Politics
Earthquakes have frequently rattled Afghanistan, Pakistan in recent years
More than 800 people are dead and over 2,500 injured after an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck the rugged eastern region of Afghanistan, the region’s latest instance of increased seismic activity.
Here are previous such disasters of recent years in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region which lies at the intersection of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
2025
- A magnitude 5.6 quake hit Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on August 27.
- A magnitude 5.2 earthquake hit Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on August 19, at a depth of 186 km (115 miles).
- A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck central Pakistan on June 29, with its epicentre at a depth of 149 km (93 miles).
- A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Pakistan on May 10, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.
- Quakes of magnitude 5.6 and 5.8 hit the Hindu Kush and Afghanistan-Tajikistan border regions, on April 16 and 19, respectively.
- A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Pakistan on April 12, at a depth of 39 km (25 miles).
- Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi has been hit by several moderate or minor tremors in March and June.
2024
- A magnitude 5.5 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on October 17.
- An earthquake of magnitude 5.75 struck Pakistan at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) on September 11.
- Earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 and 5.8 struck Pakistan between March 19 and March 20.
- An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 hit northwestern Kashmir on February 19.
- A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on January 11.
- A magnitude 5 earthquake hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region on January 5.
2023
- An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region on November 15.
- Many died as multiple earthquakes rattled Afghanistan in October.
- On August 6, an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.
- Earthquakes of magnitude 5.6 and 5.7 hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on May 3 and on August 5, respectively.
- An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit northern Afghanistan in late March, killing at least 13.
- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on January 5.
2022
- An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 hit southeastern Afghanistan on December 16.
- Over September 5 and 6, at least two earthquakes struck Afghanistan, with one killing at least eight.
- A magnitude 5.6 quake struck Pakistan’s southwestern region on August 1.
- A magnitude 6 earthquake in Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people in June.
- A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on February 5.
- An earthquake of magnitude 5.6, at a depth of 30 km (19 miles), hit western Afghanistan on January 17.
2021
- At least 15 people were killed after an earthquake struck southern Pakistan on October 7.
- A magnitude 4.6 earthquake, at a depth of 17.6 km (11 miles), shook Afghanistan on May 19.
Huge crowds took to the streets Saturday in all 50 US states to vent their anger over President Donald Trump’s hardline policies at “No Kings” protests that Republicans ridiculed as “Hate America” rallies.
From New York and Washington to smaller cities in Michigan and Trump’s second home in Florida, demonstrations in the eastern half of the United States revved up ahead of similar events due out west.
More than 2,700 protests are planned coast to coast, and organisers say they are expecting millions to attend.
“This is what democracy looks like!” chanted thousands at a protest in Washington near the National Mall, home to the city’s iconic landmarks.
“Hey hey ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go!” said protesters, many of them carrying American flags.
Demonstrators are up in arms over what they see as strongarm tactics since the Republican billionaire returned to the White House in January, including attacks on the media, prosecuting political opponents and a vast immigration crackdown.
A US government shutdown is now in its third week, with the Trump administration firing thousands of federal workers and lawmakers showing little sign they are ready to break the impasse.
Thousands flooded New York’s Times Square, Boston Common and Chicago’s Grant Park.
“I never thought I would live to see the death of my country as a democracy,” 69-year-old retiree Colleen Hoffman told AFP as she marched down Broadway.
“We are in a crisis— the cruelty of this regime, the authoritarianism. I just feel like I cannot sit home and do nothing.”
In New York’s Queens borough, demonstrators carried colorful signs that read “Queens Say No Kings,” and “We protest because we love America and want it back!” while some chanted, “We love our country, we can’t stand Trump!”
In Los Angeles, organizers plan to float a giant balloon of Trump in a diaper. They said they expect 100,000 people to attend.
So far, Trump’s response to Saturday’s events has been muted.
“They’re saying they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he told Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures.”
But his top surrogates were in more fighting form, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling the day of protest the “Hate America rally.”
“You’re going to bring together the Marxists, the Socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat Party,” he told reporters.
Republican lawmaker Tom Emmer also used the “Hate America” phrase and referred to participants as the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party.
‘Country of equals’
Beyond the United States, the “No Kings” movement is even organizing events in Canada, and small protests took place Saturday in Malaga, Spain and Malmo, Sweden.
On Thursday, Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said protesters wanted to convey that “we are a country of equals.”
“We are a country of laws that apply to everyone, of due process and of democracy. We will not be silenced,” she told reporters.
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the Indivisible Project, slammed the Trump administration’s efforts to send the National Guard into US cities and crack down on undocumented migrants.
Trump has ordered National Guard troops into Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis. Planned deployments to Chicago and Portland, Oregon have so far been blocked in the courts.
“It is the classic authoritarian playbook: threaten, smear and lie, scare people into submission,” Greenberg said.
Top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer encouraged demonstrators to let their voices be heard.
“I say to my fellow Americans this No Kings Day: Do not let Donald Trump and Republicans intimidate you into silence. That’s what they want to do. They’re afraid of the truth,” he wrote Saturday on X.
“Speak out, use your voice, and exercise your right to free speech.”
More than seventy Khwarij belonging to Gul Bahadur group, including key Khwariji leader Farman alias Al-Karamah, have been killed during effective precision strikes on terrorist hideouts of Khwariji Gul Bahadur group in the areas of Paktika.
According to credible intelligence sources, these strikes were carried out in the night of 17th of October.
According to security officials, the Khwariji Gul Bahadur group is involved in major and numerous acts of terrorism in Pakistan while infiltrating from Afghanistan.
On October 17, the same group also carried out a failed VBIED attack in Khadi area of North Waziristan, in which three women, two children and a jawan were martyred.
Moreover, other Khwariji leaders Gulab alis Deewana, Rehmani, Adil,Siddiqullah Dawar, Ghazi Maddah Khel, Muqarrab, Qismat Ullah and Fazal-ur-Rehman were also killed in the attacks.
Khwariji Fazal-ur-Rehman is the close relative of Gul Bahadur. Similarly, Khwariji Ashiq Ullah alias Kausar and Younus were also killed in these strikes.
The security officials termed the killing of important Khwarji leaders as a significant and big success
- “All aircraft are safe,” says airport official Masudul Hasan.
- Blaze disrupts both domestic and international flights.
- No immediate information on what caused blaze.
Flights out of Bangladesh’s main airport were delayed or diverted on Saturday after a major fire broke out in the cargo terminal, officials said.
Thirty-six firefighting units are working to douse the flames, Talha Bin Zasim, an officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Media Cell, told Reuters.
Operations at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport were suspended, airport official Masudul Hasan told reporters, adding all aircraft are safe.
There was no immediate information as to what may have caused the blaze.
Both domestic and international flights were affected.
An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Dhaka was diverted to Kolkata, and an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates was sent on to Chittagong.
Meanwhile, a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong was seen circling in the sky after failing to land at Dhaka airport, officials said.
The army, navy, and air force joined the fire service in efforts to bring the blaze under control.
This is the third major fire reported in Bangladesh this week. A fire on Tuesday at a garment factory in Bangladesh and an adjacent chemical warehouse killed at least 16 people and injured others. On Thursday, another fire burned down a garment factory building in an export processing zone in Chittagong.
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