The United Nations expressed “grave concern” on Thursday about a new law issued by Afghanistan’s Taliban government on separation in marriage which includes provisions on child marriage, saying the code further entrenches discrimination against women and girls. The government rejected the accusations, saying the decree follows Islamic law and insisting the country has already banned the forced marriage of girls. Afghanistan’s justice ministry published Decree No. 18 “on judicial separation of spouses” last week, which sets out rules for separation of a married couple. Among its most controversial provisions, it says that the silence of a girl reaching puberty can...

Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González pledged Thursday during her annual address to boost the amount of electric energy available to power the U.S. territory as chronic outages persist, angering and frustrating many across the island. She said a bidding process to install 3,000 megawatts of additional power generation capacity is underway and will likely be awarded by late summer. In addition, she announced that nearly 1,000 megawatts will be added to the system in upcoming months as crews work to repair and modernize various power plants. González noted that 100 megawatts provide sufficient energy for 60,000 families. “With more megawatts...

Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González pledged Thursday during her annual address to boost the amount of electric energy available to power the U.S. territory as chronic outages persist, angering and frustrating many across the island. She said a bidding process to install 3,000 megawatts of additional power generation capacity is underway and will likely be awarded by late summer. In addition, she announced that nearly 1,000 megawatts will be added to the system in upcoming months as crews work to repair and modernize various power plants. González noted that 100 megawatts provide sufficient energy for 60,000 families. “With more megawatts...

The Philippine justice chief ordered authorities Thursday to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of a senator wanted on an alleged crime against humanity. He warned that anyone helping the senator evade a nationwide hunt would face criminal charges. Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa “is a fugitive from justice,” Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said in a news conference. “He should be brought to the ICC to face the charges.” Dela Rosa is a former national police chief who enforced then President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown against illegal drugs that killed thousands of mostly petty suspects. The killings alarmed...

NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment on Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after he had ordered 5,000 troops to be pulled out of Europe. “It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. U.S. defense officials were also confused. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one...

Kenya’s public transport operators on Friday called off a nationwide strike that had been suspended for a week to allow talks over rising fuel prices. The strike on Monday and Tuesday triggered protests in which four people were killed and more than 30 others injured after police fired live ammunition at demonstrators. The operators met with President William Ruto on Friday and announced the strike would not resume after he pledged that diesel prices would be reduced in the upcoming monthly fuel price review in June. Ruto rejected proposals to lower fuel taxes, arguing that reducing VAT on fuel from...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants the European Union to consider offering “associate membership” to Ukraine and breathe new life into talks aimed at ending more than four years of war with Russia, according to a letter seen Thursday by The Associated Press. His letter, to the EU’s top officials, comes as the 27-nation bloc weighs whether to try to launch its own negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with U.S. mediated talks bogged down while America’s attention focuses on the Iran war. Under Merz’s proposals, Ukraine would take part in EU meetings, but without voting rights, and would also have...

It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young Indians are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party,...