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Do we need a framework of engagement with the Taliban?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

The Taliban’s take-over of Afghanistan was swift and silent. Barring a few news reports in the first two weeks, there appears to be complete silence on Taliban with little progress on this matter. What happens now? A one-day conference was organized at the Indian Institute of Management-Rohtak, a top management institution in the national capital region of India. The primary objective of the conference was to ascertain what had been done for Afghanistan in the last twenty years by the international community and what could be the way forward. The deliberation of conference suggest that there is a need for measured approach towards possible engagement with Afghanistan through United Nation, writes Professor Dheeraj Sharma, Indian Institute of Management-Rohtak and Dr Marvin Weinbaum.In the last twenty years, the international community poured in trillions of dollars to help build structures, systems, institutions, and processes to stimulate economic activity and create a civil societ...

Dodgers Uninvite Drag Organization It Planned To Honor For Pride Night

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced it would no longer host a drag charity organization for its June 16 Pride Night.The L.A. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were going to be honored with the Community Hero Award for their  charity work, but the Dodgers pulled back their plans, saying people were offended by the group.“This year, as part of a full night of programming, we invited a number of groups to join us,” the Dodgers said in a statement Wednesday. “Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees.”pic.twitter.com/k4v1valfRY— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 17, 2023The Sisters believe the controversy started with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who penned a letter to Major League Baseball, calling the Sisters “anti-c...

Vivir en peligro: la furia del volcán ya no asusta a habitantes del centro de México

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

PUEBLA, México – Los habitantes de los municipios aledaños al volcán Popocatépetl ubicado en el estado mexicano de Puebla, centro del país, se mantienen en calma ante la actividad que presenta el coloso, debido a que ya se acostumbraron a vivir en “peligro latente”.Durante los últimos 17 días, el volcán ha presentando expulsión de material incandescente y fumarolas de ceniza, cuyo polvo ha llegado a los estados de Puebla, Hidalgo y Estado de México, centro de México, lo que puso en alerta a las autoridades municipales, estatales y federales.Este miércoles, agentes del Ejército mexicano, Guardia Nacional, y de Protección Civil recorrieron las ocho rutas de evacuación que están del lado del estado de Puebla, con el objetivo de verificar que sean transitables o que estén en buen estado para poder evacuar a los ciudadanos en caso de una actividad mayor del volcán.Las autoridades mexicanas analizan a diario la actividad del Popocatépetl desde que en 1994 se inició su ac...

Finlay sparks Austin to 2-1 victory over Sounders

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Ethan Finlay had a goal and an assist and Austin FC handed the Western Conference-leading Seattle Sounders their second straight loss at home with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night.Finlay took passes from Adam Lundkvist and Emiliano Rigoni and scored in the 36th minute. Finlay’s first goal of the season gave Austin (3-5-4) a 1-0 lead at halftime.Gyasi Zardes stretched the lead to 2-0 with a goal in the 57th minute off assists from Finlay and Jon Gallagher.Fredy Montero pulled the Sounders (7-4-3) within a goal when he scored in the 79th minute. Héber and Jordan Morris picked up assists on Montero’s first netter of the season.Brad Stuver finished with three saves to help Austin beat Seattle for the first time after going 0-2-2 in the previous four match-ups. Stefan Frei had two saves for the Sounders.The San Jose Earthquakes are now the only team Austin has played at least four times without a victory.Austin entered the match with an 0-4-4 record in its last...

Real Salt Lake, Timbers play to scoreless draw

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Real Salt Lake’s Zac MacMath and the Portland Timbers’ Aljaz Ivacic both finished with four saves as the two clubs played to a scoreless tie after a very lengthy weather delay to start the match on Wednesday night.Portland (4-5-4) had lost two straight in the series heading into play. Real Salt Lake (3-6-3) scored seven goals in the two wins over the Timbers — a club record for a two-match span.Real Salt Lake has been shut out in its last four matches and has been blanked in seven of its 12 matches this season. The seven clean sheets ties Sporting KC for most in the league this season.The Timbers couldn’t find the net after scoring twice in the first 18 minutes of a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps last week. Real Salt Lake took 17 shots to just 10 for Portland. Both teams had four shots on goal.Real Salt Lake travels to play the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. Portland returns home to play Minnesota United on Saturday.___AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/s...

UK and Japan to boost defense and chips ties ahead of G7

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

LONDON — Britain’s Rishi Sunak will sign a new deal on defense cooperation with Japan when he meets with Japanese PM Fumio Kishida later Thursday, ahead of the G7 summit on Friday.Dubbed the “Hiroshima Accord” by No. 10 Downing Street, the deal will boost cooperation between the nation’s armed forces and launch a new “semiconductors partnership” to protect chip supply chains — a measure aimed at safeguarding Western supply of the crucial tech from China, which sees semiconductor-rich self-governing island Taiwan as its territory. Semiconductors are used in everything from iPhones to missiles, but the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the world’s reliance on Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers. The threat of war in Taiwan, home to TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor company, has made Western governments even more desperate to shore up their supply chains.The U.K. is expected to publish its semiconductor strategy Friday, while the deal with Japan w...

Readers sound off on baseball’s race history, housing migrants and N.Y. wind farms

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

Honor Satchel Paige and remember his exclusionWhiting, N.J.: I’m a Yankees fan since 1978, but I was deeply offended at the deceitful way they marketed their “Satchel Paige Bobblehead Night” event on Thursday, May 11, at the stadium. Paige was pictured wearing a Yankees uniform as if he were a member of our team at one time. He was a member of the New York Black Yankees, a Negro Leagues team, for only one year in 1941. Jackie Robinson didn’t break Major League Baseball’s color barrier until 1947 and the Yanks could have elevated Paige to the big leagues then, but we didn’t and the Cleveland Indians grabbed him in 1948.The Yankees, astonishingly, did not integrate until 1955. It’s shameful that the Yanks waited eight years to integrate and also shameful that this bobblehead gives the false impression that Satchel was a Yankee 14 years before Elston Howard came on board. Paige’s major league career ended in 1965, a decade after Elston Ho...

Trudeau arrives in Hiroshima for G7 Leaders’ Summit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has landed in Hiroshima, Japan for the G7 Leaders’ Summit this afternoon.The prime minister concluded his first official visit to South Korea on Thursday by establishing agreements on the supply chain of critical minerals – used for electric vehicles – and youth mobility.As he meets with other G7 leaders between May 19 and 21, Trudeau is expected to push for increased co-operation on global and economic security to guard against geopolitical instability and the threat of climate change. All eyes will be on how G7 countries, however, choose to address the threat of China specifically.The meeting between G7 countries comes amid rising tensions with China in the region and an ongoing war in Ukraine, both of which are expected to be focuses of the summit.During a joint news conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Trudeau said China is an important economic partner but that both countries need to be “clear-eyed” o...

China lifts ban on Australian timber imports in another sign of improving bilateral relations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — China opened its doors on Thursday to Australian timber imports for the first time in more than two years, in another sign that the tattered bilateral relationship is being repaired.Timber was on a list of Australian exports subjected to official and unofficial Chinese trade barriers imposed in 2020 after Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.The list that included coal, wine, barley, beef, seafood, cotton and copper was estimated to cost Australian exporters $14 billion a year.But relations have improved since the center-left Labor Party came to power a year ago, ending nine years of conservative rule in Australia. Australian coal, cotton and copper exports to China have recently resumed.Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said the timber ban had been lifted from Thursday because Australian exporters had satisfied China’s quarantine concerns. The Australian government was officially informed on Wednesd...

Leaders begin arriving in Japan for meeting of G-7 nations, with war in Ukraine high on the agenda

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:03 GMT

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Hiroshima on Thursday as he prepared to welcome world leaders to a Group of Seven meeting in the western Japanese city that was the site of the world’s first atomic bomb attack. The Japanese leader planned to hold separate meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later in the day, before the wider summit kicks off Friday.The G-7 leaders are expected to touch on a range of issues during their three-day meeting, with Russia’s war in Ukraine likely to be high on the agenda.As attendees made their way to Hiroshima, Moscow unleashed yet another aerial attack on the Ukrainian capital. Loud explosions thundered through Kyiv during the early hours, marking the ninth time this month that Russian air raids have targeted the city after weeks of relative quiet. “The crisis in Ukraine: I’m sure that’s what the conversation is going to start with,” said Matthew P. Goodman, sen...