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Before a Myanmar student descends into a classroom entombed in a concrete bunker, she prays for compassion and her community’s safety, knowing her appeal will go unanswered.”May the fighter jets not come. May the pilots show kindness to us. May the bombs not explode,” 18-year-old Phyo Phyo said, recalling her unspoken wishes. She is enrolled in a class of around a dozen at the subterranean academy, founded in June after a junta strike obliterated a nearby school and killed at least 20 pupils and two teachers, according to witnesses.”Our school days used to be free and full of fun,” said Phyo Phyo, a pseudonym used for security reasons.”Ever since the air strikes started, we’ve lost our happiness,” she added. “The students have grown quiet.”Myanmar’s military has increased air strikes every year since it triggered civil war with a 2021 coup, conflict monitors say — a response to guerrilla factions opposed to junta rule besieging its ground forces.The deluges and gales of the May to September monsoons typically offer a reprieve.But partial data from this year’s wet season shows the military conducted more than 1,000 air and drone strikes, killing more than 800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) organisation, which tallies media reports of violence.A Myanmar junta spokesman could not be reached for comment.The junta is waging a campaign to recapture territory ahead of elections it has said will start on December 28.But rebels have pledged to block the polls in their enclaves, and analysts describe the vote as a ploy to disguise the continuation of military rule.In a rebel-held area, around 110 kilometres (70 miles) north of Mandalay city where junta jets scour the skies, Phyo Phyo and her classmates learn in the dank and dark but relative safety of their underground classroom.It was built in the jungle with donations and resembles a spartan prison cell.”We want education, no matter the obstacles,” Phyo Phyo said.- ‘Superior air power’ – Bowing her head to study Burmese literature — her favourite subject — the teenager is watched over by a poster of Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratic leader ousted by the military in February 2021.Democracy activists formed guerrilla units and found common cause with myriad ethnic minority armed groups, which have long fought the military for self-rule.Their scattered organisation failed to make much headway until a combined offensive starting in late 2023.The back-footed military then stepped up its aerial campaign using China- and Russia-supplied jets against rebels who possess neither their own air fleets nor anti-air defences.”The reason they use air strikes is they feel our revolutionary armed groups have the power to take them down,” said Zaw Tun, a member of the democracy movement’s self-declared National Unity Government in a rebel-held area of northern Sagaing region.”They can’t win the ground battle, but they have the power to attack us with air strikes,” he said. Rarely a week passes without civilians being killed in a mass-casualty bombing, often of schools or monasteries occupied by children or monks, and sometimes also sheltering people already displaced by fighting.”The military targets crowds intentionally because they want to incite fear,” said ACLED Asia-Pacific analyst Su Mon Thant.”When people are more uncertain with their life and desperate, they don’t want to support the resistance cause.”But while “superior power in the air” allows the military to stave off defeat, she said, it is not enough to secure victory — creating a stalemate where casualties mount but front lines stay largely unchanged. While there is no official death toll for Myanmar’s war and estimates vary widely, ACLED reports more than 85,000 people have been killed on all sides. Of those, nearly 3,400 were civilians killed by state forces in targeted air or drone strikes.- Under cover of darkness  – State media has previously described reports of civilian casualties as “false information” being spread by “malicious media”.But for farmers, who slosh through paddies in Sagaing region to tend their rice crops by torchlight, the threat is real.”We transplant paddies at night so that we can focus on hiding in the daytime,” said one farmer who did not share their name.During daylight hours, in central Mandalay region’s Thabeikkyin township, rebels surveil the skies and use crackling walkie-talkies to relay the last-known location of junta jets — an improvised air raid warning system.Thwat Lat sounds the siren up to 15 times daily, voicing the most urgent warnings through a pink and gold microphone plugged into a system of speakers that can be heard from eight kilometres away, sending residents skittering to bunkers.”Every time a person’s life is saved, I feel what I’m doing is worthwhile,” he said during one of his recent 19-hour shifts.But bunkers and siloed schools cannot protect their occupants from psychological wounds. “I have no words to express how nervous I am,” said Khin Tint, 67. “Sometimes I think I am already dead but my heart is still pounding.”

Nepalis lit candles outside the fire-damaged parliament on Thursday, marking one month since anti-corruption protests toppled the government, with fresh vows to keep up pressure ahead of elections.The vigil in Kathmandu, attended by dozens — many of whom were participants in the demonstrations — honoured those killed during the protests.Youth-led demonstrations that began on September 8 over a brief social media ban, economic hardship and corruption quickly escalated into nationwide fury after a deadly crackdown.Two days of violence left at least 73 people dead, with parliament and government offices torched, forcing the collapse of KP Sharma Oli’s government.”I hope for a better future,” Anjila Basnet, 25, told AFP. “The sacrifice of so many people should not go to waste.”Within days of the government’s collapse, 73-year-old former chief justice Sushila Karki was appointed interim prime minister to steer the Himalayan nation until elections on March 5, 2026.- ‘We will not stop’ -“We are now in the second phase of the movement, until the election,” said protester Yujan Rajbhandari.”We will not stop… The issues we raised about corruption and good governance are the priority.”Many of those injured are still receiving treatment.Protester Nimesh Shrestha has been visiting the wounded and raising funds for their care.”When I think of the people we lost, those still in bed… I just hope we never have to do this again,” he said.Oli, the ousted 73-year-old Marxist leader, who had served as prime minister four times, also addressed supporters Thursday.”To put the country in the right direction, there is no alternative but to move forward with a demand to reinstate the parliament that was unconstitutionally dissolved,” Oli told supporters.The government has imposed travel bans on Oli and four former senior officials as a commission investigates the unrest.Karki has pledged to restore order, address calls for clean governance, and prepare for elections.”The time has come for us to work day and night to address their expectations — we are facing opportunities and challenges,” she said Wednesday, speaking to Nepal’s diplomatic missions abroad.”This government has the responsibility to firmly establish the country on the path of democracy and equitable prosperity.”

Nepal on Thursday welcomed the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, urging the release of all hostages, including the lone Nepali held in Gaza.”We call for the immediate release of all hostages, including Nepali national Bipin Joshi,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “We urge all parties concerned to implement the plan in its true spirit, to ensure the smooth flow of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and to pave the way for lasting peace.”Joshi, an agriculture student who was 22 when kidnapped, had arrived in Israel just weeks before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, during which Palestinian militants took 251 hostages to Gaza.He was taken from a kibbutz in southern Israel, where 10 Nepali nationals were killed.Joshi was reported to have saved his friends by throwing a grenade back at the assailants storming the community, according to a survivor.His cousin, Kishor Joshi, said the family were desperate for news.”It has been a long wait, but that doesn’t matter if we now get the good news of his release,” he said.The family’s only sign of life from Joshi was a short video clip, believed to have been filmed in November 2023, and later recovered by the Israeli military.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not mention Joshi when he read out the names of 20 hostages still believed alive during his September UN speech.But in Nepal, the hostage’s father Mahananda Joshi told AFP the ceasefire had rekindled hope.”We have not been able to eat or work or sleep in worry,” he said in Nepal. “By God’s grace, we will now bring him back to Nepal and welcome him home.” Nepal’s foreign ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri told AFP the government had been “advocating for his release”, adding they were “hoping for his safety and release, and then to bring him back”.

The world’s top conservation body kicked off its world congress Thursday in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, where it will unveil its updated “red list” of threatened species a day later.Hundreds of participants were meeting at the venue where the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose decisions help set the global agenda on environmental protection, will on Friday publish its list ranking plant and animal species from “least concern” to “extinct”.The congress, held every four years, sheds light on the dire state of the world’s biodiversity. An increasing number of animals suffer from the destruction of their natural habitat, climate change, and water, air and soil pollution.According to the United Nations’s expert scientific panel on biodiversity (IPBES), biodiversity has declined every decade in the past 30 to 50 years.In an update to its “red list” last year, the IUCN said that out of the 169,420 species studied, a total of 47,187 were classified as threatened — more than a quarter.The most impacted species were corals and amphibians, with more than 40 percent of each group under threat.- UAE climate diplomacy -The United Arab Emirates, a major oil exporter that also hosted the UN’s annual climate talks in 2023 (known as COP28), is seeking a bigger role in setting the environmental agenda by hosting these events.”The UAE has become a global convening power to bring countries together, bring all stakeholders on discussions that are very vital for our environment,” UAE climate change and environment minister Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak told AFP at the meeting.”This is a platform where conversations can converge,” Al Dahak said of the congress.She called for translating “those conversations into pledges, into actions and into implementation plans”, urging “more implementation plans and actions on the ground”.The IUCN congress last convened in the French city of Marseille in 2021.The meeting revolves around votes on adopting resolutions.Though not legally binding, the resolutions can “shape the international agenda” and “accelerate” work on treaties under discussion, an IUCN source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss the event freely.”The Congress programme reflects the urgency and ambition of our time,” said Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and IUCN councillor from the West Asia region.IUCN Director General Grethel Aguilar of Costa Rica said the upcoming announcements “reflect the scale of ambition and the real possibility of delivering the solutions we need to build a planet where people and nature thrive together”.- Synthetic biology debate -The most closely watched vote revolves around two competing motions on synthetic biology — a controversial technique widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and agribusiness.It enables scientists to redesign organisms by engineering them to have new abilities.One motion calls for a moratorium on the technology because “genetic engineering of wild species in natural ecosystems, including in protected areas, is not compatible with the practices, values and principles of nature conservation”.A competing motion argues that synthetic biology could complement conservation efforts, and says IUCN policy “should not be interpreted as supporting or opposing synthetic biology, per se”.Organisers expect 10,000 delegates and 5,000 civil society attendees.The IUCN congress describes itself as the “world’s largest and most inclusive nature conservation forum”.Its voting members include government agencies, national and international NGOs, and Indigenous groups.

Shubman Gill said Thursday that his biggest opponent could be “mental fatigue” after the India Test captain recently took over charge of the 50-over side.Speaking ahead of Friday’s second Test against the West Indies in New Delhi, Gill conceded that it was a challenge to play all three international formats, but that was what drove him.”Physically most of the time I feel fine, but sometimes there is mental fatigue because when you are constantly playing,” Gill told reporters.”There is obviously a certain expectation that I have from myself.”India lead the two-match series 1-0 after they hammered the visitors by an innings and 140 runs inside three days in the first Test. Immediately after play ended on day three, Gill was named to succeed Rohit Sharma as ODI captain, adding to the 26-year-old’s workload.”I think that is the challenge about being able to play all the formats for India,” said Gill.”And I want to play and succeed in all the formats for the country, and win ICC titles.”Gill, who made his Test debut in December 2020, took over as Test skipper in May from Rohit.He was India’s leading scorer in the drawn five-Test series in England with 754 runs. He was also vice-captain of the Asia Cup-winning T20 team last month.Turning to the West Indies, Gill said there would be no complacency as India aim to wrap up the series against a team who are a pale shadow of the side that once ruled world cricket.”I don’t think your intensity drops down depending on the opposition,” Gill said.”It doesn’t matter who we are playing. We want to be able to play at our own intensity and we want to win.”West Indies were swept 3-0 at home by Australia in June and July. But embattled captain Roston Chase said he had been told to “keep believing” by West Indian greats, including Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Richie Richardson who were at an awards ceremony in New Delhi.”I had the privilege of meeting all three of them and they said the same thing, they told me ‘to keep believing’,” said Chase.”We are down right now but it has to change at some point. “It starts with belief and need to keep motivating the players to play positive cricket and change around our downfall.”

Access to several social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, has been “intentionally restricted” in Afghanistan, an internet watchdog said Wednesday, a week after a 48-hour telecommunications blackout in the country.Social media sites have been intermittently accessible on smartphones in provinces across the country since Tuesday, AFP journalists reported, while internet speed is significantly slower than normal.  “The restrictions are now confirmed on multiple providers, the pattern shows an intentional restriction,” said NetBlocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.The disruption is “primarily impacting mobile with some fix-lines also affected”.The Taliban government has not responded to requests for comment from AFP. Confusion gripped Afghanistan last Monday when mobile phone service and the internet went down without warning, freezing businesses and cutting people off from the rest of the world.The massive blackout came weeks after the government began cutting high-speed internet connections to some provinces to prevent “immorality”, on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.At the time, Netblocks said the blackout “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”, adding that connection slowed to around one percent of ordinary levels.It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been cut in the country.The government has yet to comment on the blackout. For Afghan girls and women in particular, the internet is a lifeline in a country where they are banned from secondary schools, universities, gyms, parks and most work. “I would feel really sad if they banned Instagram or other social media because it’s the only way I can connect with the world,” said 24-year-old Ghezal, who asked for only her first name to be used.”These social media platforms are the main way I stay connected with my friends who live in other countries.”At the beginning of 2025, 13.2 million people had access to the internet in Afghanistan — around 30.5 percent of the population, according to the specialist website DataReportal.Around 4.05 million people were using social media.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer touted “unparalleled” opportunities opening up in India as he made his inaugural visit to the country on Wednesday, seeking to promote a trade deal signed this summer.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Starmer and what he called “the largest ever trade delegation from the UK”, saying in a statement that he hoped to bolster their “shared vision of a stronger, mutually prosperous future”.The two-day visit comes after the countries signed a major trade accord in London in July.”With India set to be the third-biggest economy in the world by 2028, and trade with them about to become quicker and cheaper, the opportunities waiting to be seized are unparalleled,” Starmer said.India and its former colonial ruler are the world’s fifth- and sixth-largest economies, with bilateral trade worth around $54.8 billion and investments supporting more than 600,000 jobs across both countries.Starmer, whose 125-member delegation includes business leaders like British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle, called the recent trade deal the “biggest” India had ever struck.”I’ve asked the team to implement it as quickly as humanly possible… but I think it’s already changing the mood music, frankly,” he told the delegation.”I think the opportunities are already opening up, the contact has already increased, trade with India went up hugely in the last 12 months, and climbing.”- Bollywood blockbusters -Under the new deal, India will slash tariffs on imports of British goods such as whisky, cosmetics and medical devices, while Britain will reduce duties on clothing, footwear and food products, including frozen prawns from India.Starmer also said three new Bollywood blockbusters will be made in the UK from next year as he wrapped up his visit to the famed Yash Raj Film studio.”Bollywood is back in Britain, and it’s bringing jobs, investment and opportunity, all while showcasing the UK as a world-class destination for global filmmaking,” he said.Starmer also visited a new Premier League community programme where he met aspiring young Indian footballers and coaches.The Premier League is one of the UK’s most successful cultural exports, and generates $13 billion of value to the economy, supporting over 100,000 jobs.More football fans in India now watch the Premier League (71 million) than the entire population of the UK.”I’m hugely proud of our national sport — it brings communities together and changes lives,” he said.However, Starmer ruled out expanding visa access for Indian professionals despite pressure.”That isn’t part of the plan,” he told reporters en route to Mumbai.”We’re here now to take advantage of the free trade agreement that we’ve already struck. We’ve got to implement it.”Rights groups have urged Starmer to raise the case of Scottish Sikh blogger Jagtar Singh Johal, detained in India since 2017 over an alleged plot to kill right-wing Hindu leaders.He has not been convicted, and one of the nine charges against him was dismissed in March.Starmer is due to meet Modi on Thursday, and to address a fintech conference in Mumbai alongside him.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his British counterpart Keir Starmer on Thursday that relations had made “significant progress”, as they pledged to unlock “unparalleled” economic opportunities.Starmer is on his first visit to India as premier, accompanied by a 125-member delegation, after the two countries signed a trade deal in London in July.Under the accord, India will slash tariffs on imports of British goods such as whisky, cosmetics and medical devices, while Britain will reduce duties on clothing, footwear and food products, including frozen prawns from India.”This agreement will reduce import costs between our two countries, create new employment opportunities for youth, boost trade, and benefit both our industry and consumers,” Modi said.He told his “friend” Starmer that his visit “symbolises the new energy” in ties between the nations. “Together we will build a bright future for the people of both countries”, he told Starmer, speaking in Hindi.India and its former colonial ruler share bilateral trade worth around $54.8 billion and investments supporting more than 600,000 jobs across both countries.India’s became the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2022, when its GDP overtook Britain’s, according to IMF figures. It is tipped to overtake Japan as the fourth largest later this year.”India’s growth story is remarkable,” Starmer said, noting New Delhi’s ambition to become the world’s third largest economy by 2028.”Everything I’ve seen since I’ve been here is absolute proof to me that you’re on track to succeed in that,” Starmer said. “So, we want to be partners on that journey.”Starmer, who returns to London later on Thursday, said he expected by his departure to have “secured major new investments, creating thousands of high-skilled jobs” for both nations.”My visit this week is about doubling down on the potential of our trade deal for the benefit of all of us”, Starmer said.The leaders also announced a defence cooperation deal, as well pushing education ties, including support for the nine British universities opening campuses in India.

Afghanistan’s UN-sanctioned foreign minister arrived in India on Thursday, the first visit by a top Taliban leader since they returned to power in 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led forces.Amir Khan Muttaqi’s trip — made possible after the UN Security Council granted him a travel waiver — is expected to be closely watched by India’s arch-rival Pakistan, as New Delhi deepens its engagement with the Taliban government.”We look forward to engaging discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement, offering Muttaqi a “warm welcome”.Muttaqi, who met with India’s top career diplomat Vikram Misri in January in Dubai, is set to hold talks with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.Neither side has disclosed the agenda, but analysts say trade and security are likely to be at the forefront — though India is unlikely, for now, to extend formal recognition to the Taliban government.”New Delhi is eager to establish its influence in Kabul… and not be left behind by its arch-rivals, China and Pakistan,” International Crisis Group analyst Praveen Donthi told AFP.Muttaqi’s visit follows meetings in Russia — the only country so far to have officially recognised the Taliban administration.But while the Taliban are “seeking diplomatic recognition and legitimacy”, Donthi said, others noted that was some way off.”India is not in a hurry to provide diplomatic recognition to the Taliban,” Rakesh Sood, India’s former ambassador to Kabul, told AFP.India has long hosted tens of thousands of Afghans, many who fled the country after the Taliban returned to power.Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi shut in 2023, although consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad still operate limited services.India says its mission in Kabul is limited to coordinating humanitarian aid.- ‘Drive a wedge’ -The Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic law may appear an unlikely match for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, but India has sought to seize the opening.Diplomatic dynamics in South Asia are driven by long-running distrust between India and Pakistan, with New Delhi seeking to exploit divisions between Islamabad and Kabul.”Kabul will be walking the tightrope between Islamabad and New Delhi, with the latter trying to get the most from the engagement without offering formal recognition,” Donthi added.Pakistani analyst Wahed Faqiri called Muttaqi’s visit a “remarkable development”, coming as “tension between the Taliban and Pakistan is high”.Islamabad accuses neighbouring Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan fought a brief but deadly clash in May, their worst confrontation in decades.”The visit would certainly make Pakistan angrier and more suspicious,” Faqiri said.”Moreover, it would strengthen India’s position in Afghanistan and India would try to drive a wedge between Taliban and Pakistan.”

The world’s top conservation body is holding its world congress starting Thursday in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi and will unveil its updated “red list” of threatened species.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose decisions help set the global agenda on environmental protection, will on Friday publish its list ranking at-risk plant and animal species from “least concern” to “extinct”.The congress, held every four years, sheds light on the dire state of the world’s biodiversity. An increasing number of animals suffer from the destruction of their natural habitat, climate change, and water, air and soil pollution.According to the United Nations’s expert scientific panel on biodiversity (IPBES), biodiversity has declined every decade in the past 30 to 50 years.The IUCN congress last convened in the French city of Marseille in 2021.In an update to its “red list” last year, the IUCN said that out of the 169,420 species studied, a total of 47,187 were classified as threatened — more than a quarter.The most impacted species were corals and amphibians, with more than 40 percent of each group under threat.- ‘Urgency’ -“The Congress programme reflects the urgency and ambition of our time,” said Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and IUCN councillor from the West Asia region.IUCN Director General Grethel Aguilar of Costa Rica said the upcoming announcements “reflect the scale of ambition and the real possibility of delivering the solutions we need to build a planet where people and nature thrive together”.The IUCN congress votes on adopting resolutions.Though not legally binding, they can “shape the international agenda” and “accelerate” work on treaties under discussion, an IUCN source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss the event freely.- Synthetic biology debate -The most closely watched vote revolves around two competing motions on synthetic biology — a controversial technique widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and agribusiness.It enables scientists to redesign organisms by engineering them to have new abilities.One motion calls for a moratorium on the technology because “genetic engineering of wild species in natural ecosystems, including in protected areas, is not compatible with the practices, values and principles of nature conservation”.A competing motion argues that synthetic biology could complement conservation efforts, and says IUCN policy “should not be interpreted as supporting or opposing synthetic biology, per se”.Organisers expect 10,000 delegates and 5,000 civil society attendees.The IUCN congress describes itself as “world’s largest and most inclusive nature conservation forum”.Its voting members include government agencies, national and international NGOs, and Indigenous groups.