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Fresh US cuts to food assistance risk worsening already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, according to the World Food Programme, which warned it can support just half the people in need — and only with half rations.In an interview with AFP, WFP’s acting country director Mutinta Chimuka urged donors to step up to support Afghanistan, which faces the world’s second-largest humanitarian crisis.A third of the population of around 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the brink of famine, the UN says.”With what resources we have now barely eight million people will get assistance across the year and that’s only if we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors,” Chimuka said.The agency already has been “giving a half ration to stretch the resources that we have”, she added.In the coming months, WFP usually would be assisting two million people “to prevent famine, so that’s already a huge number that we’re really worried about”, Chimuka said.Already grappling with a 40 percent drop in funding for this year globally, and seeing a decline in funding for Afghanistan in recent years, WFP has had to split the standard ration — designed to meet the daily minimum recommended 2,100 kilocalories per person.”It’s a basic package, but it’s really life-saving,” said Chimuka. “And we should, as a global community, be able to provide that.”WFP, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the crosshairs of funding cuts by US President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid for three months shortly after his inauguration in January.Emergency food aid was meant to be exempt, but this week WFP said the United States had announced it was cutting emergency food aid for 14 countries, including Afghanistan, amounting to “a death sentence for millions of people” if implemented.Washington quickly backtracked on the cuts for six countries, but Afghanistan — run by Taliban authorities who fought US-led troops for decades — was not one of them. If additional funding doesn’t come through, “Then there’s the possibility that we may have to go to communities and tell them we’re not able to support them. And how do they survive?”She highlighted the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country, one of the world’s poorest where thousands of Afghans are currently being repatriated from Pakistan, many without most of their belongings or homes to go to.- ‘Vicious cycle’ -The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, this week urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, saying 22.9 million needed assistance this year.”If we want to help the Afghan people escape the vicious cycle of poverty and suffering, we must continue to have the means to address urgent needs while simultaneously laying the groundwork for long-term resilience and stability,” said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, in a statement. The statement warned that lack of international aid in Afghanistan could lead to increased migration and strain on the broader region.The call for funding comes as other countries including Germany and Britain have also made large cuts to overseas aid. But the Trump administration cut has been the deepest. The United Sates was traditionally the world’s largest donor, with the biggest portion in Afghanistan — $280 million — going to WFP last fiscal year, according to US State Department figures.But other UN agencies, as well as local and international NGOs are being squeezed or having to shut down completely, straining the network of organisations providing aid in Afghanistan.The Trump administration also ended two programmes — one in Afghanistan — with the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health, the agency said Monday. And other organisations working on agriculture — on which some 80 percent of Afghans depend to survive — and malnutrition are impacted. “We all need to work together,” said Chimuka. “And if all of us are cut at the knees… it doesn’t work.”

The search for two missing Nepali climbers has been called off, the expedition organiser said Saturday, five days after they were swept away by a powerful avalanche on Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest mountain.The 8,091-metre (26,545-foot) Annapurna is a dangerous and difficult climb, and the avalanche-prone Himalayan peak has a higher death rate than Everest.Two experienced mountain guides, Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Rima Rinje Sherpa, were ferrying oxygen cylinders for a later summit push when a huge avalanche swept down on Monday.”The search has been called off. We tried to search for them from the ground and through aerial searches but could not find them,” Mingma Sherpa, chairman of the Seven Summit Treks expedition company, told AFP.Two helicopters and five climbers were deployed in the operation. “It is no longer possible for anyone to survive under such snow and ice, and continuing the search would endanger more lives,” Seven Summit Treks posted on Instagram late Friday, announcing the suspension.”We have lost two of our finest guides.”Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are typically calm.Nearly 500 climbers have been issued permits for the season, including 66 for Annapurna.Avalanches and landslides are common in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, especially during the winter season. Scientists have said that climate change spurred by humans burning fossil fuels is making weather events more severe, super-charged by warmer oceans.

President Donald Trump insisted Friday that his tariff policy was “doing really well” despite China hiking levies on US goods to 125 percent in the spiraling trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.Investors dumped US government bonds, the dollar tumbled and stocks seesawed after Beijing’s retaliation against Trump deepened concerns on already traumatized global markets.Trump sent financial markets into a tailspin by announcing sweeping import taxes on dozens of trade partners last week, only to abruptly roll them back to 10 percent on Wednesday for 90 days — while raising levies on goods from China.”We are doing really well on our tariff policy,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network after China announced its latest hike.”Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly,” he wrote.The White House said later that Trump remained “optimistic” about a deal with China, and added that 15 other countries have offers “on the table” during his 90-day pause in their tariffs.But Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that “the president made it very clear, when the United States is punched he will punch back harder.”The US and Beijing have been trading salvos of increasingly harsh tariffs since last week.Chinese President Xi Jinping gave his first major comments on the tensions on Friday, with state media quoting him as saying his country was “not afraid.”Xi also said the European Union and China should “jointly resist unilateral bullying practices” during talks with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.- ‘Numbers game’ -Beijing announced after Xi’s comments that new tariffs of 125 percent on US goods would take effect Saturday — almost matching the staggering 145 percent level imposed on Chinese goods coming into America.A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson said the United States bore full responsibility, deriding Trump’s tariffs as a “numbers game” that “will become a joke.”But China’s finance ministry said tariffs would not go any higher in an acknowledgement that almost no imports are possible at the new level.Trump had reiterated on Thursday that he was looking to do a deal with Xi despite the mounting tensions.”He’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time. I think that we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries,” he told reporters.But American officials have made it clear they expect Xi to reach out first.Pressure was growing on Trump, however, as markets continued to fret.As investors fled the dollar, which is typically considered a key haven currency, Trump attempted to squelch fears on Friday.”We’re the currency of choice. We’re always going to be… I think the dollar is tremendous,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, after the dollar plunged to its lowest level against the euro in more than three years.Meanwhile yields on crucial US government bonds, which are normally seen as a financial refuge, were up again Friday, indicating weaker demand as investors take fright.The White House said however that it had no evidence to support speculation by traders that China was offloading some of its vast holdings — which would increase the cost of borrowing for the US government — in retaliation.Wall Street stocks finished higher Friday, concluding a rollercoaster week on a positive note amid hopes that the market has absorbed the worst headlines about trade conflicts.Policymakers at the US Federal Reserve meanwhile warned of higher inflation and slower growth ahead due to Trump’s tariff policy.- ‘Countermeasures’ -Economists warn that the disruption in trade between the tightly integrated US and Chinese economies will increase prices for consumers and could spark a global recession.Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst at Swissquote bank, told AFP the tariff figures were “so high that they don’t make sense anymore,” but said China was “now ready to go as far as needed.”The rest of the world is still calibrating its response.Trump on Thursday described the European Union — which was originally hit with 20 percent tariffs by Trump — as “very smart” for refraining from retaliatory levies.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will hold talks in Washington on Monday.But the 27-nation bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times it remained armed with a “wide range of countermeasures” including a possible hit on digital services that would strike US tech firms.

President Donald Trump pledged Friday that his tariff policy is working and will benefit the United States and the world, despite China hiking tariffs on US goods to 125 percent in a deepening trade war.Traumatized stock markets seesawed, the dollar tumbled and US government bonds faced renewed pressure after Beijing’s retaliation intensified the confrontation between the world’s two biggest economies.In a message Friday on social media, Trump continued to insist that “we are doing really well on our tariff policy.” “Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly,” he wrote.Trump sent global financial markets into a tailspin by announcing sweeping import taxes on dozens of countries last week, only to abruptly roll them back to 10 percent on Wednesday — although hiking them for China.But the subsequent bounce in the markets has faded with the realization that the Washington-Beijing trade war is still spiraling.Chinese President Xi Jinping gave his first major comments on the tensions on Friday, with state media quoting him as saying his country was “not afraid.”Xi also said the European Union and China should “jointly resist unilateral bullying practices” during talks with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.- ‘Numbers game’ -Then, Beijing announced that new tariffs of 125 percent on US goods would take effect Saturday — almost matching the staggering 145 percent level imposed on Chinese goods coming into America.A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson said the United States bore full responsibility, deriding Trump’s tariffs as a “numbers game” that “will become a joke.”But China’s finance ministry said tariffs would not go any higher in an acknowledgement that almost no imports are possible at the new level.Trump had reiterated on Thursday that he was looking to do a deal with Xi despite the mounting tensions.”He’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time. I think that we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries,” he told reporters.But US officials have made it clear they expect Xi to reach out first.Pressure was growing on Trump, however, as markets continued to fret.Yields on crucial US government bonds, which are normally seen as a safe haven, were up again Friday, indicating weaker demand as investors take fright.Trump admitted he had been watching people get “queasy” over the bond market before making his stunning tariffs backtrack.Some traders speculated that China was offloading some of its vast holdings — which increase the cost of borrowing for the US government — in retaliation for Trump’s measures.In a further sign of investor worry, the dollar fell to a three-year low against the euro and prices of gold, another safe haven, surged.Policymakers at the US Federal Reserve meanwhile warned of higher inflation and slower growth ahead due to Trump’s tariff policy.- ‘Countermeasures’ -Economists warn that the disruption in trade between the tightly integrated US and Chinese economies will increase prices for consumers and could spark a global recession.Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst at Swissquote bank, told AFP the tariff figures were “so high that they don’t make sense any more,” but said China was “now ready to go as far as needed.”The rest of the world is still calibrating its response.Trump on Thursday described the European Union — which was originally hit with 20 percent tariffs by Trump — as “very smart” for refraining from retaliatory levies.Top EU officials and Chinese leaders are set to hold their next summit marking 50 years of ties in China in July, Brussels announced. EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will meanwhile hold talks in Washington on Monday.But the 27-nation bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times on Friday that it remained armed with a “wide range of countermeasures” including a possible hit on digital services that would strike US tech firms.

China said Friday it would raise its tariffs on US goods to 125 percent in a further escalation of a trade war that threatens to bring exports to a halt between the world’s two biggest economies.Beijing’s retaliation sparked fresh market volatility, with European stocks seesawing following the announcement while Tokyo and Seoul closed in the red.In a sign of investors’ worries about the health of the US economy under President Trump’s erratic stewardship, the dollar fell to a three-year low against the euro and by 1.3 percent against the yen.In Beijing, China’s State Council Tariff Commission said new tariffs of 125 percent on US goods would take effect Saturday, almost matching the staggering 145 percent level imposed on Chinese goods coming into America.A Commerce Ministry spokesperson said the United States bore “full responsibility for this”, deriding Trump’s tariffs as a “numbers game” that “will become a joke”.The Chinese finance ministry said tariffs would not go any higher because “there is no possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China” — an acknowledgement that almost no imports are possible at the new level.Beijing also said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization over the latest round of levies announced by Trump.Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned “unilateral bullying”.While the superpowers clash, the EU said its trade chief Maros Sefcovic would hold talks with US counterparts in Washington on Monday to resolve their own tariffs spat.Sefcovic is travelling “in good faith to try and find solutions that can benefit us all,” EU trade spokesperson Olof Gill said.- ‘Beautiful thing’ -Trump sent global financial markets into a tailspin by announcing historic tariffs on America’s trading partners on April 2, including a 10-percent baseline for all goods coming into the United States.After days of plunging markets, on Wednesday he froze the higher tariff rates of 20 percent or more imposed on allies such as the European Union or Japan, but kept an additional rate of 34 percent on China.Beijing has since retaliated, leading to tit-for-tat increases over the past few days that culminated in Friday’s latest move. Trump acknowledged “a transition cost and transition problems” on Thursday, while insisting “in the end it’s going to be a beautiful thing.” Speaking to reporters, he said he had respect for Xi and was hoping for a deal.”He’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time. I think that we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries,” he said.Economists warn that the disruption in trade between the tightly integrated US and Chinese economies threatens businesses, will increase prices for consumers, and could cause a global recession.Trump described the European Union as “very smart” to refrain from retaliatory levies. But the 27-nation bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times on Friday that it remained armed with a “wide range of countermeasures” if negotiations with Trump hit the skids.”An example is you could put a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services” applying across the bloc, she said.- European response -During talks with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday, state media quoted Xi as saying Friday that China and the EU should team up on trade.”China and Europe should fulfil their international responsibilities… and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,” Xi said.This, he stressed, would not only “safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, but also… safeguard international fairness and justice.”Top EU officials are due to hold their next summit in July.After new falls on Wall Street on Thursday, Asian markets were under pressure again on Friday.Tokyo sank three percent — a day after surging more than nine percent — while Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and others also sagged. European markets opened higher only to fall after China’s retaliation, but they pared down losses later.Gold, a haven in times of uncertainty, hit a new record above $3,200 while investors spooked by Trump’s policies dumped normally rock-solid US Treasuries.”The sugar high from Trump’s tariff pause is fading fast,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”Bottom line: the world’s two largest economies are in a full-blown trade war — and there are no winners.”But US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick boasted on social media Thursday that “the Golden Age is coming. We are committed to protecting our interests, engaging in global negotiations and exploding our economy.”burs-adp/lth

Four men were publicly executed in Afghanistan on Friday, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power.  The executions at sports stadiums in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an AFP tally.Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most carried out publicly in sports stadiums.Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city.”They were made to sit and turn their backs to us. Relatives from the victims’ families stood behind and shot them with a gun,” Mohammad Iqbal Rahimyar, a 48-year-old spectator, told AFP.The men had been “sentenced to retaliatory punishment” for shooting other men, after their cases were “examined very precisely and repeatedly”, the Supreme Court said in a statement.The families of the victims turned down the opportunity to offer the men amnesty, it said.”If the family of the victim had forgiven the men it would be better, otherwise it’s God’s order, and should be implemented,” a 35-year-old man who gave his name as Zabihullah told AFP outside the stadium.Afghans had been invited to “attend the event” in official notices shared widely on Thursday.A third man was executed in Zaranj in Nimroz province and the fourth was in Farah city in the western province of the same name, the Supreme Court said.”It’s good that the Islamic Emirate shows its politics and force. I am very happy with that,” said another 30-year-old spectator named Javid, referring to the Taliban government’s official name.Amnesty International called on the Taliban authorities to halt public executions, which it called a “gross affront to human dignity”.- Eye for an eye -The previous execution was in November 2024, when a convicted murderer was shot three times in the chest by a member of the victim’s family in front of thousands of spectators, including high-ranking Taliban officials, at a stadium in Gardez, the capital of eastern Paktia province.Corporal punishment — mainly flogging — has been common under the Taliban authorities and employed for crimes including theft, adultery and alcohol consumption. However, all execution orders are signed by the Taliban’s reclusive Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who lives in the movement’s heartland of Kandahar.Akhundzada ordered judges in 2022 to fully implement all aspects of the Taliban government’s interpretation of Islamic law — including “eye-for-an-eye” punishments known as “qisas”, allowing for the death penalty in retribution for the crime of murder. Law and order is central to the severe ideology of the Taliban, which emerged from the chaos of a civil war following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989.One of the most infamous images from their first rule depicted the 1999 execution of a woman wearing an all-covering burqa in a Kabul stadium.She had been accused of killing her husband.The United Nations and rights groups such as Amnesty have condemned the Taliban government’s use of corporal punishment and the death penalty.Amnesty included Afghanistan in countries where “death sentences were known to have been imposed after proceedings that did not meet international fair trial standards”, the non-governmental organisation said in its annual report on death sentences published in April.The report said Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were responsible for 91 percent of known executions last year, with increases in death sentences in all three countries spurring a global rise. The 1,518 executions recorded worldwide in 2024 did not include thousands of people believed to have been executed in China — the world’s leading exponent of capital punishment — Amnesty said.

Indian investigative agencies on Friday questioned a man they extradited from the United States and charged with being a “mastermind” of the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege.India accuses Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 66, of being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation.Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian, has denied all charges — including waging war against India, conspiring to commit murder and acts of terrorism. He could face the death penalty if convicted.New Delhi blamed the LeT group — as well as intelligence officials from New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan — for the 2008 Mumbai attacks when 10 Islamist gunmen carried out a multi-day siege of the country’s financial capital.Nine of the attackers died in the siege, while one captured alive was tried and hanged.India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), which accuses Rana of being the attack’s “mastermind”, took him into custody under heavy guard after he arrived in a special flight to the capital New Delhi on Thursday evening.”Rana will remain in custody for 18 days, during which the agency will question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks,” NIA said.Rana, who served in the Pakistani army’s medical corps, faces 10 criminal charges including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery.Rana, who has denied the charges, is accused by India of helping his long-term friend, David Coleman Headley, who was sentenced by a US court in 2013 to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding LeT militants, including by scouting target locations in Mumbai.Rana is accused of playing a smaller role than Headley, but India maintains he is one of the key plotters.He was flown to India after the US Supreme Court this month rejected his bid to remain in the United States, where he was serving a 14-year sentence related to another LeT-linked attack.India released a photograph of Rana arriving in Delhi, taken from his back, dressed in a brown jumpsuit and guarded by NIA officers.India also accused Pakistan of direct involvement in the Mumbai attack and Rana of having connections with its intelligence agencies, charges Islamabad denies.Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali said that Rana “did not apply to renew Pakistani documents over the past two decades”.  

Young Bangladeshi men desperate for work allege they have been tricked into fighting for Russia against Ukraine, with the reported death of a 22-year-old sparking a surge of worried calls.Bangladesh’s embassy in Moscow has said around a dozen families have contacted them seeking to bring back their sons they allege were duped into joining the Russian army.”We had no idea we’d end up on the battlefield,” said Mohammad Akram Hossain, who claimed he and his brother-in-law had registered with a recruiting agency and were originally promised jobs in Cyprus, before being offered work in Russia.”The recruiting agency said that only work visas for Russia were available, and we agreed to go,” the 26-year-old told AFP, now back home in the South Asian nation.”But we never imagined we would be abandoned like that.”Unemployment is high in Bangladesh and the economy was hit hard by protests last year that toppled the government.Worried relatives have been messaging Bangladeshi diplomats in Moscow after one family said their son Mohammed Yasin Sheikh, 22, was killed on March 27 while serving in the Russian army.Abul Hashem, Sheikh’s uncle, said the family was called by his friend during the Muslim holiday of Eid at the end of March.”Yasin’s friend, who is also fighting for the Russian side and a Bangladeshi, called us on Eid and informed us that Yasin had been killed,” Hashem told AFP.”Later, we received a call from a Russian commander.”- ‘Dead body’ -Sheikh’s family say they gave him money to travel when he left Bangladesh in September 2024, after a broker promised him work with a Chinese company in Russia as an electrician. But, they said, he ended up joining the Russian army in December.”We spent a lot to send him, and now we are waiting for his dead body,” Hashem said. “We’ve requested the Bangladesh government to take steps so that his mother can bid him farewell.”AFP could not independently verify the family’s claims.But Farhad Hossain, Bangladesh’s charge d’affaires in Moscow, said the embassy was aware of the reported casualty.”We learned about Md Yasin Sheikh a few days ago, and have engaged with our Russian counterparts on the issue,” he said, adding that the embassy could not confirm his death, or any other Bangladeshi casualties, and was awaiting a response from Moscow.But Hossain did confirm that other Bangladeshis had contacted the embassy.”We’ve been receiving requests from parents seeking information about their sons, and so far we’ve responded to around a dozen requests,” he said.The war in Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on Russian troops, and Moscow has been on a global quest for more forces to fight. Neither Russia nor Ukraine will say how many foreigners are serving in their militaries or how many they are holding as prisoners of war.Recruits from several South Asian nations — including India, Nepal and Sri Lanka — have already been reported to have fought for Russia against Ukraine, lured by promises of work. Hossain told AFP that Russian authorities have said those fighting on the side of Moscow had signed contracts, were on the payroll and were governed by the rules of war.He could not confirm how many Bangladeshis were thought to have joined Russia’s army, although one Bangladeshi newspaper cited security sources suggesting there were more than 100.- ‘Begging us’ -In Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, Mustafizur Rahman, superintendent of police at the Criminal Investigation Department, said one Bangladeshi woman had been arrested in connection with alleged human trafficking, and six other cases had been opened.”Operations are ongoing to arrest the others,” Rahman said.Mohammad Akram Hossain, the man who claims to have escaped Moscow’s army, was among the first to alert Bangladeshi police of the trafficking network he said brought him to Russia.He said he was part of a group of 10 Bangladeshis who flew first to Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage visa in September 2024.”After staying there a few weeks, we flew to Russia,” he said, adding he was then given a contract in Russian that he could not understand but signed anyway.”From St. Petersburg, we were taken by bus to a camp where we spent the night,” he added.”The next morning, they gave military uniforms to some of us and took them away for training.”Before being taken to fight, Mohammad Akram Hossain said he escaped — along with a group of men from Senegal — and managed to fly home.”I returned after losing several thousand dollars,” he said, adding his brother-in-law remains in Russia in the army. “He calls home regularly, begging us to get him back to Bangladesh.”

A Pakistan-born Canadian citizen wanted for his role in the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege landed in New Delhi Thursday after his extradition from the United States, Indian law enforcement said.Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, arrived at a military airbase outside the Indian capital under heavily armed guard, and will be held in detention to face trial.India accuses Rana of being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation, and of helping to plot the attacks.The National Investigation Agency said it “secured the successful extradition of… Mumbai terror attack mastermind Tahawwur Rana from the US”.The extradition took “years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring the key conspirator behind the 2008 mayhem to justice”.  US President Donald Trump announced in February that Washington would extradite Rana, who he called “one of the very evil people in the world”.State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Thursday that the United States was “proud” that Rana was now in Indian custody over the “horrific” attack.”The United States has long supported India’s efforts to ensure those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice, and as President Trump has said, the United States and India will continue to work together to combat the global scourge of terrorism,” Bruce told reporters.Rana was flown to India after the US Supreme Court this month rejected his bid to remain in the United States, where he was serving a sentence related to another LeT-linked attack.New Delhi blamed the LeT group — as well as intelligence officials from New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan — for the 2008 Mumbai attacks when 10 Islamist gunmen carried out a multi-day slaughter in the country’s financial capital.India accuses Rana of helping his longterm friend, David Coleman Headley, who was sentenced by a US court in 2013 to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding LeT militants, including by scouting target locations in Mumbai. Rana, who denies the charges, is accused of playing a smaller role than Headley, but India maintains he is one of the key plotters. Rana “is accused of conspiring with David Coleman Headley, and operatives of designated (Pakistan-based) terrorist organisations LeT and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami… to carry out the devastating terror attacks,” the NIA said in the statement. Rana, a former military medic who served in Pakistan’s army, emigrated to Canada in 1997, before moving to the United States and setting up businesses in Chicago, including a law firm and a slaughterhouse.He was arrested by US police in 2009.A US court in 2013 acquitted Rana of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai attacks. But the same court convicted him of backing LeT to provide material support to a plot to commit murder in Denmark.Rana was sentenced to 14 years for his involvement in a conspiracy to attack the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which had published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.In February, Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state which includes the megacity Mumbai, said that “finally, the long wait is over and justice will be done”.

KL Rahul smashed an unbeaten 93 as Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets to maintain their winning streak in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.Rahul, 32, hit six sixes and seven fours in his scintillating 53-ball knock to help Delhi overhaul Bengaluru’s 163-7 with 13 balls to spare at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.Tristan Stubbs chipped in with 38 not out and shared 111 runs with Rahul off just 56 balls to steer Delhi to their fourth consecutive win.Delhi now sit second in the table while Bengaluru are third in the 10-team competition.  Bengaluru bowlers picked some early wickets but ran into the in-form Rahul who batted with composure and ease.Delhi had a wobbly start, losing openers Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk cheaply with just 10 runs on the board.Captain Axar Patel tried to steady the innings but holed out to Tim David off impact sub Suyash Sharma for 15.Stubbs said the win was “really satisfying”.”I came in a tricky situation, but the run-rate never got out of hand,” he said. “I did not need to do much — KL played the way he did.”  Earlier, Bengaluru were off to a flier, with openers Virat Kohli and Phil Salt taking the attack to the opposition.The duo smashed 30 runs in the third over off Mitchell Starc before guiding Bengaluru to the fastest team 50 of the season.The batting assault ended when Salt (37) was run-out after a mix-up and Kohli (22) lobbed a catch to Starc who dived forward to take a fine catch at long-off.Salt hit three sixes and four fours in his 17-ball knock.Bengaluru lost regular wickets after the twin setbacks, with Delhi left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav picking two, including the scalp of captain Rajat Patidar for 25.David provided a late flourish with an unbeaten 20-ball 37, studded with four sixes and two fours.Patidar conceded his team did not bat well despite showing “nice intent”.”We were lacking in assessing the conditions and the situation. (But) the way David accelerated at the end, it was really amazing,” he said.