Comment on Afghan Taliban pick new leader; future of peace talks is murky

Iranians are taking to the streets of Tabriz to observe the funeral rites of President Ebrahim Raisi, who died along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in a helicopter crash on Sunday, as others celebrated the hardline leader’s death. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Funeral rites will take place until Thursday across Tabriz—the largest city close to the crash site near the Iranian-Azerbaijani border—and Qom, Tehran, and Birjand, before Raisi is buried at the Imam Reza Shrine in his birthplace of Mashhad.

Thai and American officials celebrated the arrival of the so-called Golden Boy—a 4-ft. tall, about 900-year-old bronze statue—to the National Museum in Bangkok on Tuesday, after years of negotiations to repatriate the sculpture along with other artifacts that had been misappropriated abroad. The return of the Golden Boy and the Kneeling Lady, another statue linked to the same alleged smuggler, was welcomed by Thai Minister of Culture Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol as well as U.

KALAMATA, Greece — A Greek judge dismissed a case Tuesday against nine Egyptian men accused of causing a shipwreck that killed hundreds of migrants last year and sent shockwaves through the European Union’s border protection and asylum operations, after a prosecutor told the court Greece lacked jurisdiction. The decision by Presiding Judge Eftichia Kontaratou came shortly after the trial opened in the southern Greek city of Kalamata, and was greeted with cheers and applause from supporters of the defendants at the courthouse. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] More than 500 people are believed to have gone down with the overcrowded fishing trawler, which had been traveling from Libya to Italy.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. said one person was killed and several others injured after a flight from the U. K. to Singapore encountered severe turbulence in the skies over Asia and was forced to make an emergency landing in Thailand. “We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER,” the carrier said in a statement.

Recent battlefield reverses in Ukraine, with Kherson under increasing attack, are powerful reminders that Ukraine needs every penny of support it can get urgently. Yet Western governments still refuse to seize Russia’s $300 billion in frozen assets, even though the idea of making Russia pay for Ukraine’s rebuilding is broadly popular across the U.

Amid India’s weekslong election, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants voters to know that it’s about action, not talk. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Congress will say, BJP will do,” a poster shared recently by state- and district-level BJP accounts on social media asserted, referring to the opposition Indian National Congress (or Congress Party). কর্মসংস্থান না বাড়লে কীভাবে ভারতের শহরে শহরে পৌঁছে গেল মেট্রো পরিষেবা?কংগ্রেস বলবে, বিজেপি করবে!