The Shia cleric especially admires Victor Hugo. He has called Les Miserables the best novel ever written: a miracle; a book of history, criticism, love, and feeling. Its protagonist, Jean Valjean, returns to the righteous path thanks to the forgiveness and compassion of a religious figure: Bishop Myriel. Les Miserables is a tale of piety and redemption.
Once again, blatant lies and exaggerated claims are being propagated to justify the attack. Duplicitous American diplomacy became a fig leaf for premeditated aggression. The cautionary advice of allies was spurned. The UN, international law and public opinion were ignored. Democratic consent is lacking.
Pakistan's military carried out the air raids early on Sunday, targeting what it called camps and hideouts belonging to armed groups behind a spate of recent attacks, including a deadly suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in the capital, Islamabad. The country's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military conducted intelligence-based, selective operations against seven camps belonging to the Pakistan Taliban group, known by the acronym TTP, and its affiliates.
The spokesperson of the Taliban regime in Kabul, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement on social media platform X that the attacks "killed and wounded dozens, including women and children." He called Pakistan's claim of killing 70 militants "inaccurate." Islamabad did not say precisely which areas it targeted or provide additional details. The Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement that "various civilian areas" in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika in eastern Afghanistan were hit, including a religious madrassa and multiple civilian homes.
Pakistan says it has launched strikes on armed groups in Afghanistan after blaming recent suicide bombings, including attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it says are operating from its neighbour's territory. Kabul has repeatedly denied allowing armed groups to use Afghan territory to stage attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence on Sunday said dozens of innocent civilians, including women and children, were martyred and wounded when strikes hit a school and homes in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika.
Pakistan said it carried out cross-border strikes on seven militant sites inside Afghanistan in a "retributive response" to recent suicide attacks claimed by Afghan-backed extremists, as tensions escalated between the two South Asian neighbors. Pakistan "has carried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts," the Information Ministry said early on February 22. Islamabad said it had "conclusive evidence" that recent attacks inside Pakistan were carried out by Afghan-based Pakistani Taliban extremists who were allegedly acting on instructions from "their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers."
Juliana Conceicao startled awake as the first shots of an infamous day were fired in the Complexo da Penha, the labyrinthine Rio favela where she was born and raised. It was 4.30am on 28 October. Thousands of police had surrounded the community's barricaded entrances and were preparing to swarm up its streets on foot and in black armoured personnel carriers with firing ports and bullet-cracked ballistic windows.
Ukrainian officials said at least three people were killed in overnight Russian strikes that targeted residential buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. The February 8 attacks included heavy "glide" bombs, officials said, weapons that Russia has used to devastate both Ukrainian frontline positions as well as residential areas. Nearly 20 people were injured in the early morning attacks, the National Police said. In total, Russia fired more than 400 drones and missile at locations across the country, President Volodymy Zelenskyy said.
In just a few sentences, @TuckerCarlson offers up some of the most venal lies ever spoken about the State of Israel and the Jewish people: 1) tens of thousands of children have NOT been killed in Gaza. Almost half of those killed were Hamas members, many others were adults, and the ratio of civilians to combatants killed is the lowest in the history of urban warfare.
In October, Hamas and Israel signed a peace deal supposedly intended to stop two years of slaughter in Gaza. Since then, more than 420 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire-an average of about four people a day-in what international mediators continue to describe as a successful de-escalation. The distance between that official narrative and the facts on the ground reveals how the language of ceasefire has been repurposed: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it, sanitizing ongoing military force under the guise of restraint.
More than 1,000 residential buildings in Kyiv were without heating on Tuesday after a massive Russian air attack during one of the coldest nights of the winter, with temperatures in the capital falling to -20C. Overnight, the Kremlin fired 450 attack drones and more than 70 missiles across the country. The strikes caused damage in five Kyiv districts and injured at least nine people. Flames consumed an apartment on the upper floors of a Kyiv building.
Live updatesLive updates, Israel carries out deadly attacks in Gaza a day before the Rafah crossing is due to reopen. At least 12 Palestinians, including six children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City and Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to medical sources speaking to Al Jazeera. The violence comes a day before Israel is due to reopen the Rafah crossing, which links Gaza with Egypt, on Sunday for the first time since May 2024.
Russia targeted a passenger train in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine killing five people, authorities said. A Russian drone hit a carriage carrying nearly 200 passengers, Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on social media. The train strike occurred just hours after drones pounded the southern city of Odesa, killing three people and wounding 25 Russia has intensified attacks on energy infrastructure, leaving Ukrainians without power in freezing temperatures.
