Newsletter Archive

When a 23-year-old male student called for a mob to attack Gulalai Ismail for allegedly violating the country’s anti-blasphemy laws, the female Pakistani rights activist did something that surprised many people — she fought back. In a move many in Pakistan consider bold and daring, Ismail took legal action against Hamza Khan, who’d posted a video saying Ismail must be ‘eliminated’ to safeguard Islam, which ultimately landed him in jail.

‘Unlikely jihadist.’ A former pot-smoking petty criminal who once ran a bar in Belgium is on trial in Brussels. Salah Abdeslam is being tried for a shootout with police in connection with the November 2015 attacks that targeted bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall, killing 130 people around Paris. His own lawyer refers to the 28-year-old as a ‘little jerk’ with the ‘intelligence of an empty ashtray.’ The trial comes at the time the terror landscape is changing in Europe. With the Islamist State group beaten back in Syria and Iraq, the focus is now on returning radicals.

VIDEO EXPLAINER: ‘The worst of the worst’ is how President Trump has referred to the immigrants who win a chance to come to the US on a Diversity Visa. Established in 1990, the program is also known as the Green Card lottery visa and here’s how it works.

US companies are working on an Afghan coal deal after complaints by President Trump that other countries profit from Afghanistan’s natural resources, while the US spends billions fighting to secure it. Coal isn’t Afghanistan’s most valuable natural resource, but the US companies that do manage to strike a coal deal now would be well-placed to take advantage of future opportunities in Afghanistan involving copper, gold, lithium and rare earth elements.

The best of Haitian fashion was showcased against a lush tropical backdrop during fashion week in Haiti. After President Trump allegedly used a vulgar term to refer to the island nation, the event’s organizer says her main goal was to show Haiti in a positive light.