives described it as “altogether valueless” and predicted it “shall be forever unvisited.”
The Grand Canyon began to draw much more interest after expeditions in 1869 and 1871 by geologist John Wesley Powell.
Powell described rock layers in the canyon’s towering walls: “creamy orange above, then bright vermilion, and below, purple and chocolate beds, with green and yellow sands.”
‘You cannot improve on it’
As the years went on, more explorers arrived by boat, on foot and on horseback, often with the help of Native American guides. Wealthy travelers came by stagecoach from Flagstaff to the South Rim in the 1880s. After the arrival of trains, the automobile became the more popular mode of travel in the 1930s.
Early entrepreneurs charged $1 to hike down the Bright Angel Trail used by the Havasupai people whose current-day reservation lies in the depths of the Grand Canyon.
President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to create the park in 1919 but Teddy Roosevelt is credited for its early preservation as a game reserve and a national monument.
He famously said: “Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.”


Thomas Massie, GOP congressman who broke with Trump, reports strong fundraising

Updated 15 July 2025
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Thomas Massie, GOP congressman who broke with Trump, reports strong fundraising

WASHINGTON: US Rep. Thomas Massie has stockpiled more than $1.7 million for his re-election bid as the Kentucky Republican gears up to face President Donald Trump’s vaunted political operation, Massie’s campaign announced Monday.
Massie was one of two House Republicans to vote against Trump’s massive tax bill and he said Trump lacked authority to bomb nuclear sites in Iran without congressional approval.
Trump aides launched a super PAC devoted to defeating Massie in his 2026 primary, the first concerted effort by the president’s team to unseat a sitting member of Congress.
Trump’s challenge to Massie sent a clear signal to other Republicans that they cross the president at their peril. But Massie’s formidable fundraising will help him fight back. His sprawling district covers three television markets, making it an expensive place to campaign.
Massie raised just over $584,000 between April and June, bringing his total fundraising since the last election above $1 million, his campaign reported. The $1.7 million in his campaign bank account includes money left over from his successful 2024 re-election campaign.
The new PAC, Kentucky MAGA, will be run by two of Trump’s top political lieutenants, his former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and longtime pollster Tony Fabrizio. They have not yet announced a challenger they will support but hope to unify Massie’s Republican critics behind one person to avoid splitting the anti-Massie vote.
Elon Musk, a billionaire and one-time Trump ally, suggested he’ll support Massie.