Month: August 2026

Afghan journalist Tahmina Usmani became one of the most visible women working in her country’s media after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. She continued presenting news as female journalists disappeared from television screens, then appeared on air with her face covered when Taliban authorities imposed a new dress code.

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Now living in Paris, Usmani told The Media Line that her decision to remain on television reflected both her commitment to journalism and her determination to preserve a public voice for Afghan women.

Originally from Panjshir, Usmani was born and raised in Kabul. Her father worked in the automobile business, while her mother, who had been denied an education herself, encouraged her children to study.

“Honestly speaking, she was a strong supporter of my dreams,” Usmani told The Media Line.

Usmani earned a bachelor’s degree in law and political science from Rana University in Kabul and completed a journalism course. She hoped to continue studying international relations, but Afghanistan’s political upheaval disrupted those plans.

She began her broadcasting career at Noor TV, where her income helped support her parents and three siblings. Usmani joined TOLOnews in August 2020 and returned to political news programming on August 27, 2021, less than two weeks after the Taliban captured Kabul.

Usmani described herself as the first female TOLOnews anchor to appear after the takeover. Contemporary reporting shows that presenter Beheshta Arghand interviewed a Taliban representative on August 17, making Usmani more accurately one of the first women to return to the network’s broadcasts and political programming under the new authorities.

Her presence soon became part of a larger battle over whether women would retain any place in Afghanistan’s media.

In May 2022, Taliban authorities ordered female television presenters to cover their faces on air. Women initially resisted, but broadcasters were told that presenters who refused would be reassigned or dismissed. Usmani appeared on TOLOnews wearing a face covering, with international photographs capturing what became an emblem of the Taliban’s tightening control over women journalists.

“It is very difficult for us,” Usmani said at the time, explaining that presenting while veiled made breathing and speaking harder. Male TOLOnews employees later wore masks in solidarity with their female colleagues.

Taliban officials said they did not intend to remove women from broadcasting, but the restrictions expanded. Television dramas featuring women were banned, female presenters were subjected to strict dress requirements, and journalists faced growing pressure over what they could report and ask.

“Women were required to cover their faces, and journalists faced censorship in both their reporting and interview questions,” Usmani told The Media Line.

By August 2022, Usmani was among the few female journalists still working inside Afghanistan. She told Agence France-Presse that joining TOLOnews and serving as a voice for Afghan women gave her a sense of purpose during an increasingly bleak period. 

Usmani now believes independent journalism has become impossible inside the country.

“In my view, nowadays, there’s no truly independent media in Afghanistan under Taliban rule,” she told The Media Line. “Media organizations can only operate if they publish content approved by the Taliban. Journalists who criticize the authorities risk arrest or torture or even death.”

Human Rights Watch reported in 2025 that Taliban intelligence officials monitor media content, morality authorities enforce dress and conduct rules, and journalists face punishment for perceived criticism. The organization said the restrictions had produced a sharp decline in the number of women working in Afghan media.

Usmani eventually concluded that remaining in Afghanistan was no longer safe.

“When I realized that I could no longer live and work freely or safely in Afghanistan, I decided to leave the country,” she said. “It was one of the most difficult decisions of my life.”

She moved to Pakistan and joined Afghanistan International, an exile broadcaster that reports for Afghan audiences from outside the country. Leaving brought a different set of hardships: separation from her family, uncertain residency status, cultural adjustment, language barriers, and the struggle to find stable work.

Usmani later relocated to France and is studying human rights and humanitarian action at Sciences Po in Paris through a professional certificate program in social and human sciences for young refugees.

She hopes to continue both her education and her journalism while using the opportunities available to her in exile to advocate for those denied them at home.

“I also hope that one day all Afghan girls, Afghanistan girls and women, as well as my fellow journalists and media colleagues, will have access to meaningful educational and professional opportunities,” Usmani told The Media Line.

“Above all, I hope to see Afghanistan one day become a free, peaceful, and prosperous country where everyone can live with dignity, freedom, and hope.”

Nearly four years after the last time they teamed up to play doubles, Serena Williams and Venus Williams lost a first-round match to Peyton Stearns and Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (8) on Monday at the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.

"I thought it was fun," Serena said. "I thought it was special. We kicked off a little rust in the middle of the match and just, you know, (we were) starting to feel it. I didn't come out here to win this tournament. Winning is obviously great. But in this position just, you know, having fun. It was really cool to be able to do this again."

It was the third doubles match of the year for Serena, 44, who returned to the tour this year for the first time since 2022. She won a doubles match while teaming with Canada’s Victoria Mboko in a Wimbledon warm-up tournament in London, but the pair couldn’t compete in the next round after Mboko got hurt. Serena lost a first-round doubles match with the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova in Berlin.

Serena has played just one singles match this year, a first-round loss to Australia’s Maya Joint at Wimbledon. In that match, the 23-time major singles winner sustained an injury that kept her from competing with her sister in the Wimbledon doubles event.

Serena has yet to reveal her plans for the US Open, which starts on August 30.

Venus, 46, is 3-9 in doubles matches and 0-10 in singles matches in 2026.

On Monday, Stearns and Kostyuk jumped ahead 6-0 in the decisive first-to-10 tiebreaker that the pro tennis tours use in place of a third set in doubles. The Williams sisters rallied within 8-7 and 9-8 before Venus served a match-ending double fault.

Venus said, "It's our first time playing together in forever. It was great for us to get out there and do it."

Luigi Mangione’s trial on New York state murder and weapons charges over the 2024 killing of a health insurance CEO was postponed on Monday, after the 28-year-old Ivy League graduate pleaded guilty last week to separate federal charges.

In court on Friday, Mangione for the first time admitted to shooting 50-year-old UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans' frustration with health insurance industry practices.

Mangione's lawyers cited his guilty plea to the federal stalking charges he faced in urging New York state Justice Gregory Carro to dismiss the state charges.

His lawyers argued that Mangione should not have to be punished for the same conduct twice under New York’s law prohibiting double jeopardy.

The state trial had previously been scheduled to begin on September 8. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.

In a brief written order on Monday, Carro gave prosecutors until October 9 to respond to Mangione’s motion. The judge set Mangione’s next appearance in state court for December 10, meaning the trial will not go forward next month.

A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the state charges against Mangione, referred to a Friday statement indicating that the office was prepared to litigate the defense motions. Mangione's defense lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mangione is due to be sentenced in his federal case on December 18. Federal prosecutors said on Friday that they intend to seek a life sentence, the maximum allowable.

In the state case, Mangione would face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

US President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner on Monday said conversations between the US and different areas of the Iranian government were probably more robust than ever, but the two sides had not yet reached an understanding.

Kushner, who is visiting the Middle East, made the comments in an interview with Fox News.

This is a developing story.

Indian security agencies arrested more than 200 “terror operatives” linked to Pakistan, thwarting potential “subversive attacks” around the country’s Independence Day last week, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday, in one of the largest such crackdowns in years.

A multi-state operation against what Shah said was a terror group backed by Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was carried out across 14 Indian states on August 12, three days before India celebrated its 80th year of freedom from British colonial rule.

A spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Pakistan has in the past denied allegations that it backs militant groups blamed for attacks in India.

"[The] Modi government destroyed the ISI-backed terror group Shahzad Bhatti Network ahead of Independence Day and thwarted its plans for subversive attacks by arresting more than 200 operatives," Shah said in a post on X/Twitter.

Shah said agencies had recovered pistols, live cartridges, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings and crude bombs.

India and Pakistan both claim that the other fosters and abets terrorism in their country.

The nuclear-armed neighbors were involved in a four-day military conflict last year after India blamed Pakistani attackers for the killing of 26 men at a tourist destination in Indian Kashmir.

Content warning: This article contains content that some may find disturbing, including descriptions of child deaths and suicide attempts.

The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a woman who killed her three children, is set to resume on Monday for its fourth week of testimony, with the prosecution continuing its presentation and the defense preparing for its opportunity to call witnesses and experts.

Clancy has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of her children – five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan – in January 2023. 

While Clancy admitted to killing her children, the defense has argued that due to postpartum psychosis and overmedication, she should not be held criminally responsible. The prosecution said Clancy planned the killings, carried them out “deliberately and meticulously,” and then faked a suicide attempt. 

Clancy's ex-husband Patrick Clancy described the day of the killings in his testimony, saying he had gone out to pick up medicine for their oldest child and a takeout order Lindsay Clancy had placed at a local restaurant. He came home and found their second-floor bathroom covered in blood and the window open. Lindsay Clancy was lying on the ground outside with deep cuts on her wrists and another cut across her neck. She told him she had tried to kill herself, and when asked where the children were, she said they were in the basement.

Patrick Clancy found the three children unresponsive with exercise bands wrapped around their necks. Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead that night, and Callan died three days later, never having regained consciousness. Lindsay Clancy was permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

The prosecution used first responder testimony calling Clancy’s injuries “superficial” and described them as “not actively bleeding” at the time of their arrival to point towards the suicide attempt being staged in an attempt to cover up her state of mind at the time of the killings. However, the defense disputed the claims and suggested the unusually cold temperatures may have contributed to the lack of bleeding at the time. 

According to the defense, Clancy was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time and that she heard a voice telling her that "this is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself."

While Clancy appeared outwardly functional, the defense claimed that the psychosis caused her to believe there was only one course of action: to kill her children and then herself.

Multiple psychiatric providers testified to Clancy’s state of mind leading up to January 24. In the months prior, one psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Tufts, said that Clancy had tried at least 10 medications to find the right combination and complained of insomnia, depression, and anxiety resulting from the medication. 

"Anxiety was really bad even before medication. Now hard to differentiate. Overnight, racing thoughts. Paranoid of getting suicidal thoughts, something bad happening, doesn't want to be alone," Tufts said while reading from her notes.

However, Tufts said she had not thought Clancy was ever psychotic, and in an appointment the day before the murders, she never mentioned any plans to kill her children. She told the court she was surprised to hear that Clancy had called a suicide hotline twice over the course of her treatment.

Psychiatric nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta also testified that while treating Clancy, she was concerned Clancy was experiencing a mixed manic or hypomanic state and recommended a higher level of care, but did not believe Clancy had postpartum psychosis when she treated her.

Clancy visited multiple treatment centers, including staying multiple days in a locked ward facility in early January.

Notes on Clancy's phone written in the months leading up to the killings included fears over taking new medication and details of her anxiety and depression.

One note, last edited in November 2022, detailed her feeling "sad and depressed" about not being able to parent her youngest child the same way she raised her first, writing that she "sort of resent[s] my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby. And I know that’s not fair to them.”

Another note from November contained her concerns over sleep training her child, saying she felt 'slightly traumatized by the sleep training," but only when she was "severely sleep deprived and paranoid."

She also wrote a list of affirmations including “I will get through this. I will overcome postpartum anxiety and depression. I am a great mom. I love my kids.”

Records of Clancy's cellphone search history from January included several searches about prescription medications, mental disorders including schizophrenia, psychosis, hallucinations, and bipolar disorder, whether or not a sociopath could be treated, as well as methods of suicide.

If Clancy is found guilty of murder, she could face life in prison. In the event that she is found not criminally responsible, she will likely be committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Vietnam wants to bring its sex ratio at birth down to the natural level of about 106 boys for every 100 girls by 2035, according to a draft plan from the Ministry of Health that proposes action against sex-selection services and efforts to challenge long-standing preferences for sons.

The draft plan, which was released on Saturday for consultation and was reviewed by Reuters, targets a reduction in the sex ratio at birth to below 109 boys per 100 girls by 2030 and then to the natural level by 2035.

The skew towards boys in Vietnam’s sex ratio at birth has been among the highest in Asia for years. The draft says the ratio stood at 112.2 boys per 100 girls in 2016, peaked at 114.8 in 2018 and eased to 110 in 2025.

Among the proposed measures to achieve the goal are stricter enforcement of laws banning fetal sex selection, stronger inspections of medical facilities, greater monitoring of online advertising for sex-selection services, as well as public campaigns.

The ministry attributed the imbalance in Vietnam’s sex ratio to a persistent preference for sons, pressure to produce male heirs, shrinking family sizes and easier access to prenatal sex-identification technologies.

The draft paper warned that a prolonged surplus of men could create long-term demographic and social pressures, including difficulties in the marriage market, rising gender inequality, gender-based violence, trafficking in women and girls, and broader challenges to social stability.

Myanmar junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing left for Russia on Monday for his first official visit to the country since he assumed the presidency in April, according to state media.

Russia will be the fifth country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming president, with official trips to India, China, Laos, and, earlier this month, Thailand.

The former general is the subject of a raft of Western sanctions and has been on a quest for international legitimacy since winning a vote in parliament to become president, which came after an election dominated by an army-backed party in the absence of a viable opposition.

Min Aung Hlaing made four visits to Russia as junta chief, the first in June 2021 to attend a security conference, five months after seizing power in a coup. He visited twice in 2022 and again in March 2025, when he held formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Russia is hoping to open up opportunities in Myanmar for its energy companies. The two countries signed an agreement to construct a small-scale nuclear power plant in Myanmar when Min Aung Hlaing met Putin in 2025.

Russia and Myanmar signed a memorandum on investment cooperation for the strategically located Dawei Special Economic Zone in February 2025, including the construction of a port and an oil refinery.

Min Aung Hlaing's latest trip includes a Myanmar-Russia business forum. Joining him will be the chief minister of the Tanintharyi region, where Dawei is located, and the head of Myanmar's aerospace agency, according to state media.

Defense ties have grown in recent years, with Moscow providing army training and university scholarships to thousands of Myanmar soldiers, as well as selling arms to a military blacklisted by some Western countries.

Russia also said earlier this year that it would help train Myanmar’s first cosmonaut.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea in a social media post that also mentions Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against Iran.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site that, although it was too late to cancel the exercises entirely, he was “not happy” that the United States had previously agreed to participate. The US president also cited his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"These exercises are not only costly… but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful," he wrote.

Trump also pointed to South Korea's stance on the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!'” Trump wrote.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military drills are scheduled to run from August 17 to 27.

Ukraine could strike Russia with domestically produced ballistic missiles within the next few months, the country’s former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov told CBS on Sunday.

Fedorov, who was recently ousted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Ukraine could be able to launch the missiles within three to six months’ time

"We need to defeat Russia in every technological cycle, and we have to make decisions 24/7," he told CBS.

Fedorov has often been credited with being the architect of Ukraine’s current war strategy. While he noted that it would be difficult to predict exactly when Ukrainian ballistic missiles would be deployed, he emphasized that Ukraine has “no choice but to do it.”

In June, Ukrainian defense company Fire Point began testing a ballistic model, which would allow Kyiv to respond to Moscow’s attacks. Fire Point has also said that it aims to begin launching interceptor missiles, but they will likely not be available until 2027. 

While it is on the uptick, Ukraine struggles to intercept Russian ballistic missiles because of its mass interceptor shortage.

On Sunday evening, the Ukrainian Air Force was unable to intercept any of the ballistic missiles that Russia fired at the country.

As such, Ukraine has mainly relied on long-range drones and cruise missiles to attack Russia.

Zelensky has been publicly pleading with the US and Europe for more interceptor missiles. In an interview with CNN, he said he has only about 10% of the interceptor missiles he needs.

If the US “sells us 5%, we will go through the winter and save people’s lives. If they can sell us 10%, we will destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles. I have 1%,” he said.

After Trump walked back his public commitment to give Ukraine the Patriot missile interceptors, representatives from Lockheed Martin, which produces the Patriots, went to Kyiv to start discussions. But even if Ukraine does get the license, it would take at least a year, if not more, to produce them.

Ukraine has notably been receiving even fewer Patriot missiles than before due to the US interceptor shortage that stemmed from the war with Iran.

“I hope that I will get it,” Zelensky told CNN, regarding the interceptors.

“I don’t have 5% now, and I don’t have such an acceptance. And this is for me a big challenge, one of the biggest I have had from the very beginning of this war.”

In response, a White House official told CNN that the Pentagon “is currently exploring several potential pathways for future defense industrial cooperation with Ukraine.

“These discussions are in the exploratory phase; no specific industrial cooperation initiatives have been decided upon or guaranteed at this stage,” the official added.

“We must prioritize protecting these exquisite systems and expanding overall production of critical weapons systems for the US warfighter and for our partners and allies.”

Zelensky also told CNN that he would not concede any territory in Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Russia has repeatedly sought to control.

“Russia begins to speak about this war, and they speak about territory,” he said.

“The key question is why he will not come again with 1 or 2 additional million soldiers after a big pause. Why will he not come again to occupy us?”

He then signaled that he agreed with some assessments that Putin could try to expand the war in Ukraine to take on NATO.

“He doesn’t know how to end this war without big occupation or big victory for his society,” he said.

“It’s more simple to find some smaller country … for him, it will not be important if this country is in NATO or not in NATO. He wants quick victory, 100% sure that he will win, occupy or destroy or control.”