Pope Francis in Papua New Guinea reaches out to ‘peripheries’ of Catholic Church

(LONDON) — Gazing into a mirror framed by a vase of bright flowers, Taiba Sulaimani begins to sing. The lyrics, in Farsi, offer a message of hope — I will fly one day, I will be free one day.

Sulaimani is one of hundreds of Afghan women and allies around the world uploading videos of themselves singing on social media platforms. The videos are meant to protest a law passed by the Taliban last week banning women’s voices in public and mandating that they cover their entire bodies.

Women in Afghanistan are not allowed to show any skin, including their eyes. Before this law was passed, however, it was put forth as a recommendation — not enforced — and many women would show the upper half of their faces in public.

The new law “effectively [attempts] to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows,” a spokesperson for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner said on Tuesday.

In response, women like Sulaimani are demonstrating that they refuse to be silenced.

“I recorded the video because I wanted to tell the Taliban, you can’t tell me what to do,” she told ABC News.

Sulaimani, who fled from Afghanistan to Canada three years ago after the Taliban regained power in 2021, didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to her family. But, even though she currently lives more than 10,000 miles away, the Taliban still tried to intimidate her, warning her by phone that they can’t do anything to her, but that she also shouldn’t forget her family is still in Afghanistan.

But, in defiance, this only motivated Sulaimani further.

“It makes me sure that I have to go ahead with power, even more than ever,” she told ABC News.

Elsewhere, an Afghan woman now living in Norway, Hoda Khamosh, echoed the sentiment.

“We came to the conclusion that every voice can become thousands, showing that we women are not just a few individuals who can be erased,” she said.

Khamosh, who founded the Afghan Women’s Justice Movement, posted a video of herself singing a revolutionary poem saying that if you close your doors on us, we will use the windows to make her voices heard.

“We do not go to the field with a gun, but our voice, our image,” she said. “Protest is a war and a struggle.”

Even women inside Afghanistan are now recording videos of themselves singing, sometimes solo and sometimes in pairs or small groups, yet always wearing burqas that conceal their identities.

Zahra, a journalist in Afghanistan who asked only to be identified by her first name for her safety, said the situation on the ground is rapidly changing. Last week, there were many women outside, but since the passage of the law mandating women to veil their bodies, as well as their voices, she said the streets have emptied of women.

The new law now considers a woman’s voice intimate and they are forbidden to sing, recite or read anything in public. This comes in addition to other regulations forbidding women to leave their houses alone or allowing them to look or speak to men who they’re not related to by blood or marriage.

The combination of these restrictions makes leaving the home impractical at best, and even impossible in some cases. If a person violates the rules, they can be punished with a warning or be arrested, with a Taliban spokesperson saying the new law would “be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice.”

Now, many male family members often instruct their female relatives to stay at home since they don’t want trouble, Zahra said.

“Sometimes we have nightmares that [the Taliban] will come and arrest us,” she said, citing common anecdotes of rape and torture in prisons.

Although hope alone may not seem meaningful to many Afghan women, some now feel empowered by the outpouring of global support in response to the videos of women singing. Now — they hope — the international community will step in and tangibly do something to help protect Afghan women.

“Please don’t leave us alone with the Taliban,” Sulaimani said. “We all need your support.”

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(NEW YORK) — Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging hundreds of cross-border strikes in the wake of the shocking explosions of wireless devices across Lebanon last week.

Here’s how the news is developing:

Israel has ‘additional strikes prepared,’ Gallant says

Israel has “additional strikes prepared” against Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, in a discussion with troops on Tuesday.

“Hezbollah, today, is different from the organization we knew a week ago – and we have additional strikes prepared. Any Hezbollah force that you may encounter, will be destroyed. They are worried about the combat experience you have gained,” Gallant said.

G7 warns escalation could lead to ‘unimaginable consequences’ in the Middle East

The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 said they have “deep concern” over “the trend of escalatory violence” in the Middle East, in a joint statement Tuesday.

The statement doesn’t call out Israel by name, it does call for “a stop to the current destructive cycle,” warning “no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”

“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences,” it reads, while calling for the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that implemented a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Additionally, the statement reaffirms the G7’s “strong support” for the ongoing efforts to broker a hostage release and cease-fire deal in Gaza.

Israel claims it killed top Hezbollah commander

Israel claimed it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Tuesday’s strike on Beirut, which killed at least six people and injured 15 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

The IDF said it targeted and killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi, a commander of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket array.

“Kabisi commanded the various missile units of Hezbollah, including the precision missile units. Over the years and during the war, he was responsible for the launches towards the Israeli home front. Kabisi was a central center of knowledge in the field of missiles and was close to the senior military leadership of Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF also claimed he was responsible for the planning and execution of many terrorist plots against IDF forces and Israeli citizens.

At least six dead in Israeli strike on Ghobeiry neighborhood in Beirut

At least six people were killed and 15 others were wounded after Israel carried out a strike on the Ghobeiry neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

It appears the top floor of a concrete apartment building took the brunt of the strike.

US continues to urge Israel to avoid ‘all-out war’ with Lebanon as tensions remain high

The U.S. is continuing to urge Israel to avoid an “all-out war” with Lebanon as tensions between the two countries remain high, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday.

“I think we don’t believe it’s in Israel’s interest for this to escalate, for there to be an all-out war there on the north on that blue line between Israel and Lebanon. If the goal is to get families back to their homes, we think there’s a better way to do that than an all-out conflict,” Kirby said.

“The Israelis will tell you, yesterday, that they had to take some of these strikes because they were about to be imminently attacked by Hezbollah. They do have a right to defend themselves, but what we’re going to keep doing is talking to them about trying to find a diplomatic solution here, a way to de-escalate the tensions so that the families can go back in a sustainable way,” Kirby added.

Given the State Department’s warning to Americans to get out of Lebanon while commercial travel is still available on if he believes Israel may target airports in Lebanon as they have in the past.

“We want to make sure that there are still commercial options available for Americans to leave, and they should be leaving now while those options are available. But I won’t get ahead of operations,” Kirby said.

Kirby also dodged questions on what we might see from Hezbollah’s response to Israel, telling GMA he “won’t get into the intelligence assessment.”

“It’s obviously going to be something we’ll monitor very, very closely. I will just tell you that while we won’t get involved in the conflict itself there, around that blue line, because we don’t want to see a conflict at all. We’ll do what we have to continue to do to make sure Israel can defend itself.”

Lebanon death toll rises to 558 people, ministry says

At least 558 people have been killed — including 50 children and 95 women — and another 1,853 people wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday, according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

Officials released the updated figures during a press conference on Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.

Israeli bombing prompts exodus from southern Lebanon

Thousands of people fled their homes in southern Lebanon after Israel killed hundreds in intensified airstrikes through Monday and Tuesday.

The mass movement of people — encouraged by the Israel Defense Forces before and during its expanding bombing campaign — prompted gridlock on highways running north toward the capital Beirut.

A journey that usually takes 90 minutes took up to 13 hours.

Authorities are working to turn schools and other educational institutions into makeshift shelters to house displaced people.

IDF, Hezbollah begin new day of cross-border fire

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday its warplanes struck “dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon,” with artillery and tanks also conducting fire missions in the area.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired at least 125 rockets overnight into Tuesday morning. Sirens were sounding through the early morning in northern Israel.

At least nine people suffered minor injuries as a result of rockets fired into the Western Galilee region of northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.

At least 492 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities. At least 1,645 people were reported injured.

The IDF said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.

Blinken seeks ‘off ramp’ as Israel pounds Lebanon, official says

A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration told ABC News the U.S. cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli invasion into Lebanon following the escalation of its airstrike campaign on Monday.

“I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously,” the senior administration official said.

The U.S. is putting its hope in engagements on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the senior administration official, who expressed hope that the informal meetings could lead to “illusive solutions” or “at least make some progress” toward resolving the crisis in the Middle East.

The official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would discuss “the increasing challenges” across the so-called “Blue Line” dividing Israel and Lebanon at a meeting with his G7 counterparts.

At that engagement and through the week, the a key U.S. focus will be “finding an off ramp,” they said.

“We’ve got some concrete ideas with allies and partners we are going to be discussing,” the official added.

New details emerge over US troops being sent to Middle East

A U.S. official tells ABC News that the “small number of additional U.S. military personnel being sent to the Middle East,” announced this morning by the Pentagon is a small special operations team that will work in planning for a non-combatant evacuation operation should it be needed.

Lebanon warns UN its citizens face ‘serious danger’ amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict

A Lebanese parliament member addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday sharing a warning that the country’s citizens are in danger as tensions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah intensify.

Member Bahia El Hariri attended the U.N. meeting in place of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

“The people of Lebanon are in serious danger after the destruction of large areas of agricultural land and the targeting of residential buildings in the majority of the regions of Lebanon,” Hariri said.

“This has damaged the economy of our country and threatened our social order, especially since several countries have asked their nationals to leave our country,” she added.

Separately, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalating situation between northern Israel and southern Lebanon and the “large number of civilian casualties, including children and women, being reported by Lebanese authorities, as well as thousands of displaced persons, amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October,” in a statement issued by his spokesperson Monday.

“The Secretary-General is also gravely alarmed” by the continued Hezbollah strikes on Israel, the statement added.

Israeli forces attacked 1,600 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, IDF says

Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked “1,600 terrorist targets of Hezbollah” in parts of southern Lebanon in “several attack waves,” on Monday, the IDF said in a post on X.

US Embassy in Jerusalem issues travel restriction for government employees

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert “temporarily” restricting travel for U.S. government employees and their family members to parts of northern and northeastern Israel.

“U.S. government employees and their family members have been temporarily restricted from any personal travel north of highway 65 toward Afula and north/northeast of highway 71 from Afula to the Jordanian border. Any official travel in this area will require approval. Approved travel will take place only in armored vehicles. This is provided for your information as you make your own security plans,” the U.S. Embassy alert said.

Afula is a city in northern Israel.

“US citizens should take this into consideration when planning their own activities,” the alert read.

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LONDON — Ukrainian forces are continuing to advance deeper into Russia’s Kursk region, expanding their area of control on the third day of their major incursion, with the situation worsening for Russian forces, according to a key pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger.

Rybar, a blog closely linked to Russia’s defense ministry, reported Thursday that Ukrainian armored units have reached the village of Bolshoe Soldatskoe, roughly 18.5 miles inside Russia’s border.

Heavy fighting is now also reported only 9 miles from the town of Lgov, which straddles a crucial highway.

“Despite the attempts of the Russian joint forces group to stop the advance of Ukrainian mobile groups, the scale of the crisis is widening,” Rybar wrote on Telegram.

Rybar and other pro-Kremlin military bloggers are contradicting the claims of Russia’s defense ministry that the Ukrainian advance has been stopped.

Ukraine’s attack appeared to be a large-scale offensive operation, involving at least two Ukrainian brigades, rather than a less significant cross-border raid. As the scale of the attack was becoming clearer on Thursday, it appeared to be one of the most significant military developments in the war in months.

At least 66 people have been injured as a result of shelling in the Kursk region since Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Health reported Thursday.

The railway stations in three settlements in the Kursk region — Sudzha, Korenevo and Psel — are closed amid the invasion, the press service of the Moscow Railway reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for “courage” in the region.

“This requires you, and the current situation requires a certain amount of courage and concentration on ways to solve these complex, difficult, extraordinary tasks that are now facing all branches and all levels of government,” Putin said at a meeting with the acting governor of the region, Alexei Smirnov, on Thursday.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian adviser to the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, commented Thursday for the first time on the operation, saying one goal was to alter the Russian perception of the war, a shift that could potentially affect any eventual negotiations.

“This increases the cost of the war for Russia quantitatively. More armored vehicles have been destroyed, the Russian Federation has lost territories, and there have been more casualties. Will this affect how they perceive this war? Undoubtedly,” Podolyak said in a live discussion on Ukrainian TV.

Zelenskyy praised the Ukrainian army on Thursday for its ability “to surprise” and achieve results, though made no direct reference to the situation in Kursk.

“Everyone can see that the Ukrainian army knows how to surprise. And knows how to achieve results,” Zelenskyy said at an event in Kyiv. “This is demonstrated by the battlefield, where our soldiers not only withstood the overwhelming force of the occupiers, but also are destroying it in the way necessary to protect Ukraine — our state and independence.”

The Ukrainian incursion began on Tuesday when a Ukrainian force numbering in at least the hundreds crossed over the border near the village of Sudzha, with tanks and heavy weapons, according to official and unofficial Russian public sources. Catching Russia off-guard, Ukrainian soldiers quickly seized a handful of villages, advancing up to 6 to 9 miles, according to the pro-Kremlin Russian military bloggers.

Since then, Ukraine has moved in significant reinforcements and its forces were continuing to try to press forward but were being held on Thursday at the village of Korenovo, according to multiple pro-Kremlin bloggers, who are close to Russia’s military. Heavy fighting was also focused on Sudzha, which Ukrainian troops were reported to have largely surrounded.

Russia’s defense ministry on Thursday claimed to have halted the Ukrainian advance and to have inflicted hundreds of casualties on Ukrainian troops. But reports from the Russian military bloggers suggested a far more chaotic situation, with unconfirmed reports that Ukrainian forces had continued to reach deeper in some places into the Kursk region.

One of the best-known pro-Kremlin military bloggers, Two Majors, reported that six or seven Ukrainian tanks were fighting in the village of Ivnitsa, roughly 18.5 miles from the border.

He also reported gunfire, likely from Ukrainian reconnaissance special forces units, in the village of Anastasevka, more than 18.5 miles from the border and about 28 miles from the Kursk nuclear power station.

Multiple military bloggers also reported gunfire, likely from Ukrainian reconnaissance special forces units, in the village of Anastasevka.

They also reported Ukraine engineering equipment to try and dig in and hold ground.

Ukrainian officials have been almost entirely silent on the operation, with speculation swirling around its possible goals. Ukraine may be seeking to pull Russian forces from elsewhere in Ukraine, as Ukrainian troops are under intense pressure in the Donbas region near the key city of Pokrovsk, although most analysts believe Russia likely has sufficient forces to continue its operations there unchanged.

Russian analysts have also suggested that Ukraine could be seeking to seize the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, which is located roughly 50 miles from the border, but most analysts were deeply skeptical that the Ukrainian force is large enough to reach it.

Podolyak’s comments on Thursday appeared to perhaps support another theory that Ukraine could be seeking to capture Russian territory with the goal of trading it for Ukrainian-occupied land in potential future peace negotiations. Podolyak said he expects the Kursk attack to impact Russian society, bringing clear signals of the ineffectiveness of Putin’s strategy closer to home, at the same time as potentially strengthening Ukraine’s position in negotiations.

“Do they respond to anything other than fear?” he told Ukrainian television. “No, we need to finally realize this. Any compromise is perceived by Russia as your weakness and readiness to kneel before them. When can they sit at the negotiating table, and can something be achieved? Only if they understand that the war is not going according to their plan.”

Some Ukrainian and independent military analysts have expressed doubts about the wisdom of such a risky operation when Ukraine is suffering from severe manpower shortages in Donbas, where Russia in recent weeks has been making rapid advances towards Pokrovsk, prompting fears Ukrainian lines near there are in danger of cracking. Russian forces overnight reportedly again made advances in that area, capturing another small village, according to Ukrainian military analysts.

ABC News’ Natalia Popova contributed to this report.

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