Politics
US in talks with Taliban over return to Bagram base for counterterrorism operations: WSJ

The US is in talks with the Taliban about re-establishing a small American military presence at Afghanistan’s Bagram air base to support counterterrorism operations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.
According to the Journal, a US official confirmed that the discussions, led by Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler, may also involve a potential prisoner exchange, an economic agreement, and a security component.
President Donald Trump stated on Thursday, during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, that Washington aims to regain control of Bagram air base in Afghanistan. However, Afghan officials have dismissed the need for any US military presence.
The historic Soviet-era airstrip served as the main base for American forces in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, until the 2021 withdrawal, which allowed the Taliban to take control.
“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump said of Bagram, highlighting its strategic location near China. “We want that base back.”
Kabul, however, rejected the proposal. Zakir Jalal, an Afghan foreign ministry official, wrote on X that Afghanistan and the US must engage without any American military presence on Afghan soil.
The two nations could establish economic and political ties on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests, he added.
China respects Afghanistan’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, a spokesperson of its foreign ministry said, urging all parties to play a constructive role for regional peace and stability.
“The future and destiny of Afghanistan should be held in the hands of the Afghan people,” Lin Jian told a regular press conference on Friday, when asked about Trump’s comments.
“I want to stress that stoking tensions and creating confrontation in the region wins no popular support.”
Engaging with Kabul to free citizens wrongly detained abroad, US officials held talks on Saturday with Afghan authorities regarding Americans held in Afghanistan.
Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special hostage envoy, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US special envoy for Afghanistan, met the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Washington does not recognise the Taliban administration, which seized power in 2021 after 20 years of US military intervention in Afghanistan.
Politics
Trump purchases $100 million worth of Netflix, Warner Bros bonds

US President Donald Trump purchased about $100 million in municipal and corporate bonds from mid-November to late December, his latest disclosures showed, including up to $2 million in Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery bonds just weeks after the companies announced their merger.
Financial disclosures posted on Thursday and Friday showed the majority of Trump’s purchases were municipal bonds from cities, local school districts, utilities and hospitals.
But he also bought bonds from companies including Boeing, Occidental Petroleum and General Motors.
The investments were the latest reported assets added to Trump’s expanding portfolio while he is in office.
It includes holdings in sectors that benefit from his policies, raising questions about conflicts of interest.
For example, Trump said in December that he would have a say in whether Netflix can proceed with its proposed $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which faces a rival bid from Paramount Skydance.
Any deal to acquire Warner Bros will need regulatory approval.
A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that Trump’s stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions and neither Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested.
Like many wealthy individuals, Trump regularly buys bonds as part of his investment portfolio.
He previously disclosed at least $82 million in bond purchases from late August to early October.
Politics
Trump says Pakistani PM’s ‘saving 10 million lives’ remark is an honour

US President Donald Trump has reiterated his claim of having stopped a war between Pakistan and India, while also saying that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked him for saving at least 10 million lives.
He made the remarks at the renaming of Southern Boulevard to Donald J Trump Boulevard in Washington on Friday.
“In a year, we made eight peace deals and ended the conflict in Gaza. We have peace in the Middle East…We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting, two nuclear nations…The Pakistani Prime Minister said Donald Trump saved at least 10 million people, and it was amazing,” he said.
The US president further recalled that the Pakistani prime minister’s remarks were an honour for him.
Trump cited his administration’s foreign policy record and repeated assertions of brokering peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Trump has made similar claims multiple times since May 10 last year, arguing that US pressure helped defuse tensions between India and Pakistan.
Politics
Saudi King Salman leaves hospital after medical tests

Saudi Arabia’s 90-year-old King Salman was discharged from hospital after undergoing medical tests in the capital Riyadh, the kingdom’s Royal Court said on Friday, adding that the results were “reassuring”.
The monarch “left the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh today (Friday) after undergoing medical tests that proved reassuring”, the royal court said in a statement shared on state media, having announced his admission earlier in the day.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude oil exporter, has for years sought to quell speculation over King Salman’s health.
He has been on the throne since 2015, though his son Mohammed bin Salman was named crown prince in 2017 and acts as de facto ruler.
The monarch’s well-being is rarely discussed, but he has been admitted for surgery and tests on multiple occasions in recent years.
In 2024, the Royal Court said he suffered from lung infections, which he recovered from.
He was hospitalised in May 2022, when he went in for a colonoscopy and stayed for just over a week for other tests and “some time to rest”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported at the time.
He was also admitted to hospital in March 2022 to undergo what state media described as “successful medical tests” and to change the battery of his pacemaker.
In 2020, he underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder.
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