Auqib Nabi earns maiden India call-up as replacement for injured Jasprit Bumrah

The US Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominees for two positions on the federal labour law enforcement agency on Friday. The move provides Republicans with the necessary votes to overturn several key decisions that previously supported union organising. The Republican-led Senate approved a block of over 70 federal government nominees in a 51–47 vote. Among those confirmed were James Macy and David Prouty to serve on the National Labor Relations Board. James Macy, a Republican, held several roles at the US Department of Labour after spending four decades representing employers in labour disputes. David Prouty, a former union lawyer serving as the board’s sole Democrat, was confirmed for a second term. The five-member board already held a 2–1 Republican majority prior to the confirmation vote. By tradition, the panel maintains two Democrats, two Republicans, and a chair designated by the president. The NLRB investigates complaints from private-sector workers and unions whilst overseeing workplace elections. Formal complaints filed by the general counsel are heard by administrative judges before reaching the full board, whose rulings can be appealed in federal court. This internal process faces ongoing legal challenges from companies such as Amazon and SpaceX, which argue that the framework violates the US Constitution. Under long-standing tradition, the board requires three affirmative votes to overturn established precedent. Existing Republican appointees Scott Mayer and Chairman James Murphy had previously stated they would not break with that practice without a third vote. Trump’s appointees are expected to target policies favoured by trade unions that contributed to a recent surge in organising efforts. Murphy and Mayer have already revived a rule making it harder to hold companies accountable as joint employers of contract workers, whilst relinquishing jurisdiction over a SpaceX case to another federal agency. The board previously lost its quorum and was unable to process cases last year after Trump took the unprecedented step of removing Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox. Her dismissal left hundreds of cases unresolved for nearly a year. Wilcox sued and brief reinstatement was granted before a federal appeals court paused and reversed the decision. In June, the US Supreme Court upheld Trump’s removal of a Democratic Federal Trade Commission member, ruling that statutory protections against removal without cause were invalid. Wilcox’s petition for Supreme Court review regarding an identical protection remains pending.

Afghanistan is facing a rapidly worsening malnutrition emergency as severe funding cuts leave millions without life-saving assistance, the United Nations has warned. Speaking from Kabul, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Afghanistan Director John Aylieff said the country’s nutrition crisis is escalating at an alarming pace, with growing numbers of severely malnourished children reaching health facilities too late to receive effective treatment. He said child wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition, has now reached critical levels in nearly one-third of Afghanistan’s provinces. According to the WFP, ongoing conflict, disruptions to trade, the return of thousands of Afghan migrants from neighbouring countries, and shrinking international aid have combined to create an unprecedented humanitarian emergency. The UN official said last year recorded the sharpest annual increase in malnutrition cases, while the situation has deteriorated even further in 2026. Children under the age of two account for around 80 percent of the most severe cases, highlighting the devastating impact on the country’s youngest and most vulnerable population. Aylieff said the WFP has only enough resources to provide treatment to one out of every seven acutely malnourished women and children this year. The remaining six are forced to leave without assistance because of a severe shortage of funds. He warned that the cries of starving children in Afghan health centres reflect a preventable tragedy that could claim countless more lives if emergency funding is not secured. The humanitarian agency also expressed concern that widespread hunger could fuel migration, instability and extremism, stressing that a stable Afghanistan remains important for regional security. Millions of Afghans have also returned from neighbouring countries, including Pakistan and Iran, over the past three years, placing additional pressure on already overstretched resources. Although this year’s harvest has improved, the gains have been overshadowed by the country’s worsening economic and humanitarian challenges. The WFP estimates that nearly 14 million Afghans are currently experiencing acute hunger. However, funding shortages have limited food assistance to only a small fraction of those in need, while preventive food distribution programmes in high-risk areas have been suspended.

A Mexican judge has ruled that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to formally charge Ángel Aguirre, the former governor of Guerrero state, with forced disappearance and obstruction of justice in connection with the 2014 vanishing of 43 students. Aguirre, who was arrested following new testimony gathered by a federal investigative unit, is accused of ordering the destruction of surveillance camera recordings that could have clarified the events surrounding the abduction of students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College in Iguala. Defence counsel denied all allegations, asserting that Aguirre was attending a high-level meeting at the time the recordings were allegedly transferred to him. The judge ordered that Aguirre remain held in a maximum-security prison pending trial. The indictment represents one of the most prominent legal developments in the case since the 2022 arrest of former federal Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam. Of the 43 trainees abducted on 26 September 2014 after commandeering buses for a protest, the remains of only three have been positively identified.