Author: admin@primenews

Two years since the Taliban swept into power in Afghanistan, not a single country has formally recognised their rule. Even engaging with the Taliban government remains deeply controversial. Some say talking with them will help bring about change, others insist the Taliban will never change so there’s no point in talking. And as the world struggles to decide how to deal with Afghanistan’s new rulers, women’s rights – even their beauty salons – have become frontlines in political battles. Beautician Sakina – in a dimly lit room, curtains tightly drawn, alongside bunches of lip pencils and gleaming palettes of eye…

A Russian warship fired warning shots and boarded a cargo ship it claims was headed to Ukraine in the Black Sea on Sunday, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. Russia pulled out of a UN and Turkish-brokered deal in July that allowed Ukraine to move its grain via the Black Sea and warned that any ships headed to Ukraine would be treated as potentially carrying weapons. Ukraine made a similar threat to ships traveling to Russian ports. Russia said the warship fired warning shots when the captain of the Palau-flagged dry cargo ship failed to respond to a request to stop for an inspection. “The Russian…

The Taliban’s treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan is a “crime against humanity”, Gordon Brown has told the BBC. The former prime minister is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute those responsible for the “vicious” abuse of human rights. The Taliban government has severely restricted the freedoms of women and girls since regaining power in 2021. “This is the systematic brutalisation of women and girls,” he said. Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today’s Nick Robinson, Mr Brown, now the UN’s special envoy for global education, said: “They’ve been excluded from education, excluded from employment, excluded from…

Multi-billionaire Elon Musk is putting Twitter building signs and other items from the company up for auction just weeks after the firm’s rebranding as X. Among the 584 lots on offer are coffee tables, outsized bird cages, and oil paintings of images that went viral. Also listed are tens of desks and chairs, a DJ booth, and enough musical instruments to equip a band. Since buying the social media platform last year, Mr Musk has cut thousands of jobs in an effort to lower costs. The auction has been called “Twitter Rebranding: Online Auction Featuring Memorabilia, Art, Office Assets & More!”…

Six policemen in the Philippine capital are facing criminal investigation over the fatal shooting of a teenager whom they had mistaken for a murder suspect. Jerhode Baltazar drowned at a fishing village in suburban Manila after being shot in the head last Wednesday. He dove into the water in a panic as police attempted to arrest him. It was a “lapse in judgment” for the policemen to shoot him, given the 17-year-old was unarmed, conceded authorities. “They cannot invoke self-defence. They were unable to prove that the victim resisted arrest,” Navotas city police chief Col Allan Umipig told local television.…

Jimmy Donaldson, the person the online world knows as MrBeast, is the biggest YouTuber on the planet – and with that popularity comes large sums of money. The 25-year-old has branched out from video-making and now has his own fast-food chain, MrBeast Burger. It hit headlines this week when he sued the company behind the chain, claiming fans thought the food was “revolting”. But it’s still YouTube that he is best known for. In November 2022, Forbes estimated he earned $54m (£42.5m) in a year from the platform, combining advertising revenue from videos and sponsorship deals. Since then, he has gained…

Snazzy new liveries have been revealed for two of NASA’s hottest aircraft projects. These upcoming planes want to be the next generation of sustainable flight – and also to look good when doing it. First there’s the X-66A, which NASA has been cooking up along with Boeing as part of its Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project. The US aerospace behemoths want to build, test and fly an emission-reducing, single-aisle aircraft before the decade is out. The X-66A is the full-scale demonstrator on which they’ll be doing all that. “It’s our goal that NASA’s partnership with Boeing to produce and test a…

As the human-induced climate crisis continues, one European country is looking to make train travel not just the sustainable option – but the most fun one, too. Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), Italy’s state-owned railway operator, has announced a new program of tourist-focused trains, using vintage locomotives on popular vacation routes. Launching in 2024, FS Treni Turistici Italiani (Italian Tourist Trains) will offer services geared towards tourism that is “high quality, sustainable and focused on rediscovering the riches of Italy,” the company said in a statement shared with CNN. They added they were aiming for “a kind of tourism where…

When Montel Douglas scooped a £10,000 prize for his first play, he knew he was one step closer to staging it at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Without it, his Peckham-based theatre group would have been unable to take their Windrush-inspired drama, One Way Out, to the prestigious arts showcase. But the winnings didn’t even cover the full cost of basic accommodation for his four cast and three crew. Without strong ticket sales, he now faces losing money on the show. The sky-rocketing costs of performing at the Fringe – and the slim chance of breaking even – is one that…

The creator of BBC One comedy series Two Doors Down, Simon Carlyle, has died aged 48, his manager has confirmed. The Scottish sitcom has starred Arabella Weir, Kieran Hodgson, Alex Norton and others, and was also created and written by Gregor Sharp. Carlyle from Ayr wrote the show as a one-off special in 2013 before it was commissioned in 2016. Louise Thornton, head of commissioning at BBC Scotland, said staff were “deeply saddened” to hear the news. She added: “Simon was a major writing talent, loved for his work on Two Doors Down and many other series. “Our thoughts are…