War Report: Afghanistan

Nearly 45 million Instagram users—including celebrities like Bella Hadid and Nicola Coughlan—have shared an AI-generated image depicting tent camps for displaced Palestinians and a slogan that reads “all eyes on Rafah,” according to a Wednesday afternoon count by Instagram. The sharing of the post comes amid criticism from the international community regarding Rafah, which rests on the southern Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, and has been the subject of intense bombing by Israeli troops.

Swifties flocked to the social media platform X on Wednesday to demand that Taylor Swift “Speak Now” on Gaza, calling out her silence on the ongoing conflict. The hashtag #SwiftiesForPalestine was trending on X, garnering nearly 80,000 posts by Wednesday afternoon. The online callout comes after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah killed at least 45 Palestinians over the weekend, sparking international outrage.

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea flew hundreds of balloons carrying trash and manure toward South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South’s military to mobilize chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects and debris in different parts of the country. The balloon campaign came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his military scientists to overcome a failed satellite launch and continue developing space-based reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial for countering U.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The United States has appointed a new representative to Taiwan, as China boosts its threats against the self-ruled island following the election of a new president who wants the territory to maintain its de-facto independence. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] China claims Taiwan as its own territory and this week staged naval and air force drills that surrounded the island in a simulated blockade. The American Institute in Taiwan that acts as the de-facto embassy in Taipei said Wednesday that veteran diplomat Raymond Greene would take over from Sandra Oudkirk beginning in the summer of 2024. Read More: Why Protecting Taiwan Really Matters to the U.

At least 20 people died after a speeding bus plunged into a ravine in a mountainous region of southwest Pakistan on Wednesday. It’s the latest morbid headline—following similar incidents earlier this month, last month, and last year in Pakistan—highlighting the frequent fatalities associated with bus travel in developing countries—a pattern that experts attribute to factors like poor infrastructure and inadequate safety protocols. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Pakistan is among the most dangerous places in the world to take a bus—but its problem of frequent, deadly bus accidents is shared among developing countries from Asia to Africa to the Americas, where buses remain crucial modes of transport, particularly for rural residents, in the absence of widely accessible rail networks. While buses are among the safest modes of travel in the U.

During a visit to Israel, former presidential candidate Nikki Haley left behind a controversial hand-written message. “Finish Them!” she wrote with a marker on an artillery shell on Tuesday, during her meeting with Israeli soldiers. Haley’s words and photos were shared in a social media post by Danny Danon, an Israeli politician and former ambassador to the United Nations, who accompanied her during the visit.