Russia on Thursday became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan since it seized power in 2021, after Moscow r emoved the group from its list of outlawed organizations. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had received credentials from Afghanistan’s newly appointed Ambassador Gul Hassan Hassan. The official recognition of the Afghan government will foster “productive bilateral cooperation,” the ministry said in a statement. Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry called it a historic step, and quoted Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as welcoming the decision as “a good example for other countries.” The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.

About 40% of flights were canceled Friday at all Paris airports and tens of thousands of passengers were rearranging plans at the height of the summer travel season because of a strike by French air traffic controllers seeking better working conditions. Disruptions started hitting airports around France on Thursday and intensified Friday. The national civil aviation authority asked airlines to cancel 40% of flights Friday at Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais airports serving Paris, half of flights in Nice and 30% of flights in Marseille, Lyon and some other cities.

A gas station explosion early on Friday in southeastern Rome injured at least 25 people including nine police officers and a firefighter, local authorities and rescuers said. The explosion was heard across the Italian capital shortly after 8 a.m. and sent up a huge cloud of dark smoke and fire that was visible from several areas of the city. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said local police and firefighters rushed to the area after receiving a report of a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added. Elisabetta Accardo, Rome’s police spokeswoman, said 16 residents were injured, including two who were in “severe conditions” and hospitalized at Rome’s Casilino hospital.

Bright orange signs declaring restricted access—written in both English and Spanish—have begun to line the dry landscape of the New Mexico borderlands, where patches of tall grass and yucca break up fields of onions and arid ranches, all beneath the shadow of a towering border wall. These warnings, posted by the U.S. military, signal the creation of newly designated military zones, the AP reports.

President Donald Trump ’s big tax cut bill will overhaul a common food assistance program for lower-income people by forcing states to pick up some of the costs and requiring more people to work to receive benefits. The changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are projected to squeeze some people out of the program, which has existed for decades in varying forms as part of the nation’s social safety net. Here’s a look at the food assistance program, by the numbers: Year: 2008 The federal aid program formerly known as food stamps was renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, on Oct. 1, 2008.

Russia unleashed a ferocious wave of aerial attacks against Ukraine on Friday, launching a barrage of drones and missiles in what Ukrainian officials say was the most extensive assault since the war began nearly three years ago. The strikes came shortly after President Trump voiced frustration over his recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he was “disappointed.”
Ukraine’s air force reported that a staggering 539 drones and 11 missiles were fired at the capital, Kyiv, over a span of seven hours. The assault injured at least 23 people and caused widespread destruction across the city, with numerous residential buildings and infrastructure damaged.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, assesses President Donald Trump’s first six months, applauds passing of ‘big, beautiful bill’ and more on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent” with its policies, accusing them of “unlawfully undermining” the Trump administration’s agenda. In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science. In a statement Thursday, the EPA said it has a “zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting” the Trump administration’s agenda.

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s governing coalition is considering a bill that would