SNG Daily: Blinken Stepping Up Ceasefire Efforts; Giorgia Meloni Seeks $100,000 As Deepfake Damages

Suicide Attack In Taliban Stronghold Kandahar

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a branch of the private New Kabul Bank in Kandahar city, killing three and injuring 12 others. It’s not clear who he was or what his affiliations were. No group has claimed responsibilty. Kandahar is the home of the Taliban movement which has controlled Afghanistan since 2021 and its supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada lives there. The Islamic State is known to be active but an attack of this kind in Kandahar is rare.

Blinken Stepping Up Ceasefire Efforts

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his latest West Asia tour, meeting Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official in Cairo. He is pushing hard for a truce between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, in a desperate effort to prevent what looks like famine from spreading. He was in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, meeting senior leaders. Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the US are hoping to secure a ceasefire and exchange of Israeli hostage for Palestinian prisoners.

Prabowo Subianto Declared Indonesia’s President

Indonesia’s Electoral Commission has declared that Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has been elected president in last month’s election. But his defeated rivals, Anies Baswedan, former Jakarta governor, and Ganjar Pranowo, former governor of Central Jakarta, have said they will challenge his election in court. They claim many irregularities were committed including incumbent president Joko Widodo’s open backing for Subianto.

Italy’s PM Meloni Seeks $100,000 As Deepfake Damages

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is seeking more than $100,000 in damages after explicit deepfake videos of her were disseminated online without her consent. The videos surfaced two years ago before she was elected prime minister. Investigators have already arrested two persons, a father and son, for allegedly superimposing Meloni’s face on pornographic content.

Europe To Help Ukraine With Frozen Russian Assets

European leaders are meeting in Brussels for a key discussions on Ukraine in the wake of Russian missiles striking Kyiv. They are expected to announce stepped up assistance to Ukraine that would include handing over the interest from seized and frozen Russian assets. This could amout to many billion dollars. Europe is also expected to push for enhanced defence spending for their own armed forces.