Daylight News

  Mexico:  Hurricane Grace pummeled Mexico with torrential rain on Saturday, causing severe flooding and mudslides that killed at least eight people after becoming one of the most powerful storms in years to hit the country's Gulf coast. Grace was blowing maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour (201 km per hour), a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, when it slammed into the coast near the resort of Tecolutla in Veracruz state in the early morning. The state government said eight people were killed, including six from a single family. All but one of the victims died in Xalapa, the state capital, including a young girl killed by a mudslide that hit her home, the government said. An adult was killed by a collapsed roof in the city of Poza Rica further north in the state, Veracruz Governor Cuitlahuac Garcia told a news conference. "The state of emergency has not ended," he added. Local television showed severe flooding in Xalapa, with coffins fr...

  Kabul:  The Taliban on Sunday blamed the United States for the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans and foreigners from the capital, one week after the hardline Islamist group returned to power in a rapid victory that stunned the world. The United States has warned of security threats and the European Union admitted it was "impossible" to evacuate everyone at risk from the Taliban, who have vowed a softer version of their brutal rule from 1996-2001. But terrified Afghans continue to try to flee, deepening a tragedy at Kabul airport where the United States and its allies have been unable to cope with the huge numbers of people trying to get on evacuation flights. "America, with all its power and facilities... has failed to bring order to the airport. There is peace and calm all over the country, but there is chaos only at Kabul airport," Taliban official Amir Khan Mutaqi said. Britain's defence ministry said Sunday  seven people had died  in the c...

  Kabul:  Former Afghan government forces forming a resistance movement in a fortified valley are preparing for "long-term conflict", but are also seeking to negotiate with the Taliban, their spokesman told AFP in an interview. Since the Taliban took control of the country following a lightning charge into the capital Kabul, thousands of people have made their way to Panjshir to both join the fight and find a safe haven to continue their lives, Ali Maisam Nazary said. There, Ahmad Massoud, the son of legendary Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, has assembled a fighting force of around 9,000 people, Nazary added. Pictures taken by AFP during training exercises show dozens of recruits performing fitness routines, and a handful of armoured humvees driving across the valley northeast of Kabul. The National Resistance Front's main goal is to avoid further bloodshed in Afghanistan and press fo...

  Montreal:   Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left the door open to sanctions on the Taliban Monday, noting that the Islamist group that now controls Afghanistan remains a "terrorist entity." "Canada already recognizes, and has for long, that the Taliban are terrorists, and harbor terrorists. That's why they're on the terrorist list. So, yes, we can talk about sanctions," Trudeau told reporters.On Tuesday, leaders of the G7 group of wealthy nations -- Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- will meet virtually on Afghanistan. Trudeau said he was "looking forward to" a conversation "shortly with my fellow G7 leaders as we look at what more we can do." Britain, which currently holds the rotating presidency of G7, has said that relief of existing sanctions "will depend on the behavior of the Taliban." The Islamist group swept to power in mid-August, nearly 20 years after its first regime was t...