Afghanistan mosque blast kills pro-Taliban cleric, over 15 civilians; many hurt

A blast outside a mosque in the city of Herat in Western Afghanistan on Friday killed a high-profile pro-Taliban cleric as well as civilians, police said. “Mujib Rahman Ansari, with some of his guards and civilians, have been killed on their way toward the mosque,” said Herat’s police spokesperson Mahmood Rasoli. Rasoli did not say how many casualties the blast caused.

‘One-word’ tweet: Tendulkar to Biden, Netizens join Twitter’s latest trend

One-word tweets are the new trend on Twitter after influential accounts like that of United States president Joe Biden and space agency NASA responded to American railway Amtrak’s ‘trains’ tweet early Friday morning. Amtrak’s tweet quickly went viral; at the time of writing this the message had about 1,50,000 likes and 20,000 re-tweets. Sachin Tendulkar has also joined the trend and posted (no surprise here) ‘cricket.’ Commercial brands trendjacked the moment by promoting their products.

Global food price index falls for fifth consecutive month in August

The United Nations food agency’s world price index fell for a fifth month in a row in August, further from all-time highs hit earlier this year, as a resumption of grain exports from Ukrainian ports contributed to improved supply prospects. The Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday that its price index, the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 138.0 points last month versus a revised 140.7 for July.

Canada to digitise application process for those seeking permanent residency

As processing backlogs continue to bedevil the Canadian system, the country’s immigration department has announced that it will move to a fully digital application process for the majority of those seeking permanent residency. IRCC has also proposed exempting from a mandatory medical examination for applicants already in Canada. This will apply to applicants for either permanent or temporary residence, if they meet certain criteria. The second largest source country was China, with 16,535.

Germany: Lufthansa pilots begin strike action, 800 flights cancelled

The airline has canceled 800 flights from Germany on Friday and has warned that disruption could continue over the weekend. Pilots at Germany’s airline Lufthansa started a planned 24-hour strike shortly after midnight on Friday. It forced the carrier to cancel 800 flights, impacting about 130.000 passengers. Swiss, Austrian, Brussels and Eurowings, all Lufthansa subsidiaries, are not expected to be affected by the strike. Their schedule will continue without changes, the company stated.