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Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first visit to Kashmir on Friday since a conflict with arch-rival Pakistan, opening a strategic railway line to the contested region he called “the crown jewel of India”.Modi launched a string of projects worth billions of dollars for the divided Muslim-majority territory, the centre of bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought a four-day conflict last month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.”Pakistan will never forget… its shameful loss,” the Hindu nationalist premier told crowds a month since India launched strikes on its neighbour after an attack on tourists in Kashmir.”Friends, today’s event is a grand festival of India’s unity and firm resolve,” Modi said after striding across the soaring bridge to formally launch it for rail traffic.”This is a symbol and celebration of rising India,” he said of the Chenab Bridge which connects two mountains.New Delhi calls the Chenab span the “world’s highest railway arch bridge”, sitting 359 metres (1,117 feet) above a river.While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.- ‘Our troubles’ -Modi said the railway was “an extraordinary feat of architecture” that “will improve connectivity” by providing the first rail link from the Indian plains up to mountainous Kashmir.With 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, the new railway runs for 272 kilometres (169 miles) and connects Udhampur, Srinagar and Baramulla.It is expected to halve the travel time between the town of Katra in the Hindu-majority Jammu region and Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir, to around three hours.The new route will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air.Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked Kashmir’s limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule in 2019.Pakistan’s foreign ministry in a statement said India’s “claims of development… ring hollow against the backdrop of an unprecedented military presence, suppression of fundamental freedoms, arbitrary arrests, and a concerted effort to alter the region’s demography”.Around 150 people protested against the project on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.”We want to tell India that building bridges and laying roads in the name of development will not make the people of Kashmir give up their demand for freedom,” said Azir Ahmad Ghazali, who organised the rally attended by Kashmiris who fled unrest on the Indian side in the 1990s.”In clear and unequivocal terms, we want to say to the Indian government that the people of Kashmir have never accepted India’s forced rule.”More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire during last month’s conflict.The fighting was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing, a charge denied by Islamabad.Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged an insurgency for 35 years demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.Modi also announced further government financial support for families whose relatives were killed, or whose homes were damaged, during the brief conflict — mainly in shelling along the heavily militarised de facto border with Pakistan, known as the Line of Control.”Their troubles are our troubles,” Modi said.

Indian police Friday detained four people including a senior executive at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after 11 fans were crushed to death during celebrations for the team’s first IPL title.Hundreds of thousands packed the streets in the southern city of Bengaluru on Wednesday to welcome home their hero Virat Kohli and his RCB cricket team after they beat Punjab Kings in the final of the Indian Premier League.But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster with a stampede near M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the players were parading the trophy.Karnataka state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Friday he had directed police to arrest the representatives of RCB, event organisers DNA, and Karnataka State Cricket Association.Police brought Nikhil Sosale, a senior RCB official, and three other representatives of DNA before a judge in Bengaluru, an AFP journalist saw.All four were later arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody, broadcaster NDTV reported. Siddaramaiah had earlier said a first information report, which marks the start of a police investigation, had been “registered against them”.The deaths have sparked widespread anger, and top police officers including the city’s police commissioner have been suspended.Local media reported that the accusations include culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, among others.There was no immediate comment from RCB.- ‘Made to pay’ -Siddaramaiah, who only uses one name, also pointed the finger at some senior police.”These officers appear to be irresponsible and negligent and it has been decided to suspend them,” he said.The dead were aged between 14 and 29, and were among a sea of people who had poured onto the streets to catch a glimpse of their heroes.RCB offered financial aid of $11,655 to each family of the victims, calling the deaths “unfortunate”.Indian media have widely reported the team earned $2.3 million in prize money alone for taking the title.Kohli, who top-scored in the final, said he was “at a loss for words” after the celebrations of a first IPL crown turned to tragedy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident “absolutely heartrending”. Siddaramaiah has said that the stadium had a capacity of 35,000 people “but 200,000-300,000 people came”.Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian mass events, such as religious festivals, due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.”The grim truth is that the fan, who drives the commerce of every sport, is the last priority for administrators,” The Hindu newspaper wrote in its editorial on Friday. “Asphyxia was the primary cause of death besides injuries suffered in the stifling rush,” it added. The pioneering IPL sold its broadcast rights in 2022 for five seasons to global media giants for an eye-popping $6.2 billion, putting it up amongst the highest-ranked sport leagues in cost-per-match terms.”The world’s richest cricket tournament can’t cut corners when it comes to fans’ safety,” the Indian Express newspaper wrote in an editorial. “A fitting tribute to those dead, therefore, is not mere signing a cheque but holding those in charge responsible — ensuring that heads roll, and those who dropped the ball Wednesday are made to pay.”

Bangladesh will hold elections in early April 2026 for the first time since a mass uprising overthrew the government last year, interim leader Muhammad Yunus said Friday.The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by a student-led revolt in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.”I am announcing to the citizens of the country that the election will be held on any day in the first half of April 2026,” said Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who leads the caretaker government.Political parties jostling for power have been repeatedly demanding Yunus fix an election timetable, while he has said time is needed as the country requires an overhaul of its democratic institutions after Hasina’s tenure.”The government has been doing everything necessary to create an environment conducive to holding the election,” he added in the television broadcast, while repeating his warning that reforms were needed.”It should be remembered that Bangladesh has plunged into deep crisis every time it has held a flawed election,” he said, in a speech given on the eve of the Eid al-Adha holiday in the Muslim-majority nation.”A political party usurped power through such elections in the past, and became a barbaric fascist force.”Hasina’s rule saw widespread human rights abuses, and her government was accused of politicising courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections.The interim government had already repeatedly vowed to hold elections before June 2026, but said the more time it had to enact reforms, the better.- Reform of ‘utmost importance’ -The key Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as the election frontrunner, has in recent weeks been pushing hard for polls to be held by December.Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, in a speech to officers in May, also said that elections should be held by December, according to both Bangladeshi media and military sources.Days after that speech, the government warned that political power struggles risked jeopardising gains that have been made.”Those who organise such elections are later viewed as culprits, and those who assume office through them become targets of public hatred,” Yunus said on Friday.”One of the biggest responsibilities of this government is to ensure a transparent… and widely participatory election so that the country does not fall into a new phase of crisis,” he added. “That is why institutional reform is of utmost importance.”Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 after Hasina’s government launched a crackdown in a bid to cling to power, according to the United Nations.Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India and she has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka.Her trial opened in absentia this month.Yunus said “reforms, trials, and elections” were the three “core mandates” of his government. “The sacrifices made by our students and people will be in vain if good governance cannot be established,” he said. The Election Commission will “present a detailed roadmap” for the vote “at an appropriate time”, the interim leader said without specifying a date.”We have been in dialogue with all stakeholders to organise the most free, fair, competitive, and credible election in the history of Bangladesh,” Yunus added.

Indian police arrested two people including a senior executive at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, reports said Friday, after 11 fans were crushed to death during celebrations for the team’s first IPL title.Hundreds of thousands packed the streets in the southern city of Bengaluru on Wednesday to welcome home their hero Virat Kohli and his RCB cricket team after they beat Punjab Kings in the final of the Indian Premier League.But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster when 11 mainly young fans died in a stampede near M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the players were parading the trophy.Karnataka state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Friday he had directed police to arrest the representatives of RCB, event organisers DNA, and Karnataka State Cricket Association.While there has been no official confirmation of the arrests, Siddaramaiah said a first information report, which marks the start of a police investigation, had been “registered against them”. Media outlet India Today said that Nikhil Sosale, RCB’s head of marketing, was arrested at Bengaluru’s airport.The Indian Express newspaper also reported Sosale was arrested along with an executive from an event management company.The deaths have sparked widespread anger, and top police officers including the city’s police commissioner have been suspended.Local media reported that the accusations include culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, among others.There was no immediate comment from RCB.- ‘Made to pay’ -Siddaramaiah, who only uses one name, also pointed the finger at some senior police.”These officers appear to be irresponsible and negligent and it has been decided to suspend them,” Siddaramaiah said.The dead were aged between 14 and 29, and were among a sea of people who had poured onto the streets to catch a glimpse of their heroes.RCB offered financial aid of $11,655 to each family of the victims, calling the deaths “unfortunate”.Indian media have widely reported the team earned $2.3 million in prize money alone for taking the title on Wednesday.Kohli, who top-scored in the final, said he was “at a loss for words” after the celebrations of a first IPL crown turned to tragedy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident “absolutely heartrending”. Siddaramaiah has said that the stadium had a capacity of 35,000 people “but 200,000-300,000 people came”.Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian mass events such as religious festivals due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.”The grim truth is that the fan, who drives the commerce of every sport, is the last priority for administrators,” The Hindu newspaper wrote in its editorial on Friday. “Asphyxia was the primary cause of death besides injuries suffered in the stifling rush,” it added. The pioneering IPL sold its broadcast rights in 2022 for five seasons to global media giants for an eye-popping $6.2 billion, putting it up amongst the highest-ranked sport leagues in cost-per-match terms.”The world’s richest cricket tournament can’t cut corners when it comes to fans’ safety,” the Indian Express newspaper wrote in an editorial. “A fitting tribute to those dead, therefore, is not mere signing a cheque but holding those in charge responsible — ensuring that heads roll, and those who dropped the ball Wednesday are made to pay.”

Mehria had been losing hope of getting a visa to emigrate to the United States but her spirits were crushed when President Donald Trump raised yet another hurdle by banning travel for Afghans.Trump had already disrupted refugee pathways after he returned to power in January but a sweeping new travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan, will go into effect on Monday.The ban changes little for most Afghans who already faced steep barriers to travel abroad, but many who had hung their hopes on a new life in the United States felt it was yet another betrayal.”Trump’s recent decisions have trapped not only me but thousands of families in uncertainty, hopelessness and thousands of other disasters,” Mehria, a 23-year-old woman who gave only one name, said from Pakistan, where she has been waiting since applying for a US refugee visa in 2022.”We gave up thousands of hopes and our entire lives and came here on a promise from America, but today we are suffering one hell after another,” she told AFP.The United States has not had a working embassy in Afghanistan since the Taliban ousted the foreign-backed government in 2021, forcing Afghans to apply for visas in third countries.The Taliban’s return followed the drawdown of US and NATO troops who had ousted them two decades earlier in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks.The Taliban government has since imposed a strict view of Islamic law and severe restrictions on women, including bans on some education and work.Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have applied for visas to settle in the United States, either as refugees or under the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme reserved for those who aided the US government during its war against the Taliban.Afghans with SIV visas and asylum cases will not be affected by Trump’s new order but family reunification pathways are threatened, the Afghan-American Foundation said in a statement condemning the ban.Some 12,000 people are awaiting reunification with family members already living in the United States, according to Shawn VanDiver, the president of the AfghanEvac non-profit group.”These are not ‘border issues’. These are legal, vetted, documented reunifications,” he wrote on social media platform X. “Without exemptions, families are stranded.” – ‘Abandoned’ -Refugee pathways and relocation processes for resettling Afghans had already been upset by previous Trump orders, suddenly leaving many Afghans primed to travel to the United States in limbo.The Trump administration revoked legal protections temporarily shielding Afghans from deportation in May, citing an improved security situation in Afghanistan.”We feel abandoned by the United States, with whom we once worked and cooperated,” said Zainab Haidari, another Afghan woman who has been waiting in Pakistan for a refugee visa. “Despite promises of protection and refuge we are now caught in a hopeless situation, between the risk of death from the Taliban and the pressure and threat of deportation in Pakistan,” said Haidari, 27, who worked with the United States in Kabul during the war but applied for a refugee visa.Afghans fled in droves during decades of conflict, but the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops from Kabul saw a new wave clamouring to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with Washington.Pakistan and Iran have meanwhile ramped up deportation campaigns to expel Afghans who have crossed their borders.The Taliban authorities have not responded to multiple requests for comment on the new travel ban but have said they are keen to have good relations with every country now that they are in power — including the United States. Visa options for Afghans are already severely limited by carrying the weakest passport globally, according to the Henley Passport Index.However, travel to the United States is far from the minds of many Afghans who struggle to make ends meet in one of the world’s poorest countries, where food insecurity is rife. “We don’t even have bread, why are you asking me about travelling to America?” said one Afghan man in Kabul.Sahar, a 29-year-old economics graduate who has struggled to find work amid sky-high unemployment, said the new rules will not have any impact on most Afghans.”When there are thousands of serious issues in Afghanistan, this won’t change anything,” she told AFP.”Those who could afford to travel and apply for the visa will find another way or to go somewhere else instead of the US.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kashmir on Friday, his first visit to the contested Himalayan region since a conflict with arch-rival Pakistan last month, and opened a strategic railway line.Modi is launching a string of projects worth billions of dollars for the divided Muslim-majority territory, the centre of bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict last month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.His office broadcast images of Modi at a viewing point for the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-metre-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 metres above the river below.”In addition to being an extraordinary feat of architecture, the Chenab Rail Bridge will improve connectivity,” the Hindu nationalist leader said in a social media post ahead of his visit.Modi strode across the bridge waving a giant Indian flag to formally declare it open for rail traffic soon after his arrival.New Delhi calls the Chenab span the “world’s highest railway arch bridge”. While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.The new 272-kilometre (169-mile) Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway, with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, has been constructed “aiming to transform regional mobility and driving socio-economic integration”, Modi’s office says.The bridge will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air.The railway “ensures all weather connectivity” and will “boost spiritual tourism and create livelihood opportunities”, Modi said.The railway line is expected to halve the travel time between the town of Katra in the Hindu-majority Jammu region and Srinagar, the main city in Muslim-majority Kashmir, to around three hours.More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire during last month’s conflict.The fighting was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing — a charge Islamabad denies.Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.

Indian police have arrested two people including a senior executive at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, reports said Friday, after 11 fans were crushed to death during celebrations for the team’s maiden IPL title.Hundreds of thousands packed the streets in the southern city of Bengaluru on Wednesday to welcome home their hero Virat Kohli and his RCB team after they beat Punjab Kings in the final of the Indian Premier League.But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster when 11 mainly young fans died in a stampede near M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the players were parading the trophy.Media outlet India Today said that Nikhil Sosale, RCB’s head of marketing, was arrested at Bengaluru’s airport.The Indian Express newspaper reported Sosale was arrested along with an executive from an event management company.The deaths at what should have been a celebration have sparked widespread anger and top police officers including the city’s police commissioner have been suspended.The reported arrests came hours after Karnataka state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that “legal action has been taken against the representatives of RCB”, as well as the event organisers, and the state’s cricket association.Siddaramaiah said a first information report, which marks the start of a police investigation, had been “registered against them”. Local media reported that the charges include culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, among others.There was no immediate comment from RCB.- ‘Made to pay’ -Siddaramaiah, who only uses one name, also pointed the finger at some senior police.”These officers appear to be irresponsible and negligent and it has been decided to suspend them,” Siddaramaiah said.The dead were mostly aged between 14 and 29 and were among a sea of people who had poured onto the streets to catch a glimpse of their heroes.RCB offered financial aid of $11,655 to each family of the victims, calling the deaths “unfortunate”.Indian media have widely reported the team earned $2.3 million in prize money alone for taking the title on Wednesday.Kohli, who top-scored in the final, said he was “at a loss for words” after celebrations of a dream first IPL crown turned to tragedy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident “absolutely heartrending”. Siddaramaiah has said that the stadium had a capacity of 35,000 people “but 200,000-300,000 people came”.Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian mass events such as religious festivals due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.”The grim truth is that the fan, who drives the commerce of every sport, is the last priority for administrators,” The Hindu newspaper wrote in its editorial on Friday. “Asphyxia was the primary cause of death besides injuries suffered in the stifling rush,” it added. The pioneering IPL sold its broadcast rights in 2022 for five seasons to global media giants for an eye-popping $6.2 billion, putting it up amongst the highest-ranked sport leagues in cost-per-match terms.”The world’s richest cricket tournament can’t cut corners when it comes to fans’ safety,” the Indian Express newspaper wrote in an editorial. “A fitting tribute to those dead, therefore, is not mere signing a cheque but holding those in charge responsible — ensuring that heads roll, and those who dropped the ball Wednesday are made to pay.”

Since trading the battlefield for Afghanistan’s halls of power, some Taliban members have also swapped their weapons for pens to tell their version of the 20-year conflict with Western forces, who they accuse of distorting “reality”.A flood of books has been written, mostly from a Western perspective, about the war between the US-led forces that invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks until the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. But in the years since, a proliferation of writings by Taliban figures — praising their exploits and the achievements of the “Islamic Emirate” — is now the reigning narrative in Afghanistan.”No matter what foreigners have written… they have largely ignored the reality of what happened to us and why we were forced to fight,” author Khalid Zadran told AFP. A member of the Haqqani network — long viewed as one of the most dangerous militant factions in Afghanistan — he now serves as the spokesman for the capital’s police force.In his 600-page tome in Pashto published in April, he recounts US incursions in his home province of Khost, his childhood steeped in stories of soldiers’ “atrocities”, and his desire to join the Taliban in the name of his country’s “freedom”.”I witnessed horrific stories every day — mangled bodies on the roadside,” he writes in “15 Minutes”, a title inspired by a US drone strike he narrowly escaped. Muhajer Farahi, now a deputy information and culture minister, penned his “Memories of Jihad: 20 Years in Occupation” to “state the facts”, he said.”America, contrary to its claims, has committed cruel and barbaric acts, destroyed our country with bombs, destroyed infrastructure, and has sown discord and cynicism between nations and tribes,” he told AFP from his office in central Kabul.Little attention is paid in either book to the thousands of civilians killed in Taliban attacks — many of them suicide bombings that entrenched fear across the country for nearly two decades.Farahi insists the Taliban “were cautious in saving civilians and innocent” lives, while criticising fellow Afghans who collaborated with the pro-Western police as a “stain” on the country.Rights groups accuse the current Taliban authorities of widespread abuses — particularly against women and girls, who the United Nations say are victims of what amounts to “gender apartheid”.In his book published in 2023, Farahi claims the Taliban attempted to negotiate — in vain, he insists — with the United States over the fate of Osama bin Laden, whose capture or death Washington demanded after his plane hijackers killed around 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001 attacks.Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, who had been based in Afghanistan, was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.- American ‘bloodthirsty dragon’ -“It was clear… that the Americans had already planned the occupation of Afghanistan,” writes Farahi in the English version of his book, which has been translated into five languages.In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Afghans thought it would “have nothing to do with our country”, he continues, but soon realised that Afghanistan would face “punishment”.For 20 years, the war pitted Taliban militants against a US-led coalition of 38 countries supporting the Afghan Republic and its forces. Tens of thousands of Afghans died in the fighting and in Taliban attacks, as did nearly 6,000 foreign soldiers, including 2,400 Americans.For Farahi, the war reflects the West’s desire to “impose its culture and ideology on other nations”.His disjointed journal mixes battlefield memories with polemical chapters railing against the American “bloodthirsty dragon”.The book “reveals the truths that were not told before because the media, especially the Western media, presented a different picture of the war”, he said.According to him, the “mujahideen”, or holy warriors, despite being far less equipped, were able to rely on their unity and God’s aid to achieve victory.- New front -Only a few of the new wave of Taliban books have been autobiographies, which appeal to an audience seeking to understand the war “from the inside”, according to Zadran.His book, initially 2,000 copies in Pashto, sold out quickly and another 1,000 are in the works — along with a Dari-language version, he said.Many chapters mention Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held hostage for five years by the Haqqani network. He recounts treks through the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to move him between hideouts, efforts to convert him to Islam and conversations about his girlfriend back in the United States.Both accounts end in 2021, before the transformation of the fighters who moved from remote mountain hideouts to the carpeted offices of the capital.There, their battle has turned diplomatic: the Taliban are now fighting for international recognition of their government.”The war is over now,” Farahi said, “and we want good relations with everyone” — even with the “bloodthirsty dragon”.

Pakistan’s children are losing weeks of education each year to school closures caused by climate change-linked extreme weather, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules.Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems.In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early.”The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln,” said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner city Lahore school.”I don’t even want to come to school.”Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather is compounding an existing education crisis caused mostly by access and poverty.”Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time,” said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil.”The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveller and the urban middle class is also affected.” Pakistan’s summers historically began in June, when temperatures hit the high 40s. But in the last five years, May has been similarly hot, according to the Meteorological Department. “During a power outage, I was sweating so much that the drops were falling off my forehead onto my desk,” 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told AFP.”A girl in my class had a nosebleed from the heat.”- Health versus learning -Around a third of Pakistani school-age children — over 26 million — are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world. And 65 percent of children are unable to read age-appropriate material by age 10.School closures affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country’s most populous province Punjab, which has the highest rates of school attendance.Classes closed for two weeks in November over air pollution, and another week in May because of heat. In the previous academic year, three weeks were lost in January to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat.Political unrest and cricket matches that closed roads meant more lost days.In Balochistan, Pakistan’s poorest province, May heatwaves have prompted early summer vacations for three years running, while in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, school hours are regularly slashed. For authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school in potentially dangerous conditions or watching them fall behind.In southern Sindh province, authorities have resisted heat-related closures despite growing demands from parents. “It’s hard for parents to send their children to school in this kind of weather,” private school principal Sadiq Hussain told AFP in Karachi, adding that attendance drops by 25 percent in May.”Their physical and mental health is being affected,” added Dost Mohammad Danish, general secretary of All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association.”Don’t expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years.”- ‘Everyone is suffering’ -Schools in Pakistan are overseen by provincial authorities, whose closure notices apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of kilometres (miles) apart and may be experiencing different conditions, or have different resources to cope. Teachers, parents and education experts want a rethink of school hours, exam timetables and vacations, with schools able to offer Saturday classes or split the school day to avoid the midday heat.Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change-related impacts are affecting attendance and learning outcomes. “Schools need to have flexibility in determining their academic calendar. It shouldn’t be centralised,” she said, adding that end-of-year exams usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments throughout the year.Adapting school buildings is also crucial. International development agencies have already equipped thousands of schools with solar panels, but many more of the country’s 250,000 schools need help. Hundreds of climate-resilient schools funded by World Bank loans are being built in Sindh. They are elevated to withstand monsoon flooding, and fitted with solar panels for power and rooftop insulation to combat heat and cold.But in Pakistan’s most impoverished villages, where education is a route out of generational poverty, parents still face tough choices. In rural Sukkur, the local school was among 27,000 damaged or destroyed by unprecedented 2022 floods. Children learn outside their half-collapsed school building, unprotected from the elements. “Our children are worried, and we are deeply concerned,” said parent Ali Gohar Gandhu, a daily wage labourer. “Everyone is suffering.”

US President Donald Trump has signed a travel ban on 12 mostly Middle Eastern and African countries, reviving a controversial measure from his first term expected to trigger a fresh wave of legal challenges.Trump said on Wednesday the measure was spurred by a makeshift flamethrower attack on a Jewish protest in Colorado that US authorities blamed on an Egyptian man they said was in the country illegally.The move bans all travel to the United States by nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, according to the White House.Trump also imposed a partial ban on travelers from seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Some temporary work visas from those countries will be allowed.”The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,” Trump said in a video message posted on social media platform X.”We don’t want them.”- World Cup, Olympics, diplomats excluded -The ban will not apply to athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, as well as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump’s order said.Nor will it apply to diplomats from the targeted countries, according to the spokesman of the secretary-general of the United Nations headquartered in New York.”As we’ve said before, whatever system is put in place (should be) one that respects people’s human dignity,” said Stephane Dujarric, who added it was for individual countries to determine how to control their borders.UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that “the broad and sweeping nature of the new travel ban raises concerns from the perspective of international law.” And Amnesty International USA called the ban “discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel.”Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro meanwhile claimed Trump was being “poisoned” by “lies” about his country, while Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello warned that it was the United States that posed a risk to visitors from Venezuela and elsewhere.With seven of the 12 countries banned from Africa, the African Union said the move would harm “people-to-people ties, education exchange, commercial engagement, and broader diplomatic relations” and urged “constructive dialog.”Yemen’s internationally recognised government urged Washington to “reconsider” the travel ban, or to at least exempt Yemeni citizens “in recognition of the difficult humanitarian conditions” in the war-ravaged country.In Myanmar, one student affected by the ban only got her US study visa two days ago and said it would hit many young people’s dreams of escaping oppression.”We don’t really have life here, and people want to escape to a country where we can breathe, we can walk, we can study,” she told AFP from Yangon.In Haiti, Pierre Esperance, a human rights activist in the capital Port-au-Prince, warned that following the decision, the impoverished and violence-hit country “will be further isolated.”The ban could yet face legal challenges, as have many of the drastic measures Trump has taken since his whirlwind return to office in January.- ‘Terrorists’ -Rumors of a new Trump travel ban had circulated following the fire attack on Jewish protesters in Colorado, with his administration vowing to pursue “terrorists” living in the United States on visas.US officials said suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national according to court documents, was in the country illegally having overstayed a tourist visa, but that he had applied for asylum in September 2022.Trump gave specific reasons for each country facing travel restrictions — a list that notably did not include Egypt — insisting the move aimed to protect the United States from “foreign terrorists and other national security” threats.His proclamation said Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and war-torn Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen lacked “competent” central authorities for processing passports and vetting.Iran, with which the United States is in negotiations on a possible nuclear deal, was included because it is a “state sponsor of terrorism,” the order said.For most of the other countries, Trump’s order cited an above-average likelihood that people would overstay their visas.dk-burs/gw/bjt/sla