Many bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel to Gaza showed signs of torture and execution, with families forced to identify their missing loved ones through photographs of decomposed and mutilated remains.
Tensions are mounting between Pakistan and Afghanistan amid reports of a brutal border attack on the former’s troops as a fragile truce between the neighbours, and once allies, nears its expiry.
A 48-hour ceasefire between the two sides, which came into effect this week after days of bloody cross-border attacks, is set to expire at 13:00 GMT on Friday.
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As the end of the truce approached, Pakistani police official Irfan Ali said a suicide car bomber backed by Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, attacked a military compound in Mir Ali, a city in North Waziristan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Accounts of losses suffered during the attack varied.
The official, quoted by news agency The Associated Press, said three fighters were killed in an intense shootout and did not report any troop casualties.
News agency Reuters quoted Pakistani security officials as saying seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack by a fighter who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the wall of a Pakistani military camp in North Waziristan.
The anonymous officials said two other fighters were shot dead as they tried to get into the facility. At least 13 were left injured.
Pakistan’s Geo News reported that four assailants from TTP were killed in a suicide attack on a military camp in North Waziristan, with security sources saying security forces had suffered no losses.
Pakistan’s army did not immediately comment.
The truce, imposed on Wednesday, brought a temporary halt to the deadliest clashes between the neighbours since 2021, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of United States and NATO forces.
The conflict, which threatens to destabilise a region where groups like ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda are trying to resurface, was triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in fighters who had stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denies the charge and accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan, provoking border tensions, and sheltering fighters to undermine its stability and sovereignty.
Media reported that Qatar has offered to host peace talks between the two countries in Doha, though neither government has confirmed the offer.
Reporting from Peshawar, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said there had been “some talk of a meeting in Doha … Friendly countries are trying to make efforts in order to ensure that the ceasefire is extended,” he said.
He described the situation on the border as “tense”, adding that Pakistan had stated that unless the Afghan side addressed its concerns, the situation would be “precarious and can escalate at any moment”.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government said on Thursday that Pakistan had carried out two drone attacks on Kabul the previous day, just before the ceasefire came into effect. Doctors told AP that five people were killed and dozens were injured.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on Thursday that 37 civilians were killed and 425 were wounded in Afghanistan as a result of cross-border clashes with Pakistan this week.
Pakistan has not provided figures for civilian casualties suffered on its side of the border.
John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump’s national security adviser before the two men fell out, has been indicted for allegedly sharing sensitive government information with two relatives and for retaining “documents, writings, and notes” containing classified material.
It’s the third time in recent weeks that the Department of Justice has charged one of Trump’s outspoken critics.
According to the indictment, classified information may have been exposed when a cyberactor believed to be associated with Iran infiltrated Bolton’s personal email account and gained access to the material he shared.
The charges are the result of a criminal investigation that started in 2022, when Democrat Joe Biden was president.
Here is what we know:
John Bolton is an American lawyer, diplomat, and one of Washington’s most recognisable foreign policy hawks – a man whose trademark moustache and hardline worldview have made him both influential and controversial.
He served as Donald Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, clashing frequently with the president over diplomacy and military strategy. Before that, he was US ambassador to the United Nations under George W Bush, where he became known for his scepticism towards multilateralism and his belief in US power above all else.
Bolton, one of the strongest proponents for the war on Iraq, repeatedly made the case that Saddam Hussein was a threat not just to the US but also to the wider world, pushing and amplifying claims about weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaeda that have since been proven to be false.
He also championed regime change in countries like Iran and North Korea.
After his turbulent exit from the Trump White House, because of deep policy disagreements with the president, Bolton returned to private life and later became one of Trump’s most vocal critics.
“John Bolton is absolutely a hawk,” Trump told NBC in June 2019. “If it was up to him, he’d take on the whole world at one time, OK? But that doesn’t matter because I want both sides.”
Bolton later published a blistering memoir, The Room Where It Happened, offering an insider’s account of the rivalries and ideological battles that defined his time in the Trump administration.
I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore….
Bolton was indicted under the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling and sharing classified government information.
The law, passed in 1917, is typically used in cases involving leaks, espionage, or unauthorised retention of classified defence material.
According to the indictment:
Bolton sent more than 1,000 pages of “diary-like entries”, some marked top secret, to two of his relatives. The material was allegedly handwritten and electronically sent.
“Bolton used his personal nongovernmental email accounts, such as email accounts hosted by AOL and Google, to email information classified up to the Top/Secret/SCI level to individuals’ personal email accounts,” the indictment said.
“Often, Bolton’s notes described the secure setting or environment in which he learned the national defense and classified information that he was memorialising in his notes,” prosecutors added.
The indictment also states that in July 2021, a representative for Bolton notified the government of a hack into his personal email account, but did not disclose that it contained national defence and classified information.
Bolton, however, said on Thursday that the FBI was “made fully aware” of the breach and noted that “in four years of the prior administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed.”
He is also accused of keeping “documents, writings, and notes” – including classified material – at his Maryland home and Washington, DC, office.
According to the indictment, in 2018, the day before he became national security adviser, Bolton allegedly created a group chat with two relatives, writing that it was “For Diary in the future!!!”
That July, he sent the group a 25-page document, followed by a message cautioning, “None of which we talk about!!!”, according to court filings.
The indictment includes 18 counts – eight for transmitting national defence information and 10 for unlawfully retaining similar material without authorisation. Each count carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
His indictment suggests prosecutors believe the violations were not merely careless acts but systematic and willful decisions, involving both the retention and transmission of national defence information.
In 2023, Trump was also indicted on 31 counts of willful retention of national defence information in violation of the Espionage Act.
Bolton’s lawyers have denied wrongdoing on the part of their client, saying the information was unclassified or already cleared for publication, and that the charges are politically motivated.
Bolton maintained that his conduct was lawful and accused Trump of using the Justice Department to advance his own agenda.
“I have become the latest target in weaponising the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts,” Bolton said.
“These charges are not just about [Trump’s] focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct,” Bolton said. “Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom.
“I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power.”
He added that the Justice Department had used his own diary about his time in office, which included criticism of Trump, against him.
“These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.
“Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom. I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power,” he added.
After being indicted, which means a grand jury formally charged him with a crime, John Bolton will next go through an arraignment, the first court hearing where he will be read the charges and asked to enter a plea. The former NSA is expected to plead not guilty.
According to a report by CNN, Bolton is expected to surrender himself as soon as Friday and appear in federal court in Maryland, but a hearing has not been scheduled.
Because the charges involve classified information, parts of the legal process may take place behind closed doors under national security rules.
The Justice Department has recently brought cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, following demands from Trump.
Thousands of mourners gathered at a stadium in Kenya for a state funeral for opposition leader and former prime minister, Raila Odinga. His flag-draped coffin was carried by uniformed officers ahead of the service, which was attended by President William Ruto.
Madagascar has sworn in army leader Colonel Michael Randrianirina as president, just days after a military takeover on the back of a popular rebellion that sent President Andry Rajoelina fleeing into exile.
Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer a harsh daily struggle to access food, water, and essential medical supplies one week into the ceasefire agreement as Israel heavily restricts the flow of aid into the war-devastated enclave, contravening the deal.
UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told Al Jazeera that Palestinians in northern Gaza are in “desperate need” of food and water as thousands have returned to total destruction.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from the al-Mawasi area in the south of the Gaza Strip, Ingram said that in order to scale up humanitarian aid deliveries, multiple crossings into the enclave must be opened.
“The stakes are really high,” she said. “There are 28,000 children who were diagnosed with malnutrition in July and August alone, and thousands more since then. So, we need to make sure it’s not just food coming in, but malnutrition treatments, as well.”
While maintaining that humanitarian aid should never become political leverage, Ingram highlighted that assistance to Gaza has been severely constrained for two years, with United Nations agencies sidelined.
“This [ceasefire] is our opportunity to overcome all of that, to turn it right. That is why Israel has to open all of the border crossings now, and they have to let all of the aid into the Gaza Strip at scale alongside commercial goods,” she said.
Israel’s military aid agency COGAT on Thursday announced plans to coordinate with Egypt for reopening the Rafah crossing for civilian movement once preparations conclude. However, COGAT specified that Rafah would remain closed for aid deliveries, saying this wasn’t stipulated in the truce agreement. All humanitarian supplies must instead pass through Israeli security inspections at the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known to Israelis as Kerem Shalom.
With famine conditions already present in parts of Gaza, UN Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher indicated thousands of aid vehicles weekly are required to address the humanitarian crisis.
Despite some aid trucks entering Gaza on Wednesday, medical services remain severely limited and the majority of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents are now homeless. Ismail al-Thawabta, head of the Hamas-run Gaza media office, characterized recent aid deliveries as merely a “drop in the ocean”.
Israeli military operations have devastated much of the densely populated territory, with Gaza health authorities reporting nearly 68,000 Palestinian deaths.
Samer Abdeljaber, the World Food Programme’s regional director, stated the UN agency is utilising “every minute” of the ceasefire to intensify relief operations.
“We are scaling up to serve the needs of over 1.6 million people,” Abdeljaber said in a social media video, noting WFP’s plans to activate nearly 30 bakeries and 145 food distribution points.