Author: Homer Ball

Last year, a 15-year-old girl in Nisikhola Rural Municipality, Baglung, married without parental consent and is now pregnant at 16. Four other girls aged 16 and 17 in the same ward also married, with three expecting babies. Child marriage remains widespread in this rural hill district. Nepal’s Civil Code sets the marriage age at 20, and child marriage has been illegal since 1963. Despite penalties under the Criminal Code, enforcement is weak, and the practice persists in remote areas, often punishing victims rather than preventing the crime. Many underage girls lack awareness of health risks and legal protections. Local health…

For the first time, France has included the Philippines in its annual Indo-Pacific air force mission. A contingent of French aircraft will stop at Clark Airbase, located 93 kilometers northwest of Manila, during this year’s Pegase mission. The Pegase 24 mission will be based at Clark Airbase, used by the US military until 1991. It will consist of two Rafale multi-role fighters, an A400M tactical lift aircraft, and an A330 aerial refueling and military transport aircraft. “During the stopover, bilateral activities are expected to help build the foundations of air-to-air cooperation between the two countries,” the Philippines’ Department of National Defense stated on…

New York. (11 June – 31) US federal agents have arrested eight Tajikistan nationals in the US on terrorism charges. The arrests, carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spanned across Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. These actions coincide with recent alerts from US intelligence officials about a terrorist plot. ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is designated as a terrorist organization by numerous countries and international organizations, including the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union. The ability to surveillance certain foreign targets has been a subject of intense debate in Congress,…

SINGAPORE: The decrease in Malaysian civil servants convicted in corruption cases in recent years shows there is integrity in their work culture, said the country’s top bureaucrat, tackling the view that corruption is rife in its ranks. Mr Mohd Zuki Ali, chief secretary to the federal government, said the number of corruption-related convictions among civil servants since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has been declining. There were 74 convictions in corruption cases out of 1.48 million civil servants in 2020. The number dropped to 70 the following year, and fell to 21 in 2022, Mr Zuki said in a…

The Somali government has admitted that rations for the elite Somali soldiers trained by the United States have been diverted within a unit of its forces. In a statement issued late Thursday, the government said it had conducted an investigation, which resulted in the suspension and detention of officers. The number and identity of the officers suspended and detained have not been disclosed. “The Somali National Armed Forces over the past few years have enhanced their accountability measures in line with its reform agenda,” the statement read. “During these investigations the Somali National Armed Forces have reported a diversion of…

Jeff Roe, the top strategist for the super PAC behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign, announced his resignation Saturday. Why it matters: Roe’s departure marks the latest in a slew of staffing distractions for Never Back Down and comes just weeks before the pivotal Iowa caucuses. Details: The Washington Post, which first reported Roe’s resignation, had published a piece earlier on Saturday detailing some of the tensions and disputes between Never Back Down and DeSantis’ campaign. Roe said in his post that he “cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down given the statements in the Washington Post today.” Zoom out: Roe joins the…

A Senate staffer is out of a job after the publication of a video appearing to show two men having sex in a Senate hearing room. Police are “looking into” the video, which was obtained and published by the Daily Caller. CNN has not independently obtained the video nor confirmed the identity of those purportedly involved. The Daily Caller reported the staffer worked for Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin’s office. CNN reached out to Cardin’s office and was directed to a statement posted by Aidan Maese-Czeropski on LinkedIn. In the statement, Maese-Czeropski said, in part, “This has been a difficult time for…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned there will be “problems” with neighboring Finland after it joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) earlier this year. Finland’s ascension to NATO marked a major shift in the security landscape in northern Europe, and added some 1,300 kilometers (830 miles) to the alliance’s frontier with Russia. It was also a blow for President Putin, who has long warned against NATO expansion. “They (the West) took Finland and dragged it into NATO! Why, did we have any disputes with Finland? All disputes, including those of a territorial nature in the middle of the 20th Century, have all been…

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ latest bankruptcy plan would pay Sandy Hook families a minimum total of $55 million over 10 years, a fraction of the nearly $1.5 billion awarded to the relatives in lawsuits against Jones for calling the 2012 Newtown school shooting a hoax. The families, meanwhile, have filed their own proposal seeking to liquidate nearly all of Jones’ assets, including his media company Free Speech Systems, and give the proceeds to them and other creditors. The dueling plans, filed late Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, will be debated and challenged over the next two months, with hearings scheduled for February…

China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — backing and often building some 21,000 infrastructure projects around the world — is widely considered to be the centerpiece of President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy. Often compared to the US Marshall Plan for Europe after World War II, Beijing has made more than $1.3 trillion (€1.2 trillion) in loans over the past decade or so to fund the construction of bridges, ports and highways in low and middle-income countries, according to a new report. BRI has helped to restore ancient trading routes between China and the rest of the world, hence the nickname the New Silk Road. It’s…