The Trump administration is in discussions to potentially send more than 1,000 Afghans who assisted America’s war effort and relatives of U.S. service members stuck in Qatar to a third country, the U.S. government and some advocates said. Congo is an option, the advocates said. Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran who heads a coalition that supports Afghan resettlement efforts called #AfghanEvac, said Wednesday that U.S. officials informed him and other groups of discussions between the United States and Congo about taking the Afghan refugees who have been in limbo at a U.S. base in Doha for the past year. The...
UK Passes Bill That Will Eventually Ban Cigarette Purchases
Opponents of smoking got a breath of fresh air as Parliament passed a bill that will put cigarettes out of reach for future generations. “The end of smoking, and the devastating harm it causes, is no longer uncertain — it’s inevitable,” Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said after a decades-long campaign in favor of legislation approved Tuesday. Children born after Dec. 31, 2008, will be banned from ever buying cigarettes under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The legislation that needs approval by King Charles III — a formality — before taking effect will also allow...
Russian Oil To Slovakia Resumes Flowing Through Pipeline That Crosses Ukraine
The flow of Russian oil to Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline that crosses Ukraine has resumed, Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Saková said Thursday. Hungary and Slovakia have been locked in an escalating feud with Ukraine since Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia were halted in January. Unlike most of the rest of the EU, Hungary and Slovakia still depend on Russia for their energy needs. —AP
Peru’s Defense And Foreign Ministers Resign After The President Stalls US Military Planes Deal
Peru’s defense and foreign ministers resigned Wednesday following an announcement by the country’s interim president to defer the decision on a $3.5 billion deal for U.S. F-16 fighter jets to his successor who will emerge from a presidential runoff vote in June. Last week, interim President José María Balcázar said he lacks the legitimacy as a temporary leader to make the commitment to buy 24 fighter jets manufactured by U.S.-based Lockheed Martin and that his successor should make the decision. “For us to commit such a large sum of money to the incoming government would be a poor practice for...
MrBeast Employee Alleges She Was Harassed For Years And Fired After Maternity Leave In A New Lawsuit
A former Beast Industries employee is suing MrBeast’s media production company after she was allegedly fired from her social media manager job upon returning from maternity leave and following years of what she described as sexual harassment and workplace gender bias. The lawsuit, filed by Lorrayne Mavromatis in federal court in North Carolina on Wednesday, accuses MrBeastYouTube, LLC and GameChanger 24/7, LLC of violating federal law that entitles eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons, including childbirth. Mavromatis also filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging discrimination on the basis...
Lebanese Journalist Amal Khalil Killed In Israeli Strike On A House Where She Took Cover, Paper Says
A Lebanese journalist was killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a house in southern Lebanon where she had taken cover while reporting on the Israel-Hezbollah war. Her body was only retrieved from the rubble hours later, rescue workers said. The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper says its reporter Amal Khalil was killed in the southern village of al-Tiri. Khalil had been covering the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group that resumed in early March, in the shadow of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. She took cover in the house in al-Tiri after an earlier Israeli airstrike...
Islamic Militants Kill 11 People And Burn Homes In Late Night Attack In Nigeria, Local Officials Say
Islamic militants attacked a remote village in northeastern Nigeria overnight, killing 11 people and leaving two critically injured, local officials said Wednesday. It was the latest violence in Africa’s most populous country that has long been battling a complex security crisis. The attack took place late on Tuesday in Pubagu, a community in a remote area on the fringes of Sambisa forest in Borno state, the epicenter of Nigeria’s long fight against an Islamic insurgency. Villagers said they buried the victims on Wednesday and attributed the attack to the extremist Boko Haram group. The local council chairman, Mwada Saidu Uba,...
Iran Fires On 3 Ships In The Strait Of Hormuz As US Maintains Blockade And Diplomacy Stalls
Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway. The attacks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports. The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait — where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime — with no end in sight. Iranian media said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was bringing the two ships to Iran, marking a further escalation, though the...
EU Close To Approving A $106B Loan For Ukraine After Months Of Deadlock
The European Union on Wednesday was on the cusp of approving a massive loan for Ukraine as oil began flowing again through a key pipeline toward Hungary and Slovakia, lifting a major obstacle to approving the funds. The operator of the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine, Ukrtransnaft, told the two countries that Russian oil was on its way and should arrive early on Thursday. Unlike most of the rest of the EU, Hungary and Slovakia still depend on Russia for their energy needs. EU envoys, meanwhile, launched a political procedure to endorse the loan. National governments have 24 hours to raise...
Canada’s Prime Minister Says The US Does Not Get To Dictate Terms For A Trade Agreement
Canada ‘s Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that Washington doesn’t get to dictate the terms of a continental trade deal known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, speaking of obstacles ahead of the accord’s review in July. The deal, dating back to the early 1990s, has intertwined the economies of the three North American countries but has faced bumps amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s constantly changing tariff policy. Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Carney said finetuning the latest version of the agreement “will take some time.” “We understand what some of the Americans would call trade irritants or...