Pakistan carried out multiple overnight air strikes on Afghanistan, which the Taliban has said killed at least 18 people, including women and children, on Sunday (Feb. 22). Islamabad said the attacks targeted seven alleged militant camps and hideouts near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and that they were "a retributive response" to recent suicide bombings in Pakistan by terror groups it said were sheltered by Kabul. Afghanistan condemned the attacks, saying they targeted multiple civilian homes and a religious school.

The fresh strikes come after the two countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October following deadly cross-border clashes, though subsequent fighting has taken place. The Taliban's defence ministry said the strikes targeted civilian areas of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces and had killed dozens of people. In a statement on X, Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the targets included members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which Islamabad refers to as "Fitna al Khawarij," along with their affiliates and the Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on four commanders of Sudan's warring paramilitary force suspected of atrocities against civilians that UN experts said showed "hallmarks of genocide." The four commanders in the Rapid Support Forces, which have been at war with the Sudanese military since 2023, were added to the blacklist for their activities in el-Fasher, especially on Oct. 26, the day the paramilitary force took over the North Darfur capital.

The United Kingdom imposed sanctions on the four commanders in December, and this week's designations follow a report last week by UN-backed human rights experts. They reported that the RSF carried out mass killings and other atrocities in el-Fasher after an 18-month siege, during which they imposed conditions "calculated to bring about the physical destruction" of non-Arab communities. UN officials say several thousand civilians were killed in the RSF takeover of el-Fasher, the Sudanese army's only remaining stronghold in the vast western Darfur region.

The Mexican military killed the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in the country, known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against Mexican government officials, during an operation to try and capture him. Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," was the notorious leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and his killing marks the Mexican government's biggest prize yet to show the Trump administration, in its efforts to crack down on the cartels. But it was met with a forceful reaction from the cartel.

More than 70 people died in the attempt to capture Cervantes and the aftermath, authorities said a day later. They include 25 members of the Mexican National Guard who were killed in six separate attacks, while some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco, and four others in the neighboring state of Michoacan. Also killed were a prison guard and an agent from the state prosecutor's office.

The US tariff rate for some countries will rise to 15% or higher from the newly imposed 10%, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said, without naming any specific trading partners or giving further details. Greer told Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" program that the Trump administration does not intend to raise tariffs on Chinese goods above current levels as President Donald Trump plans to travel to China in coming weeks.

Speaking later on Bloomberg TV, Greer said the White House was preparing a proclamation to raise the temporary tariffs to 15% "where appropriate." He added that it would "accommodate" countries that have trade deals but did not provide details. He said that the administration wanted to make sure that it pursues proper legal processes for the increase, adding: "any time we put on a tariff, we're going to have foreign interests who want to bring it down. So people are going to sue us."