It was early morning in Kabul, Afghanistan, when Fatima Amiri first heard the gunshots from inside her classroom. She and hundreds of other students had been preparing for college entrance exams at the time, but then the girls began screaming in panic. Amiri swiftly stood up to calm the class down, but when she turned around, she saw a man with a gun deliberately firing at students.“I was afraid; I tried to take shelter under the desks when an explosion happened,” the 17-year-old said.Amiri lost an eye and an eardrum as a result of the explosion. Her jaw was also…
Author: National Tone
Nicky Henderson is looking towards the Betfair Ascot Chase in February for the next outing of Shishkin.The Seven Barrows handler revealed earlier this month his nine-year-old had “flipped his palate” in a piece of work and would need 10 days off while the problem was resolved, ruling out a step up in distance for the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton. Shishkin – beaten into third behind Edwardstone in the Tingle Creek Chase on his reappearance this season – will now try a trip in excess of two miles for the first time over fences in the Grade One feature at…
From December 8 to January 12, deaths related to the virus in Chinese hospitals totalled 59,938.China has reported nearly 60,000 deaths among COVID-affected people since early December after complaints it was failing to release data. The toll from December 8 through Thursday consisted of 5,503 deaths due to respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 and 54,435 fatalities from other ailments combined with COVID-19, the National Health Commission announced on Saturday, adding that the “emergency peak” of its latest surge appears to have passed. It said the reported deaths related to COVID-19 occurred in hospitals, which left open the possibility more people…
Former presidential candidate Lissu says he will return home on January 25 and ‘get back to work’.Tanzania’s opposition leader and former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu has said he will return home this month from exile in Europe to “write a new chapter” after the government’s decision to lift a ban on political rallies. President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted the six-and-a-half-year ban on political rallies last week, part of her reconciliation strategy after taking over the presidency in March 2021 following the death of her predecessor John Magufuli. The ban, imposed by Magufuli in 2016, allowed elected politicians to conduct rallies…
Eleven members of the UNSC call on the group to reverse restrictive policies on women’s and girls’ education and work.Several members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have urged the Taliban to end its repressive treatment of women in Afghanistan, as the group continued to impose restrictive policies on their education and work. The 15-member UNSC met privately on Friday – at the request of the United Arab Emirates and Japan – to discuss the decisions by the Taliban-led administration, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 following the US troop withdrawal. Since then, the Taliban has squeezed…
Prosecutors will look into Jair Bolsonaro’s possible ‘instigation and intellectual authorship of the anti-democratic acts’ that ‘resulted’ in the riots.Brazil’s Supreme Court has agreed to open an investigation into former President Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly encouraging anti-democratic protests that ended in the storming of government buildings by his supporters in the capital Brasilia. Prosecutors will investigate Bolsonaro, who is in the United States, for possible “instigation and intellectual authorship of the anti-democratic acts that resulted in vandalism and violence in Brasilia last Sunday,” the top public prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Friday. “Public figures who continue to cowardly…
The Toronto Blue Jays and Bo Bichette are heading to arbitration after failing to reach an agreement ahead of Friday’s deadline. The shortstop slashed .290/.333/.469 with 24 homers, 13 steals and 93 RBIs in 159 games during the 2022 season. Bichette earned $723,800 last season and won’t be eligible for free agency until 2026. The Blue Jays reached deals with 11 players on Friday including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, Danny Jansen and Jordan Romano. Toronto has not gone to arbitration with a player since 2019, when reliever Ryan Tepera was awarded a $1.525 million salary. The team also won…
If Russia’s use of force against Ukraine goes ‘unchallenged, it will happen elsewhere in the world, including Asia’, Japan’s prime minister says.Japan, the United States and Europe must act in unison on China, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in Washington, DC, during a visit aimed at enhancing Tokyo’s alliance with the US in the face of growing challenges from Beijing. China is the central challenge for both Japan and the US as China’s vision for the international order differs from the views of Tokyo and Washington in some ways the allies “can never accept”, Kishida said. “It is absolutely…
Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Bolsonaro’s Justice Minister Anderson Torres, who remains in Florida.Brazilian authorities have given a former justice minister and ally of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro three days to return to the country or face extradition from the United States, as the government pursues those it says are responsible for a far-right riot in the capital last weekend. The Brazilian Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Anderson Torres in relation to the riot in Brasilia on January 8, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace to overturn October’s…
Peru’s attorney general has launched 11 inquiries to identify those responsible for more than three dozen mostly civilian deaths in the mass anti-government protests that have roiled the South American nation for more than a month. Patricia Benavides’s office on Friday announced that the investigations would focus on the violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the southern regions of Puno, Cusco, Arequipa, Apurimac and Ucayali, as well as the Peruvian capital, Lima. The removal of former left-wing President Pedro Castillo last month spurred the continuing unrest, which has claimed the lives of at least 41 civilians and one…