Omar Abdulkadir Artan may be the best soccer referee in Africa. He’s certainly one of the best in the world. We know this because he was one of just 52 people chosen to officiate the 2026 World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday. His appointment was historic, as well as deserved: He was set to become the first Somali to referee a World Cup game. Artan is decorated and experienced—but he’s Somali.…

A Republican congresswoman is trying to claim she was assaulted when an activist brushed her arm.

On Wednesday, Representative Anna Paulina Luna complained on X, “The head honcho of CodePink here on Capitol Hill decided to try to harass me as I was leaving my hearing with Rubio and smacked my arm.

“I have no issues answering questions but the moment you touch me you cross a line,” Luna posted.…

MADRID: Around two thousand protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police’s treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel.

When a relative of one of the six returning activists tried to approach them at Bilbao airport on Saturday, a police officer forcefully prevented him from doing so, leading to…

Humanitarian worker Saad Edhi, who was illegally detained by Israeli forces during the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters earlier this week, arrived in Karachi on Saturday.

Saad was detained by Israeli forces on Monday along with around 100 other members of the humanitarian flotilla, after at least 10 boats were intercepted in the eastern Mediterranean.

He landed…

LAHORE: The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Saturday claimed to have foiled a major terror plot by arresting 13 suspected terrorists belonging to various banned organisations during week-long intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted across the province.

According to a CTD spokesperson, the department carried out 58 intelligence-based operations in various districts to avert…

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video on Wednesday showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and foreheads on the ground.

The footage, published on Ben Gvir’s X account and captioned “Welcome to Israel”, shows dozens of activists on the deck of a military boat with the Israeli national anthem…

A U.S. citizen is suing the Department of Homeland Security after ICE arrested him twice last year. ICE just arrested him a third time.

In a court filing last week, Leo Garcia Venegas said that on the morning of May 2, an unmarked SUV blocked him in his driveway at his home in Silverhill, Alabama. Before Venegas could produce his REAL ID proving his citizenship, two ICE agents pulled him out of…

The Sindh police on Wednesday suspended three police officials for alleged mistreatment of Aurat March activists, including Sheema Kermani.

On Tuesday, the activists were detained after they gathered at Karachi Press Club (KPC) for a press conference to demand a no-objection certificate (NOC) for their upcoming annual march in Karachi.

However, the police released all activists after briefly…

Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila, two activists detained from a Gaza-bound flotilla, appeared before an Israeli court in Ashkelon on Sunday.

Israel intercepted the flotilla of more than 50 vessels in international waters off Greece on Thursday, removing around 175 activists who had set sail from France, Spain and Italy to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

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Back in February, ICE detained 18-year-old Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, 14-year-old Caleb Gámez-Cuéllar, and 12-year-old Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar, along with their parents. The case drew national attention because Antonio and Caleb are both mariachi musicians, and after winning a state mariachi competition with their high school’s ensemble last year, the two elder brothers were invited by their Republican…

Last week, news broke that the Hong Kong government is working to confiscate millions from Hong Kong democracy advocate and devout Catholic Jimmy Lai, 78, funds that it claims are tied to his “crimes.” Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February for alleged violations of the Chinese Communist Party’s national security policy. According to his daughter Claire, his access to holy Communion…

Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights,…

In Ohio, the state legislature’s GOP super-majority has been busy, populating the legislative slate with ruinous bills that test the outside bounds of common sense and basic constitutional rights. There is a bill that would require medical personnel to file a “certificate of life” for every fetus in Ohio, after detection of a heartbeat. There’s Ohio’s version of the SAVE Act; a separate bill…

ICE agents entered a military base in Louisiana last week and detained the newlywed spouse of a U.S. Army staff sergeant.

Annie Ramos, 22, came to the U.S. from Honduras when she was a toddler, and did not have a criminal record. She became engaged to Matthew Blank on New Year’s Day, and the two were married only weeks ago, in late March. Last week, the pair checked in at the Fort Polk,…

Kristi Noem’s lies are finally catching up with her.

The Department of Justice is slated to receive a recommendation Monday to investigate the outgoing secretary for allegedly committing perjury while testifying under oath earlier this month, according to former CBS journalist Scott MacFarlane. The recommendation comes from Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin,…

ISLAMABAD: Aurat March organisers, civil society members, and rights groups accused the authorities on Monday of manhandling and threatening women’s rights activists who had been detained the previous day in Islamabad.

The assertions were made at a press conference after police released all 44 activists detained ahead of an International Women’s Day rally on Sunday.

Police cited the imposition…

Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump ’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil…

London police released former ambassador Peter Mandelson on bail in the early hours of Tuesday, in a probe into his ties to disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, only days after ex-prince Andrew was arrested.

Mandelson, a pivotal figure in British politics and the UK’s former envoy to Washington, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office around 17:00 GMT (10pm PKT) on Monday…

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Monday decided to release nearly 300 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) workers who had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance last week, government sources and party leaders said.

PTI spokesperson Fauzia Siddiqui said that Sindh Home Minister Zia Lanjar called party MPAs Wajid Hussain and Sajjad Ali Soomro to inform them of the…