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Grenades Thrown Into Afghan Mosque A Day After 46 Killed In Afghanistan

ASSOCIATED PRESS (U.S.), KHAAMA PRESS (Afghanistan)

Worldcrunch

The Associated press reports that three grenades were thrown into a mosque in the eastern Afghan Khost province, injuring nine on Wednesday, a day after a string of suicide bombings killed at least 46 people in southwestern and northern Afghanistan.

The Taliban did not acknowledge the attack, even though Afghan police blamed Taliban insurgents.

The grenade attack came after the deadliest day for Afghan civilians so far this year on Tuesday, as the Taliban and their allies ramped up their attacks on Afghan security forces, who are supposed to take over when Western forces leave the country by 2014.

The Associated Press reports that the first attacks took place in Nimroz province capital Zaranj, 10 kilometers from the Iranian border.

Afghan police killed two attackers on Monday and captured three others on Tuesday morning, but three suicide bombers still managed to detonate explosive vests later that day.

Most of the casualties came from a bazar, where Afghans flocked to shop for the Muslim Eid holiday.

The second bombing in the northern Kunduz province also took place near a crowded bazar, killing at least 10 people, including five children.

No one, including the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the bombings, according to Khaama Press.

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eyes on the U.S.

A Foreign Eye On America's Stunning Drop In Life Expectancy

Over the past two years, the United States has lost more than two years of life expectancy, wiping out 26 years of progress. French daily Les Echos investigates the myriad of causes, which are mostly resulting in the premature deaths of young people.

Image of a person holding the national flag of the United States in front of a grave.

A person holding the national flag of the United States in front of a grave.

Hortense Goulard


On May 6, a gunman opened fire in a Texas supermarket, killing eight people, including several children, before being shot dead by police. Particularly bloody, this episode is not uncommon in the U.S.: it is the 22nd mass killing (resulting in the death of more than four people) this year.

Gun deaths are one reason why life expectancy is falling in the U.S. But it's not the only one. Last December, the American authorities confirmed that life expectancy at birth had fallen significantly in just two years: from 78.8 years in 2019, it would be just 76.1 years in 2021.

The country has thus dropped to a level not reached since 1996. This is equivalent to erasing 26 years of progress.Life expectancy has declined in other parts of the world as a result of the pandemic, but the U.S. remains the developed country with the steepest decline — and the only one where this trend has not been reversed with the advent of vaccines. Most shocking of all: this decline is linked above all to an increase in violent deaths among the youngest members of the population.

Five-year-olds living in the U.S. have a one in 25 chance of dying before their 40th birthday, according to calculations by The Financial Times. For other developed countries, including France, this rate is closer to one in 100. Meanwhile, the life expectancy of a 75-year-old American differs little from that of other OECD countries.

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