Newsletter Archive

A powerful suicide blast in a Pakistani hospital complex killed more than 60 people and wounded at least 160 others Monday, according to police and witnesses. Most of the bombing’s victims are attorneys who’d gathered in the southwestern city of Quetta to mourn and protest the death of their provincial bar association’s president. A Taliban splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, has claimed responsibility for both incidents. The United States designated it as a global terrorist organization last week.

Pakistan’s government says it’s beefing up its counterterrorism policies and proposing tougher laws. But as the Quetta bombing indicates, it will take a concerted effort to halt the carnage, analysts tell VOA. A Woodrow Wilson Center researcher blames the militant extremism on what he sees as Islamabad’s refusal “to crack down on all forms of terrorism and all forms of terrorist groups.”

Is he tiring of the throne? Japan’s Emperor Akihito has ruled since succeeding his dad in 1989. But in a rare televised address to his nation Monday, the 82-year-old told the public he worries “that it may become difficult for me to carry out my duties” because of gradually declining fitness. Akihito can’t abdicate, and he stopped short of calling for a change in parliamentary law because he doesn’t want to be seen as interfering in national politics. Opinion polls show at least 80 percent of Japanese people support changing the law.

Never mind the competition in Rio: Just finding contenders to represent Somalia requires an Olympian effort. The long-running civil war has crippled the country’s infrastructure and driven off potential athletes, says Fadumo Ali Nur, who leads a delegation of eight, including two athletes. Others “run away from the country and they’re spread all over the world,” she says. Running on behalf of Somalia: Maryam Nuh Muse, 19, competing in the women’s 400-meter event, and Mohamed Daud Mohamed, 20, racing in the men’s 5,000 meters. They hope to do as well as Mogadishu-born track star Mohamed Farah, who has won gold medals for his adopted homeland, Britain.

Stop puzzling over those circular discolorations on some Olympic athletes. The marks result from “cupping,” in which air is suctioned from cups placed on flesh. Some athletes swear the technique eases pain by increasing blood flow to the suction points, typically over aching muscles. The practice dates to ancient Egypt. Hey, it’s less mysterious than those crop circles in the U.S. Plains states.

Counterterrorism authorities are uncovering loosely knit networks of potentially threatening individuals, as illustrated by last week’s arrest of a Washington-area Metro subway police officer charged with trying to provide material support to the Islamic State group. But authorities face a daunting task: Dismantling a single terror network isn’t enough. Experts point out that social media can connect would-be terrorists and that their connections and affiliations often span ideological differences.

No matter their race or ethnicity, most young Americans worry about violence inspired by foreign extremists. But young people of color, especially African-Americans, are at least as fearful of white extremists operating on domestic soil. That’s among the findings of a new GenForward survey, based on a sample of more than 1,750 people ages 18 to 30.