Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a ban on Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, a group that was designated as a terrorist organization more than two decades ago.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final weeks of withdrawing from the country after two decades of war.

The Russian court’s move was a diplomatic victory for the Taliban, who were put on Moscow’s list of terrorist organizations in 2003, making any contact with them punishable under Russian law.

At the same time, Taliban delegations have attended various forums hosted by Russia as Moscow has sought to position itself as a regional power broker.

The court’s ruling on a request by the Prosecutor General’s Office followed last year’s adoption of a law stipulating that the official designation as a terrorist organization could be suspended by a court.

The former Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989.

Russian officials have recently been emphasizing the need to engage with the Taliban to help stabilize Afghanistan.

In recent years, the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have removed the Taliban from their lists of terrorist groups.

The Taliban initially promised a more moderate rule than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, but started to enforce restrictions on women and girls soon after the 2021 takeover. Women are barred from most jobs and public places, including parks, baths and gyms, while girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade.

Such measures have isolated the Taliban on the world stage, although their government has established diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.

The UN this year renewed its call for the Taliban to lift the bans.

The group’s decrees limiting the participation of girls and women have affected foreign aid to the country. The Taliban also have brought back their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah, including public executions.

Some Taliban want greater engagement with the international community and want to scrap harsher policies to attract more outside support. In recent months, there has been increased engagement between the Taliban and the US under President Donald Trump, mostly because of prisoner exchanges and releases.

Ibraheem Bahiss, a senior analyst with Crisis Group’s Asia Program, said the Taliban’s listing as a terrorist group was a legal impairment for trade and political ties with Kabul and its lifting reflected Moscow’s desire to improve relations.

“However, beyond making it easier for individuals and businesses to engage with Afghanistan, I am not sure what other major benefit this will have,” he said.

South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman said the Russian move was not ground-breaking because many countries had never formally designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization. At the same time, he called the decision a “win-win” for bilateral relations.

For Russia, he said it would serve as a confidence-building measure helping pave the way for more engagement and enabling Moscow to better protect its interests in Afghanistan, particularly concerns about anti-Russia terror groups like Islamic State-Khorasan.

“Meanwhile, for the Taliban, the court decision is a legitimacy-boosting outcome they can leverage to point to international acceptance of their rule,” Kugelman observed.

US airstrikes on an oil port in western Yemen have killed at least 38 people, Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported Friday, marking one of the deadliest days since the United States escalated its aerial military campaign against the Iranian-backed group in recent weeks.

US Central Command said Thursday the strikes on Ras Isa fuel port in Hodeidah province were aimed at cutting off revenue to the Houthis, adding the port has been used as a source of illicit profits to the group.

“The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen,” the US Central Command said in a statement. “This strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.”

Al-Masirah reported that all those killed were workers at the port and that the strikes also injured 102 people, citing the Houthi-run health ministry’s regional office.

Since mid-March, US airstrikes have pounded Houthi targets in Yemen, hitting oil refineries, airports and missile sites, with US President Donald Trump vowing to use “overwhelming force” until the US achieves its goal of stopping the Houthis from targeting shipping in the Red Sea.

Houthis have launched numerous missiles against Israel and disrupted shipping in the Red Sea in what they say is in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s war in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Video aired on Al-Masirah shows the injured receiving treatment at a hospital after dawn, many with visible burns to their bodies.

“Multiple air raids targeted the area,” a man who identified himself as a civil defense worker told Al-Masirah as he lay on an examination table, breathing heavily. “I found myself falling on the ground as a rocket hit.”

Another survivor at the hospital described the moment the port was struck.

“One strike after another, the whole area was lit on fire,” he told Al-Masirah. “When we managed to leave the area, we saw the place where we were hiding earlier getting struck too.”

The US says its campaign is working. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said that multiple Houthi leaders had been killed.

While as many as 80 Houthi military officers may have been killed, according to analysts, the senior echelon of its military and political leadership appears intact. So are at least some of its missile-launching sites.

Meanwhile, the Houthis have continued to launch more than a dozen ballistic missiles at Israel, and barrages of drones and missiles at US navy ships. While none caused major damage, the threat remains.

Early Friday, Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen. No injuries were reported, Israel’s emergency service said.

A striking portrait of a young Palestinian boy who lost both arms in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City has been named Press Photo of the Year.

Photographer Samar Abu Elouf, who is also from Gaza, met nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour three months after an explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other. Ajjour and his family were evacuated to Doha, Qatar, where Abu Elouf is based, to receive medical treatment.

“One of the most difficult things Mahmoud’s mother explained to me was how, when Mahmoud first came to the realization that his arms were amputated, the first sentence he said to her was, ‘How will I be able to hug you?’” Abu Elouf wrote in her accompanying notes on the image, which was taken for and published in The New York Times.

The photo is a stark reminder of the long-term costs of the war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands and led to widespread destruction and displacement of its residents. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates about half of those killed are women and children. Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza was triggered by the deadly October 7 rampage by Hamas militants.

“This is a quiet photo that speaks loudly. It tells the story of one boy, but also of a wider war that will have an impact for generations,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, in a press statement.

The jury observed three central themes — conflict, migration, and climate change — in the entries this year, says Lucy Conticello, director of photography for Le Monde’s M magazine and one of the judges.

“Another way of seeing them is as stories of resilience, family, and community,” Conticello said in a press statement.

The contrast in the winning photo — light and dark, beauty and pain — captured the attention of the judges, she added.

The winning photo was selected from nearly 60,000 entries submitted by 3,778 photographers across more than 140 countries.

Two other works were selected as runners-up: an otherworldly image of Chinese migrants warming themselves by a fire after crossing the US-Mexico border, and a haunting image of a young man walking to his village, once accessible by boat, along a desert-like riverbed in the Amazon.

Winners were also selected for regional categories, including an ethereal image of a stranded Boeing jet surrounded by floodwaters at Salgado Filho International Airport in Brazil, and a groom at his wedding in Sudan.

The winning images are currently on display in a traveling exhibition, which opens today (April 18) in Amsterdam at De Nieuwe Kerk, followed by shows around the globe, including in London, Jakarta, Sydney and Mexico City.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that if it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, the United States needs to abandon its efforts and move on.

“If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” he told reporters before departing Paris. “We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable.”

The comments come a day after he and special envoy Steve Witkoff met with European and Ukrainian allies as US President Donald Trump’s administration pushes for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

A US-authored outline of a peace plan had received an “encouraging reception” at the talks, according to a State Department readout, which did not give details on the outline. Rubio also spoke with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and conveyed the same outline, the readout said.

Speaking Friday, Rubio said he and Witkoff had come to Paris to “begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war” and whether or not this is a war that can be ended.

“If it’s not possible, if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen then I think the president is probably at a point where he’s going to say we’re done,” he said.

“It’s not our war. We didn’t start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for the past three years and we want it to end, but it’s not our war,” he added.

“President (Trump) has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to and end. We are now reaching a point when we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not. Which is why we’re engaging both sides.”

Meanwhile, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine overnight, hitting a residential neighborhood of the city of Kharkiv. The strike killed one person and wounded 67 others, authorities said Friday, adding they feared more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of a damaged apartment building.

Step towards minerals deal

Rubio’s words of warning on Friday come after the US and Ukraine moved closer toward clinching an agreement on a minerals deal on Thursday night.

Kyiv and Washington have now signed a memorandum as a move towards the proposed agreement, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

“We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Svyrydenko said in a post on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said earlier Thursday that a memorandum related to the deal could be signed remotely that day.

“This document is the result of the professional work of the negotiating teams, which recently completed another round of technical discussions in Washington,” Svyrydenko continued. “Ahead is the finalization of the text of the agreement and its signing — and then, ratification by parliaments.”

“There is a lot to do, but the current pace and significant progress give reason to expect that the document will be very beneficial for both countries,” Svyrydenko concluded.

An earlier iteration of the minerals deal went unsigned following a public argument between Zelensky and Trump in February.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Police have arrested scores of people in Pakistan in recent weeks after more than 10 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC, sparked by anti-United States sentiment and opposition to its ally Israel’s war in Gaza, officials said.

Police in major cities in the Islamic nation, including the southern port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital Islamabad, confirmed at least 11 incidents in which KFC outlets were attacked by protesters armed with sticks and vandalized. At least 178 people were arrested, the officials said this week.

KFC and its parent Yum Brands, both US-based, did not respond to requests for comment.

A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one KFC employee was shot and killed this week in a store on the outskirts of Lahore by unknown gunmen. The official added there was no protest at the time and they were investigating whether the killing was motivated by political sentiment or some other reason.

In Lahore, police said they were ramping up security at 27 KFC outlets around the city after two attacks took place and five others were prevented.

“We are investigating the role of different individuals and groups in these attacks,” said Faisal Kamran, a senior Lahore police officer, adding that 11 people, including a member of the Islamist religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), were arrested in the city. He added the protests were not officially organized by TLP.

TLP spokesman Rehan Mohsin Khan said the group “has urged Muslims to boycott Israeli products, but it has not given any call for protest outside KFC.”

“If any other person claiming to be a TLP leader or activist has indulged in such activity, it should be taken as his personal act which has nothing to do with the party’s policy,” said Khan.

KFC has long been viewed as a symbol of the United States in Pakistan and borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment in recent decades with protests and attacks.

Western brands have been hit by boycotts and other forms of protests in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries in recent months over Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.

Yum Brands has said one of its other brands, Pizza Hut, has faced a protracted impact from boycotts related to Israel’s war in Gaza.

In Pakistan, local brands have made inroads into its fast-growing cola market as some consumers avoid US brands. In 2023, Coca-Cola’s market share in the consumer sector in Pakistan fell to 5.7% from 6.3% in 2022, according to GlobalData, while PepsiCo’s fell to 10.4% from 10.8%.

Earlier this month, religious clerics in Pakistan called for a boycott of any products or brands that they say support Israel or the American economy, but asked people to stay peaceful and not destroy property.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he hopes Iran-backed Hezbollah can be disarmed this year, following an Israeli military campaign that left the group decapitated and significantly weakened.

“We hope that Hezbollah’s weapons will be withdrawn or that their possession will be restricted to the state in 2025, and this is what I am striving for,” the United States-backed president said during an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed published on Tuesday.

Hezbollah was formed in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s, and has grown to become a formidable rival political and military force within the country. The militants have long resisted calls to disarm.

“As for Hezbollah members, they are ultimately Lebanese, and if they want to join the army, they can undergo so-called absorption courses,” Aoun said, adding that the group would not be allowed to function as a distinct unit within the Lebanese army.

He stressed however that the process could only be done through dialogue.

“We want to withdraw Hezbollah’s weapons, but we do not want to ignite a civil war,” he said.

Experts say that while Hezbollah may prefer to retain its arms, Israel’s weakening of the group and its continued attacks on Lebanon along with pressure from the Lebanese government may make the once inconceivable prospect a reality.

Until its conflict with Israel last year, Hezbollah was widely regarded as the most formidable non-state armed group in the Middle East, with tens of thousands of missiles and a well-trained military force.

Aoun said the government has yet to speak to Hezbollah about the matter, but that Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a Shiite politician allied to the militant group, “is in full agreement” that the state should have a monopoly over arms. Berri served as the mediator between Hezbollah and the US in talks last year to reach a ceasefire with Israel.

Aoun’s ‘delicate position’

Some experts say that while Aoun is facing pressure from both Israel and the United States to quickly disarm Hezbollah, he is nonetheless wary of the precarious situation he is in.

Last week, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said in a news conference that the group is ready for dialogue with the Lebanese government on the country’s defense strategy. Woods said that offer means that Aoun’s proposal “may not seem that confrontational.”

Asked about the failure of previous attempts to discuss Hezbollah’s weapons, Aoun said the regional situation had changed, pointing to Iran’s “developing position” toward allied militias in the region.

Hezbollah has relied on its armed struggle against Israel to burnish its popular support, Woods said. “After last year’s disastrous war with Israel, it remains unclear if the party can find a replacement source of political legitimacy.”

Aoun said he has told US officials Israel’s presence in southern Lebanon “gives Hezbollah a pretext” to remain armed, urging the US to pressure Israel to withdraw.

Lebanon’s government has repeatedly condemned continued Israeli strikes on its territory, calling them a violation of its sovereignty and a breach of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Asked whether it is possible for Lebanon to engage in normalization talks with Israel should the Israeli army withdraw, Aoun said that while “anything is possible” in politics, the circumstances on the ground dictate reality.

“The Americans currently know that normalization or peace negotiations with Israel are impossible, and the key for us today is to establish long-term stability on the border,” he said.

Israel-Hezbollah war ‘not likely’

Full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah remains a possibility but is unlikely, he said, adding that Hezbollah has recently “shown a sense of responsibility despite the heavy human losses it has suffered.”

“Ultimately the possibility remains with the continuation of (Israeli) attacks,” Aoun said. “Hence, we always repeat: Let us negotiate with Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah’s disarmament could have a significant impact on regional dynamics. Just months ago, the group was seen as Iran’s most powerful regional proxy, engaging in tit-for-tat strikes with the Israeli army until an Israeli campaign killed many of its senior guard. The toppling of Hezbollah-ally Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria also weakened the group.

As Lebanon reels from an ongoing cross-border conflict with Israel and years of economic meltdown, Hezbollah may also face pressure from its own constituency to lay down its arms, Woods said. Disarming could remove obstacles for the delivery of post-war reconstruction aid, “which many Hezbollah supporters desperately need.”

The group’s backer, Iran, may also use this as a negotiating tool in its nuclear talks with the Trump administration, trading “its support for the group in negotiations,” Woods added.

Iran has engaged in talks with the US over its nuclear program. Delegations from both countries met in Oman last weekend, and are due to hold a second round of talks on Saturday.

Before Swedish slow TV hit “The Great Moose Migration” began airing Tuesday, Ulla Malmgren stocked up on coffee and prepared meals so she doesn’t miss a moment of the 20-day, 24-hour event.

“Sleep? Forget it. I don’t sleep,” she said.

Malmgren, 62, isn’t alone. The show, called “ Den stora älgvandringen ” in Swedish, and sometimes translated as “The Great Elk Trek” in English, began in 2019 with nearly a million people watching. In 2024, the production hit 9 million viewers on SVT Play, the streaming platform for national broadcaster SVT.

The livestream kicked off a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement. Malmgren was ready.

From now until May 4, the livestream’s remote cameras will capture dozens of moose as they swim across the Ångerman River, some 300 kilometers (187 miles) northwest of Stockholm, in the annual spring migration toward summer grazing pastures.

Not much happens for hours at a time, and fans say that’s the beauty of it.

“I feel relaxed, but at the same time I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s a moose. Oh, what if there’s a moose? I can’t go to the toilet!’” said William Garp Liljefors, 20, who has collected more than 150 moose plush toys since 2020.

Slow TV success

“The Great Moose Migration” is part of a trend that began in 2009 with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK’s minute-by-minute airing of a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country.

The slow TV style of programming has spread, with productions in the United Kingdom, China and elsewhere. The central Dutch city of Utrecht, for example, installed a “ fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets livestream viewers alert authorities to fish being held up as they migrate to spawning grounds.

Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at Jönköping University in Sweden, said slow TV has roots in reality television but lacks the staging and therefore feels more authentic for viewers. The productions allow the audience to relax and watch the journey unfold.

“It became, in a strange way, gripping because nothing catastrophic is happening, nothing spectacular is happening,” she said. “But something very beautiful is happening in that minute-by-minute moment.”

As an expert and a fan of “The Great Moose Migration,” Hill said the livestream helps her slow down her day by following the natural rhythms of spring.

“This is definitely a moment to have a calm, atmospheric setting in my own home, and I really appreciate it,” she said.

Nature in your living room

The calming effect extends to the crew, according to Johan Erhag, SVT’s project manager for “The Great Moose Migration.”

“Everyone who works with it goes down in their normal stress,” he said.

The moose have walked the route for thousands of years, making it easy for the crew to know where to lay some 20,000 meters (almost 12 miles) of cable and position 26 remote cameras and seven night cameras. A drone is also used.

The crew of up to 15 people works out of SVT’s control room in Umeå, producing the show at a distance to avoid interfering with the migration.

SVT won’t say how much the production costs, but Erhag said it’s cheap when accounting for the 506 hours of footage aired last year.

Erhag said Swedes have always been fascinated by the roughly 300,000 moose roaming in their woods. The Scandinavian country’s largest animal is known as “King of the Forest.” A bull moose can reach 210 centimeters (6 feet 10 inches) at shoulder height and weigh 450 kilograms (992 pounds).

Despite their size, the herbivores are typically shy and solitary.

“We actually don’t see it very often. You often see it when you’re out driving maybe once or twice in your life,” Erhag said. “I think that’s one thing why it has been so, so popular. And then you bring in the nature to everyone’s living room.”

Hanna Sandberg, 36, first began watching the show in 2019, though she didn’t spot any moose. She tuned in the following year, finally saw some and got hooked.

“You can watch them and be a part of their natural habitat in a way that you could never be otherwise,” she said.

Moose mega-fans

After hours of showing an empty forest, a camera captures footage of a moose approaching the riverbank. Suddenly, slow TV turns urgent.

The push alert hits SVT’s app — “Första älgarna i bild!” which translates to “First moose on camera!” — as viewers worldwide tune in. The livestream’s chat explodes as commenters type encouragement for the animal, now making its way into the water.

”I would actually like to be a little fly on the wall in every household that watches the moose migration. Because I think there is about a million people saying about the same thing: ‘Go on! Yes, you can do it!’” Malmgren said.

Mega-fans like Malmgren, who is in a Facebook group of 76,000-plus viewers, are committed to watching as many hours as possible. Some viewers on Tuesday posted photos of their dogs and cats staring at their televisions, enthralled by the moose on the screen.

“I was late to school because I saw moose and my teacher was like, ‘What, you saw moose in the city?’ And I was like, ‘No, it’s on the TV,’” Garp Liljefors said ahead of Tuesday’s showing.

Malmgren said friends and family have learned not to bother her when the moose are on the move.

“When someone asks me, ‘What are you doing? Oh, never mind, it’s the great migration,’” she said. “They know.”