United News of Bangladesh

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described his recent meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump as “positive,” despite not obtaining the Tomahawk missiles Ukraine had hoped for. He noted that the U.S. still seems interested in pursuing economic partnerships with Kyiv. Zelenskyy mentioned that Trump backed out of the potential missile deal after speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly before their meeting on Friday. “In my opinion, he does not want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Sunday. His comments were embargoed until Monday morning. Ukraine is hoping to purchase 25 Patriot air defense systems from American firms using frozen Russian assets and assistance from partners, but Zelenskyy said procuring all of these would require time because of long production queues. He said he spoke to Trump about help procuring these quicker, potentially from European partners. According to Zelenskyy, Trump said during their meeting that Putin's maximalist demand — that Ukraine cede the entirety of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions — was unchanged. Zelenskyy was diplomatic about his meeting with Trump despite reports that he faced pressure to accept Putin’s demands — a tactic he has kept up since the disastrous Oval Office spat on Feb. 28 when the Ukrainian president was scolded on live television for not being grateful for continued American support. Zelenskyy said that because Trump ultimately supported a freeze along the current front line his overall message “is positive” for Ukraine. He said Trump was looking to end the war and hopes his meeting in the coming weeks with Putin in Hungary — which does not support Ukraine — will pave the way for a peace deal after their first summit in Alaska in August failed to reach such an outcome. So far, Zelenskyy said he has not been invited to attend but would consider it if the format for talks were fair to Kyiv. “We share President Trump’s positive outlook if it leads to the end of the war. After many rounds of discussion over more than two hours with him and his team, his message, in my view, is positive — that we stand where we stand on the line of contact, provided all sides understand what is meant,” Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy expressed doubts about Hungary's capital of Budapest being a suitable location for the next Trump-Putin meeting. “I do not consider Budapest to be the best venue for such a meeting. Obviously, if it can bring peace, it will not matter which country hosts the meeting,” he added. Zelenskyy took a stab at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, saying he doe not believe that a prime minister "who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution.” Zelenskyy also expressed skepticism about Putin’s proposal to swap some territory it holds in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine surrenders all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “We wanted to understand exactly what the Russians meant. So far, there is no clear position,” he said. Zelenskyy said he thinks that all parties have “moved closer” to a possible end to the war. “That doesn’t mean it will definitely end, but President Trump has achieved a lot in the Middle East, and riding that wave he wants to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy added. He said the United States is interested in bilateral gas projects with Ukraine, including the construction of an LNG terminal in the southern port city of Odesa. Other projects of interest to the U.S. include those related to nuclear energy and oil.  

A cargo plane landing at Hong Kong International Airport early Monday veered off the runway, struck a security patrol vehicle, and plunged into the sea, resulting in the deaths of two airport personnel, authorities confirmed. All four crew members aboard the aircraft survived without injury. The Boeing 747 freighter, operated by Turkey-based ACT Airlines on behalf of Emirates under a wet lease agreement, was arriving from Dubai and attempted to land at approximately 3:50 a.m. local time. According to Steven Yiu, Executive Director of Airport Operations, the aircraft taxied halfway down the runway before veering left off the paved surface. It breached the airport’s perimeter and collided with a stationary security patrol car before both ended up in the surrounding waters. “The patrol vehicle did not enter the runway. It was the aircraft that went off course and hit the vehicle outside the fenced area,” Yiu said during a press briefing. Emergency responders found the aircraft split into two sections, floating in the sea. The cockpit and front portion remained above water, while the tail appeared to have broken off. The four crew members were rescued from the open aircraft door and did not sustain visible injuries, officials said. Rescue divers located the two airport workers inside the submerged patrol vehicle after a 40-minute search, said Yiu Men-yeung of the Fire Services Department. The crash occurred on the airport's north runway, which remains closed. However, the airport's two other runways continue to operate normally, and flight schedules have not been affected, airport officials confirmed. At the time of landing, weather conditions were considered suitable. Investigators from Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority have opened a case, classifying it as an accident. The investigation will assess operational, technical, and maintenance aspects of the flight. Authorities are currently retrieving the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder as part of the probe. Emirates, which operates a major cargo operation out of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport, confirmed the aircraft involved — designated as flight EK9788 — was one of two Boeing 747 freighters recently wet-leased from ACT Airlines to meet growing demand. The plane, 32 years old according to tracking service Flightradar24, was not carrying cargo at the time of the incident. Hong Kong International Airport, constructed on reclaimed land off Lantau Island, is surrounded by water, with the north runway situated only a few hundred meters from the sea.

Amazon said its cloud computing service was recovering from a major outage that disrupted online activity around the world on Monday. Amazon Web Services provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press. On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and many other services. Coinbase and Signal both said on X that they were experiencing issues related to the AWS outage. The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it is “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.” Later the company reported that there were “significant error rates” and that engineers were “actively working” on the problem. Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, the company said that it was seeing recovery across most of the affected services. “We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered,” it said, adding that it is working on a “full resolution.” AWS customers include some of the world’s biggest businesses and organizations. “So much of the world now relies on these three or four big (cloud) compute companies who provide the underlying infrastructure that when there’s an issue like this, it can be really impactful across a broad range, a broad spectrum” of online services, said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.  

A tropical storm swept through northern and central Philippines over the weekend, leaving seven people dead and forcing more than 22,000 residents to flee from flood- and landslide-prone areas, officials said Monday. Tropical Storm Fengshen — locally known as Ramil — moved away from the main island of Luzon into the South China Sea late Sunday, according to the state weather bureau. The storm packed sustained winds of up to 65 kilometres per hour (40 mph) and gusts reaching 80 kph (50 mph). The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that seven people were killed, while nearly 14,000 evacuees remain displaced as of Monday. In Roxas City of Capiz province, one person drowned on Saturday as high tide worsened flooding in several communities. Five others, including two children, died early Sunday in Pitogo town of Quezon province when a large palm tree fell on their hut while they were sleeping. Police said the victims had earlier burned the tree in an attempt to make it fall safely. Forecaster Glaiza Escullar said the storm was expected to continue moving westward across the South China Sea toward Vietnam. Fengshen is the 18th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, striking as central and southern provinces are still reeling from recent earthquakes that killed more than 80 people, displaced thousands, and damaged over 134,000 houses in Cebu province alone, according to disaster officials. The Philippines, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, experiences about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also frequently suffers from earthquakes and volcanic activity, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations. Source: AP

In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket lift up the Louvre ’s facade, forced a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said. The daylight heist about 30 minutes after opening, with visitors already inside, was among the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory and comes as staff complained that crowding and thin staffing are straining security. The theft unfolded just 250 meters (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa, in what Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional “four-minute operation.” One object, the emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum, French authorities said. It was reportedly recovered broken. Images from the scene showed confused tourists being steered out of the glass pyramid and adjoining courtyards as officers closed nearby streets along the Seine. No one was hurt. Also visible was a lift braced to the Seine-facing facade near a construction zone, since removed — the thieves’ entry point and, observers said, a striking vulnerability for a palace museum. A museum already under strain Around 9:30 a.m., several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the glass display cases, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift via the riverfront facade, where construction is underway, to reach the hall with the 23-item royal collection. Their target was the gilded Apollon Gallery — where the Crown Diamonds are displayed, including the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia. The thieves smashed two display cases and fled on motorbikes, Nunez said. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already done. Eight objects were taken, according to officials: a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; Empress Eugénie’s diadem; and her large corsage-bow brooch — a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble. “It’s a major robbery,” Nunez said, noting that security measures at the Louvre had been strengthened in recent years and would be reinforced further as part of the museum’s upcoming overhaul plan. Officials said security upgrades include new-generation cameras, perimeter detection, and a new security control room. But critics say the measures come far too late. The Louvre closed for the rest of Sunday for the forensic investigation to begin as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut nearby streets along the Seine. Daylight robberies during public hours are rare. Pulling one off inside the Louvre with visitors present ranks among Europe’s most audacious in recent history, and at least since Dresden’s Green Vault museum in 2019. It also collides with a deeper tension the Louvre has struggled to resolve: swelling crowds and stretched staff. The museum delayed opening during a June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight routes and visitor flows meet. Security around marquee works remains tight — the Mona Lisa sits behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled case — but Sunday’s theft also underscored that protections are not uniformly as robust across the museum’s more than 33,000 objects. The theft is a fresh embarrassment for a museum already under scrutiny. “How can they ride a lift to a window and take jewels in the middle of the day?” said Magali Cunel, a French teacher from near Lyon. “It’s just unbelievable that a museum this famous can have such obvious security gaps.” The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence. Another notorious episode came in 1956, when a visitor hurled a stone at her world-famous smile, chipping paint near her left elbow and hastening the move to display the work behind protective glass. Today the former royal palace holds a roll call of civilization: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa; the armless serenity of the Venus de Milo; the Winged Victory of Samothrace, wind-lashed on the Daru staircase; the Code of Hammurabi’s carved laws; Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People; Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. The objects — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to Europe’s masters — draw a daily tide of up to 30,000 visitors even as investigators now begin to sweep those gilded corridors for clues. Politics at the door The heist spilled instantly into politics. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella used it to attack President Emmanuel Macron, weakened at home and facing a fractured parliament. “The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture,” Bardella wrote on X. “This robbery, which allowed thieves to steal jewels from the French Crown, is an unbearable humiliation for our country. How far will the decay of the state go?” The criticism lands as Macron touts a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan — about €700 million ($760 million) to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031. For workers on the floor, the relief has felt slower than the pressure. What we know — and don't Forensic teams are examining the site of the crime and adjoining access points while a full inventory is taken, authorities said. Officials have described the haul as of “inestimable” historical value. Recovery may prove difficult. “It’s unlikely these jewels will ever be seen again,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, effectively erasing their provenance.” Key questions still unanswered are how many people took part in the theft and whether they had inside assistance, authorities said. According to French media, there were four perpetrators: two dressed as construction workers in yellow safety vests on the lift, and two each on a scooter. French authorities did not immediately comment on this. Investigators are reviewing CCTV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the basket lift used to reach the gallery and interviewing staff who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.

Amid the joy of being released after 20 months of suffering in Israeli prisons, Mohammed Abu Moussa could tell something was wrong. Descending from the bus that brought him and other released Palestinian detainees to Gaza last week, the 45-year-old medical technician was reunited with his wife and two young children. But when he asked about his mother, his brother wouldn’t look him the eye. Finally they sat him down and told him: His mother, his younger sister Aya, Aya’s children and his aunt and uncle had all been killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit their shelter in central Gaza in July. More than 1,800 Palestinians seized from Gaza by Israeli troops during the two-year war were freed this week under the ceasefire deal that brought Hamas' release of the last living hostages. Israel also freed around 250 Palestinian prisoners convicted over the past decades, who mainly returned to the occupied West Bank or were exiled abroad, though a few were sent to Gaza. Those released back to Gaza were met by the shock of how their homeland had been destroyed and families shattered by Israeli bombardment and offensives while they were locked away, with little news of the war. Recounting his return, Abou Moussa said the grief hit even before the freed detainees got off the bus on Monday. Some shouted out the bus windows to people they knew in the cheering crowd welcoming them and asked about brothers, mothers and fathers. Often, he said, their reply was terse: “God rest their souls.” Taken as his family fled Abu Moussa suffered his first loss soon after Israel launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the militants' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Eight days later, an airstrike hit his family’s home in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, while he was on duty in Nasser Hospital, where he worked as a radiology technician. Video circulating online at the time showed him and his wife, Rawan Salha, rushing around the hospital in search of their son, Youssef, among the casualties. “He’s 7 years old, curly hair, fair-skinned and beautiful,” Salha cried. The boy had been brought in dead. Also killed in the strike were the wife of one of Abu Moussa’s brothers and their two children. In the next months, Abu Moussa worked constantly as wounded flowed into the hospital, where Salha and his two surviving children were also sheltering along with hundreds of others driven from their homes. In February 2024, Israeli forces surrounded the hospital, preparing to storm the facility to search for suspected militants. They demanded everybody leave but staff and patients too critical to move. But Salha refused to leave without Abu Moussa, he said. So they set out walking with their children. At a nearby Israeli military checkpoint, Abu Moussa was called aside with others for interrogation in a nearby stadium. It was the start of his long separation from his family. Abuse in prisons Abu Moussa says his months in Israeli prisons were filled with abuse. Like the other detainees released back to Gaza on Monday, he was never charged. It began in the stadium, where he said he was beaten with sticks and fists during interrogation. All those taken from the checkpoint were kept with their hands bound in zip ties for three days, given no water and not allowed to use a bathroom. “Almost all of us soiled ourselves,” Abu Moussa said. He was taken to Sde Teiman, a military prison camp inside Israel, where he would be held two months. Every day, he said, detainees were forced to kneel for hours without moving – “it’s exhausting, you feel your back is broken,” he said. Guards would pull some aside for beatings, said Abu Moussa, adding that his rib was broken in one beating. He was moved to Negev Prison, run by civilian authorities. There, he said, beatings were less frequent, taking place mainly when guards conducted weekly searches of the cells, he said. But conditions were harsh, he said. Nearly all the detainees had scabies, an infestation by mites that dig into the skin. “People were rubbing themselves up against the walls trying to get rid of the itching,” he said. Despite requests, prison officials did not give detainees creams to treat it until a few weeks before his release, he said. Bedding was filthy, and detainees were allowed no change of clothes. Cuts often became infected, he said. When they washed their one set of clothing, they had to strip naked and wrap themselves in a blanket – but if guards saw, “they took away the blanket and made you sleep without it,” he said. Sick detainees or those with chronic conditions asked for medicines but were refused, he said. One man, Mohammed al-Astal, suffered a colon blockage that worsened and he eventually died, Abu Moussa said. “They treated us like animals,” he said. Asked about Abou Moussa’s account, the Israeli Prison Service, which operates Negev Prison, said it was not aware of it. It said it operates in accordance with the law and that prisoners’ rights to medical care and proper living conditions are upheld. Also in response, the military denied systematic abuse takes place in its facilities and said it acts in accordance with Israeli and international law. It said it investigates any concrete complaints. Abu Moussa’s account mirrors those of many previously released Palestinians. At least 75 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons and detention facilities during the war, the U.N. said in a report last month, saying conditions in the facilities amounted to torture that contributed to deaths. One 17-year-old Palestinian who died in prison in March was found to have wasted away from starvation and had colon inflammation and scabies, according to an Israeli doctor who observed the autopsy. Returning to devastation Crossing the border from Israel into Gaza after the release, “the first shock was the destruction,” Abu Moussa said. His home city of Khan Younis was unrecognizable. Entire neighborhoods were razed. He and his fellow passengers searched for landmarks among the shattered buildings. The buses pulled into Nasser Hospital, where the crowd awaited them. Panicked at not seeing them in the crowd, Abu Moussa asked a hospital co-worker where his wife and children were. He assured him they were inside, waiting. He asked one of his brothers about his mother. The brother couldn't look Abu Moussa in the eye, saying only, “She’s coming.” “He wasn't being straight with me,” Abu Moussa said. After being reunited with his wife and children, he asked again about his mother and his sister, Aya. Finally, they told him. Recounting what happened, Abu Moussa fell silent for long moments, overcome with emotion. His voice breaking with tears, he recalled how his mother had always been strong, refusing to cry after one of his brothers was killed during the 2009 Israel-Hamas war. “She always kept a grip on herself, so we all wouldn’t weaken,” he said. He wondered if the joy would have broken his mother's reserve if she’d be able to see him return from his imprisonment. “I miss her. I want to see her,” he cried. “I want to kiss her hand, her head.”

China on Sunday accused the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of carrying out cyberattacks on its National Time Service Center, warning that any damage to the facility could have disrupted network communications, financial systems, and power supply. The Ministry of State Security alleged in a WeChat post that the U.S. agency exploited vulnerabilities in the messaging services of a foreign mobile phone brand in 2022 to steal sensitive information from devices belonging to staff at the National Time Service Center. The ministry did not disclose the brand. It further claimed that between 2023 and 2024, the NSA used 42 types of “special cyberattack weapons” to target multiple internal networks of the center and attempted to infiltrate a key timing system. While the ministry said it had evidence, it did not provide details in the statement. The National Time Service Center is responsible for generating and distributing China’s standard time and provides timing services to critical sectors including communications, finance, power, transport, and defense. Chinese authorities said they had issued guidance to the center to mitigate the risks. “The U.S. repeatedly accuses others of what it does itself and continues to hype claims about Chinese cyber threats,” the ministry said. In recent years, Western governments have alleged that hackers linked to the Chinese government targeted officials, journalists, and corporations. China’s latest statement could further escalate tensions between Washington and Beijing, which are already strained over trade, technology, and Taiwan. The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Source: AP

A severe funding gap is threatening to undermine UN peacekeeping operations globally, with the Organization warning that delayed payments from Member States could force it to scale back patrols, close field offices, and repatriate thousands of ‘blue helmets.’ The crisis, which UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix described as “more daunting than ever,” stems from partial non-payment of assessed contributions—the mandatory dues Member States provide to fund UN operations in some of the world’s most volatile regions—which are currently well below the approved 2025-26 budget, according to UN. Addressing defence officials and diplomats at a peacekeeping conference in New Delhi this week, Lacroix said: “Unfortunately, we have no other option.” “Our peacekeepers, your peacekeepers, protect people – they make the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of civilians,” he added. Deep cuts across missions The UN Secretary-General has instructed all missions to identify expenditure reductions equal to 15 per cent of their annual budgets. Due to the compressed timeframe, this is expected to result in roughly a 25 per cent cut in both uniformed and civilian personnel. UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move Every key area of peacekeeping work will be affected, including patrols, protection duties, logistics, air operations, and civilian support functions. The Department of Peace Operations (DPO) warned that fewer peacekeepers on the ground will mean fewer patrols to monitor ceasefires, fewer safe zones for civilians, and reduced humanitarian assistance in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Lebanon, and the Golan Heights. Call for solidarity Lacroix urged all Member States to pay their contributions “in full and on time” and called for collective efforts to counter what he described as “campaigns that spread mis and disinformation about peacekeeping operations.”“We need your understanding and support, but we also need to work together to redress this situation,” he said. UN Secretary-General António Guterres made a similar appeal last week to troop- and police-contributing countries, stressing that without predictable, sufficient, and timely funding, peacekeeping cannot fulfil its Security Council mandates. Budget pressures The General Assembly approved a $5.38 billion peacekeeping budget for 2025-26 in July, slightly lower than the previous year’s $5.6 billion, covering missions and global support centres in Entebbe, Uganda, and Brindisi, Italy. However, its implementation depends on actual contributions received. UN Security Council voices 'strong concern' for UN peacekeepers after Israeli attacks Although peacekeeping accounts for less than half a per cent of global military spending—estimated at $2.7 trillion in 2024—it remains one of the UN’s most critical tools for maintaining international peace and security. “Some people ask why the peacekeeping missions are still needed,” Colin Stewart, former head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), told UN News shortly before retiring. “The answer is simple – it’s peaceful because the missions have been doing their job. Without it, the mistrust between the sides could easily spiral into confrontation.” A pivotal moment Since 1948, over two million blue helmets from Member States have served in hostile environments, supporting ceasefires and enabling political dialogue and peace processes. More than 4,400 peacekeepers have lost their lives in pursuit of lasting peace. As the UN celebrates its 80th anniversary, Lacroix said the Organization faces “a pivotal juncture” and must adapt its peace operations to evolving global realities. “The challenges ahead are real,” he cautioned, “but so is our capacity to meet them – if we stay united in purpose, pragmatic in action and unwavering in our commitment to peace.” The Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Bangladesh Police have actively participated in United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO) since 1988, with Bangladesh currently the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping missions as of 2024.

Afghanistan and Pakistan, which have been engaged in over a week of fierce border clashes that left dozens dead and hundreds wounded, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday. It marks the worst confrontation between the two neighbours in years. According to a Qatari statement, both sides also agreed to form mechanisms to promote lasting peace and stability and will hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the truce endures. The negotiations were mediated by Qatar and Turkey. Tensions flared earlier this month, with each country accusing the other of cross-border aggression. Afghanistan has rejected Pakistan’s claim that it shelters militants who stage attacks along the frontier. Pakistan has been facing a growing wave of militancy since 2021, when the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. The recent fighting raised fears of further instability in a region where extremist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida have been attempting to reemerge. A temporary 48-hour ceasefire expired Friday evening, and hours later Pakistan launched strikes across the border. Afghan, Pakistani officials meet in Doha to address border violence Pakistani security officials told the Associated Press that the military targeted militant hideouts in two districts of Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, identifying them as bases of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group. The strikes were described as retaliation for a suicide bombing at a security compound in Mir Ali, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the day before. Officials said the air raids killed dozens of militants without civilian casualties. However, Afghan authorities reported at least 10 civilian deaths, including women, children, and several young cricketers who had been playing nearby. In response, Afghanistan’s cricket board announced a boycott of its upcoming series in Pakistan. The International Cricket Council said it was “saddened and appalled by the tragic deaths of three young and promising Afghan players.” Thousands of people attended funeral prayers for the victims in Paktika on Saturday, where clerics denounced the attacks over loudspeakers. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned what he called Pakistan’s “repeated crimes and violations of Afghanistan’s sovereignty,” describing them as deliberate provocations aimed at prolonging hostilities. The two nations share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) frontier known as the Durand Line, which Afghanistan has never officially recognized. Pakistan, meanwhile, has accused India of supporting armed groups inside its territory — a charge New Delhi denies. Afghan police accuse Pakistan of cross-border strikes after ceasefire ends Addressing cadets at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir urged Afghanistan to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism,” while calling on the Taliban to rein in militants operating from Afghan soil. High-level delegations from both countries took part in the Doha negotiations that led to Sunday’s ceasefire announcement. Source: AP 

Maria worked cleaning schools in Florida for $13 an hour. Every two weeks, she’d get a $900 paycheck from her employer, a contractor. Not much — but enough to cover rent in the house that she and her 11-year-old son share with five families, plus electricity, a cellphone and groceries. In August, it all ended. When she showed up at the job one morning, her boss told her that she couldn’t work there anymore. The Trump administration had terminated President Joe Biden’s humanitarian parole program, which provided legal work permits for Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans as well as Nicaraguans like Maria. “I feel desperate,’’ said Maria, 48, who requested anonymity to talk about her ordeal because she fears being detained and deported. “I don’t have any money to buy anything. I have $5 in my account. I’m left with nothing.’’ President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration is throwing foreigners like Maria out of work and shaking the American economy and job market. And it's happening at a time when hiring is already deteriorating amid uncertainty over Trump's erratic trade policies. Immigrants do jobs — cleaning houses, picking tomatoes, painting fences — that most native-born Americans won’t, and for less money. But they also bring the technical skills and entrepreneurial energy that have helped make the United States the world’s economic superpower. Trump is attacking immigration at both ends of spectrum, deporting low-wage labourers and discouraging skilled foreigners from bringing their talents to the United States. And he is targeting an influx of foreign workers that eased labour shortages and upward pressure on wages and prices at a time when most economists thought that taming inflation would require sky-high interest rates and a recession — a fate the United States escaped in 2023 and 2024. “Immigrants are good for the economy,'' said Lee Branstetter, an economist at Carnegie-Mellon University. "Because we had a lot of immigration over the past five years, an inflationary surge was not as bad as many people expected.'' More workers filling more jobs and spending more money has also helped drive economic growth and create still-more job openings. Economists fear that Trump's deportations and limits on even legal immigration will do the reverse. In a July report, researchers Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson of the centrist Brookings Institution and Stan Veuger of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute calculated that the loss of foreign workers will mean that monthly U.S. job growth “could be near zero or negative in the next few years.’’ Hiring has already slowed significantly, averaging a meager 29,000 a month from June through August. (The September jobs report has been delayed by the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.) During the post-pandemic hiring boom of 2021-2023, by contrast, employers added a stunning 400,000 jobs a month. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, citing fallout Trump's immigration and trade policies, downgraded its forecast for U.S. economic growth this year to 1.4% from the 1.9% it had previously expected and from 2.5% in 2024. ‘We need these people’ Goodwin Living, an Alexandria, Virginia nonprofit that provides senior housing, health care and hospice services, had to lay off four employees from Haiti after the Trump administration terminated their work permits. The Haitians had been allowed to work under a humanitarian parole program and had earned promotions at Goodwin. “That was a very, very difficult day for us,” CEO Rob Liebreich said. “It was really unfortunate to have to say goodbye to them, and we’re still struggling to fill those roles.’’ Liebreich is worried that another 60 immigrant workers could lose their temporary legal right to live and work in the United States. “We need all those hands,’’ he said. “We need all these people.” Goodwin Living has 1,500 employees, 60% of them from foreign countries. It has struggled to find enough nurses, therapists and maintenance staff. Trump’s immigration crackdown, Liebreich said, is “making it harder.’’ The ICE crackdown Trump’s immigration ambitions, intended to turn back what he calls an "invasion'' at America's southern border and secure jobs for U.S.-born workers, were once viewed with skepticism because of the money and economic disruption required to reach his goal of deporting 1 million people a year. But legislation that Trump signed into law July 4 — and which Republicans call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — suddenly made his plans plausible. The law pours $150 billion into immigration enforcement, setting aside $46.5 billion to hire 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and $45 billion to increase the capacity of immigrant detention centers. And his empowered ICE agents have shown a willingness to move fast and break things — even when their aggression conflicts with other administration goals. Last month, immigration authorities raided a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, detained 300 South Korean workers and showed video of some of them shackled in chains. They’d been working to get the plant up and running, bringing expertise in battery technology and Hyundai procedures that local American workers didn’t have. The incident enraged the South Koreans and ran counter to Trump’s push to lure foreign manufacturers to invest in America. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country’s other companies might be reluctant about betting on America if their workers couldn’t get visas promptly and risked getting detained. Sending Medicaid recipients to the fields America’s farmers are among the president’s most dependable supporters. But John Boyd Jr., who farms 1,300 acres of soybeans, wheat and corn in southern Virginia, said that the immigration raids — and the threat of them — are hurting farmers already contending with low crop prices, high costs and fallout from Trump’s trade war with China, which has stopped buying U.S. soybeans and sorghum. “You got ICE out here, herding these people up,’’ said Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmers Association . “(Trump) says they’re murderers and thieves and drug dealers, all this stuff. But these are people who are in this country doing hard work that many Americans don’t want to do.’’ Boyd scoffed at U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ suggestion in July that U.S.-born Medicaid recipients could head to the fields to  meet work requirements imposed this summer by the Republican Congress. “People in the city aren’t coming back to the farm to do this kind of work,’’ he said. “It takes a certain type of person to bend over in 100-degree heat.’’ The Trump administration itself admits that the immigration crackdown is causing labour shortages on the farm that could translate into higher prices at the supermarket. “The near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens combined with the lack of an available legal workforce,’’ the Labour Department said in an Oct. 2 filing the Federal Register, “results in significant disruptions to production costs and (threatens) the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S consumers.’’ "You're not welcome here'' Jed Kolko of the Peterson Institute for International Economics said that job growth is slowing in businesses that rely on immigrants. Construction companies, for instance, have shed 10,000 jobs since May. “Those are the short-term effects,’’ said Kolko, a Commerce Department official in the Biden administration. “The longer-term effects are more serious because immigrants traditionally have contributed more than their share of patents, innovation, productivity.’’ Especially worrisome to many economists was Trump’s sudden announcement last month that he was raising the fee on H-1B visas, meant to lure hard-to-find skilled foreign workers to the United States, from as little as $215 to $100,000. “A $100,000 visa fee is not just a bureaucratic cost — it’s a signal," Dany Bahar, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said. "It tells global talent: ‘You are not welcome here.’’’ Some are already packing up. In Washington D.C., one H-1B visa holder, a Harvard graduate from India who works for a nonprofit helping Africa's poor, said Trump's signal to employers is clear: Think twice about hiring H-1B visa holders. The man, who requested anonymity, is already preparing paperwork to move to the United Kingdom. “The damage is already done, unfortunately,’’ he said.