Comment on Afghan official: Taliban seize district headquarters in west

BANGKOK — Hundreds of LGBTQ+ couples in Thailand are expected to make their wedded status legal Thursday, the first day a law took effect granting them the same rights as heterosexual couples. The enactment of the Marriage Equality Act makes Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia and the third place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, after Taiwan and Nepal. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Marriage registration is customarily done at district offices, but on Thursday, around 300 couples are expected to complete the formalities at a daylong gala celebration in an exhibition hall at a shopping mall in central Bangkok.

It was almost three decades ago that French miners decamped to the southern Gobi Desert in search of hidden riches. By 2006, they found what they were looking for: rich deposits of uranium lurking beneath the windswept sand dunes and rusting oil pumps. A series of pilot projects and environmental and economic assessments followed. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] On Jan.

MELBOURNE — Australian detectives are investigating whether foreign actors are paying criminals to commit antisemitic attacks in the country, police said on Wednesday. Australia Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw was meeting on Wednesday with state police chiefs to discuss an increase in antisemitic crime in Australia since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s top general resigned on Tuesday, citing the security and intelligence failures related to Hamas’ surprise attack that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel meanwhile launched a large military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday that the Palestinian Health Ministry said had killed at least six people and wounded 35. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Lt.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all U. S. foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals. It was not immediately clear how much assistance would initially be affected by the Monday order as funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress and is obligated to be spent, if not already spent. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The order, among many Trump signed on his first day back in office, said the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.” Read More: Breaking Down All of Trump’s Day 1 Presidential Actions Consequently, Trump declared that “no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing last week that “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: “Does it make America safer?

LONDON — The sequel to Prince Harry vs. the British tabloids begins Tuesday in a high-stakes trial pitting him against Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers that could cost him millions even if he wins. Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, and one other claimant remain alone among hundreds who have settled lawsuits against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, over allegations their phones were hacked and investigators unlawfully snooped on their lives. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] It will be the first case of its kind to go to trial against the publisher since a widespread phone hacking scandal forced Murdoch to close News of the World in 2011.