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Tens of millions of Pakistanis spent at least four months breathing toxic air pollution 20 times above safe levels, in the worst winter smog season for several years, according to data analysed by AFP.Pakistan regularly ranks among the world’s most polluted countries, with Lahore often the most polluted megacity between November and February.AFP’s analysis of data recorded since 2018 by independent air monitoring project AQICN shows the 2024-2025 winter smog season started a month earlier in October and persisted at higher levels, including in cities normally less affected by pollution.Lahore’s 14 million residents spent six months breathing concentrations of PM2.5 — tiny particles that can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream — at levels 20 times or more than recommended by the World Health Organization.Those in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, and the capital Islamabad were subjected to 120 days of the same choking pollution levels.”The smog is just getting worse every year,” admitted a factory owner in Lahore, who wished to remain anonymous after openly criticising government policies.”If I was rich, my first decision would be to leave Pakistan for Dubai, to protect my children and raise them in a smog-free environment,” he told AFP.- Legal action -Experts say the pollution is primarily caused by factory and traffic emissions. It worsens in winter as farmers burn crop stubble and cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds trap the deadly pollutants.This year, winter rains that typically bring relief did not arrive until late February, as climate change renders Pakistan’s weather patterns increasingly unpredictable.The smog was so thick it could be seen from space and prompted authorities to close schools serving millions of students across the largest province Punjab, including its capital Lahore. Young climate activist Risha Rashid said Islamabad is fast becoming “another Lahore” and has launched legal action against the government.”It’s really suffocating,” the 21-year-old, who has asthma, told AFP.”I cannot go out, even if I have exams. It’s not just affecting our physical health but our mental health as well.”An Ipsos poll in November found four out of five Pakistanis said they were affected by the smog.It can cause sore throats, stinging eyes and respiratory illnesses, while prolonged exposure can trigger strokes, heart disease and lung cancer.Its effects are worse for children, who breathe more rapidly and have weaker immune systems.- ‘At war’ -This smog season, Punjab’s provincial government declared a “war on smog”, increasing public air quality monitoring devices tenfold to around 30 and offering farmers subsidised rentals of machinery to clear crop stubble and avoid burning. It also pledged to increasingly enforce emissions regulations on tens of thousands of factories and more than 8,000 brick kilns, a major source of black carbon emissions. But environmentalists and experts say action has been piecemeal and sometimes counterproductive, including restrictions on private air quality monitoring devices that the government claims give “misleading results that spread panic.”And anti-smog machines, including a tower in Lahore shut down two months after installation, are effectively useless, experts say.”It is like putting an air conditioner out in the open,” said one who spoke on condition of anonymity.- Pledges for clean air -Efforts that tackle pollution’s effects, rather than its source, miss the point, said Ahmad Ali Gul at Lahore’s University of Management and Technology.”It’s like when you have a bathtub and it’s overflowing and it’s creating a huge mess, do you first grab a towel or you first close the tap?” he said. “First, we need to focus on reducing the emissions and then we talk about how to protect ourselves from smog.”The government has blamed rival India, which borders Punjab province, for pollution blowing over into Lahore.But Pakistan has limited vehicle emissions standards, and officials admit 83 percent of Lahore’s carbon emissions are from transport. “Switching to a cleaner fuel would give immediate results, we’ve seen it in other countries,” said Frank Hammes, the global CEO of the Switzerland-based AQI air quality project.But that “needs a pretty strong central effort to push down sometimes the painful changes that need to be made in order to reduce air pollution,” he added.Pakistan’s government wants electric vehicles (EVs) to account for a third of new sales by 2030. Cheaper Chinese models launched in Pakistan in 2024, but currently make up just a fraction of overallcar sales in a country where 40 percent of the 240 million population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. Pakistan had a taste of clean air during the pandemic, when a lockdown forced vhicles off the streets and factories to close in March 2020, but it was short-lived as the economic impact was too great for many to bear.”Air quality improved so much that we could even see the stars in Lahore in the evening,” saidOmar Masud a director of Urban Unit, which analyses pollution data for the government.While climate change can make air pollution worse, few Pakistanis worry about global warming, explained Abdul Sattar Babar, Ipsos director for Pakistan.”Most Pakistanis are overwhelmed by the economic challenges that they are facing,” he said.”When you can barely survive, climate issues are obviously not your primary concern”.

The whirr of machines and smell of carved wood hangs in the air of the Indian toy workshop, a centuries-old art form still in the game despite cheaper plastic alternatives.India’s town of Channapatna is famed for its wood and lacquer toys, carved from ivory wood from a local deciduous tree — and dipped in brightly coloured dye from natural ingredients including turmeric and indigo.”I felt interest in learning toymaking after I saw people in my neighbourhood doing it,” said toy maker Rupa, who uses only one name. “I felt that I could also learn the craft.”Rocking horses, baby walkers and dancing dolls cut from wood are a common sight in workshops, which employ around 2,500 artisans in the town in the southern state of Karnataka.Channapatna’s toymaking industry dates back to the 1700s when Tipu Sultan, ruler of the then kingdom of Mysore, asked artists from Persia to train the locals.Rising competition from mass-produced toys, including cheap replicas made in China, has cast a shadow on the growth of the industry in the town — but it has endured.The town’s products saw a surge of interest in 2010 when former US first lady Michelle Obama bought several in the capital, New Delhi, during an official visit to India.Toys were once all hand-carved, but the use of electric lathes and other machinery has helped keep the industry economical.”In the old days, every work demanded artisans,” said B. Venkatesh, who runs two small workshops in the town. “But now, with a few at hand, machines can help with different tasks.”- ‘Sense of joy’ -Business is not bad for the 53-year-old, with his factory getting orders for around thousands of from suppliers all around the country during peak months.He says people value the long-lasting quality of the toys.”When we dry the ivory wood properly, and apply lacquer and vegetable dyes, the toys will remain the same for hundreds of years,” Venkatesh said.But he warned his trade would “perish in the long run” without more support.Earlier this month, the government pledged a scheme aimed at making India a global hub for innovative and unique toys that showcased local culture. Venkatesh said authorities needed to go further by opening workshops to help cultivate a new generation of artisans.For those already in the business, their craft is more than a simple matter of livelihood. “Making toys gives me a sense of joy and happiness,” Rupa said. 

KL Rahul was hailed Monday as India’s Champions Trophy unsung hero, having twice kept a cool head under pressure to see his team to victory in tense semi-final and finals.Captain Rohit Sharma top-scored with 76 to lead India to a four-wicket final win over New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday, following Virat Kohli’s 84 to anchor India’s semi-final chase against Australia.Both won Player of the Match awards for their respective knocks, but after they had departed it had been number six Rahul, almost under the radar, who had kept calm to guide India across the finish line.He was unbeaten on 34 in the final as India chased down 252, just a few days after his 42 not out took India past Australia’s 264 in the last four of the 50-over competition.Rohit was full of praise for Rahul’s composure at the sharp end of the nerve-shredding chases.”Look, when we discussed KL’s batting position, that is one thing we discussed quite deeply about how calm he is when he is batting,” Rohit said after guiding India to a third Champions Trophy crown.”I’m very, very happy with how he … batted in the pressure situation, both in the semi-finals and this game.- ‘Over the moon’ -“With KL being there, we know that he’s got that mind where he keeps himself calm and keeps the dressing room also very calm.”While Rohit and Kohli grabbed the headlines, a softly spoken and smiling Rahul, 32, was quietly enjoying his first win in an ICC championship.”ICC victories are not so easy to get and it’s my first one, so I’m over the moon,” Rahul said.”It’s been a complete team effort, all 11-12 players have stood up and their chance and opportunity has come and it’s one of the biggest reasons why we have ended up winning the tournament.”An elegant batsman, Rahul started off as an opener for India in white-ball cricket.But a loss of form and intense media scrutiny forced him to reinvent his batting. He dropped down to number six recently as he edged out Rishabh Pant behind the stumps.”What I have been taught by my coaches from an early age is that cricket’s a team game and whatever the team requires of you, you need to be able to do that,” said Rahul, who sports a trademark beard and a man bun on his tattooed, athletic frame.”It requires a lot of preparation, lot of work outside the field. I just watch and learn from the batsmen I like at four, five, six.”Rahul started his cricketing journey as a wicketkeeper-batsman but had given up the gloves in domestic cricket. It was not until an injury to Pant against Australia in 2020 that he again stood behind the stumps.”I kept wickets in the series, played at number five and performed well,” said Rahul. “From then on the captain and team management thought I could do that role.”

Scraping opium resin off a seedpod in Myanmar’s remote poppy fields, displaced farmer Aung Hla describes the narcotic crop as his only prospect in a country made barren by conflict.The 35-year-old was a rice farmer when the junta seized power in a 2021 coup, adding pro-democracy guerillas to the long-running civil conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups.Four years on, the United Nations has said Myanmar is mired in a “polycrisis” of mutually compounding conflict, poverty and environmental damage.Aung Hla was forced off his land in Moe Bye village by fighting after the coup. When he resettled, his usual crops were no longer profitable, but the hardy poppy promised “just enough for a livelihood”.”Everyone thinks people grow poppy flowers to be rich, but we are just trying hard to get by,” he told AFP in rural Pekon township of eastern Shan state.He says he regrets growing the substance — the core ingredient in heroin — but said the income is the only thing separating him from starvation.”If anyone were in my shoes, they would likely do the same.”- Displaced and desperate -Myanmar’s opium production was previously second only to Afghanistan, where poppy farming flourished following the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.But after the Taliban government launched a crackdown, Myanmar overtook Afghanistan as the world’s biggest producer of opium in 2023, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).Myanmar’s opiate economy — including the value of domestic consumption as well as exports abroad — is estimated between $589 million and $1.57 billion, according to the UNODC.Between September and February each year, dozens of workers toil in Pekon’s fields, slicing immature poppy seedpods, which ooze a small amount of sticky brown resin.Aung Naing, 48, gently transfers the collected resin from a small trough onto a leaf plate.Before the coup, which ended a brief experiment with democracy, Aung Naing was areformed opium farmer. But wartime hardship forced him back to the crop.”There is more poppy cultivation because of difficulties in residents’ livelihoods,” he says.”Most of the farmers who plant poppy are displaced,” he said. “Residents who can’t live in their villages and fled to the jungle are working in poppy fields.”In Myanmar’s fringes, ethnic armed groups, border militias and the military all vie for control of local resources and the lucrative drug trade.Aung Naing says poppy earns only a slightly higher profit than food crops like corn, bean curd and potatoes, which are also vulnerable to disease when it rains.Fresh opium was generally sold by Myanmar farmers for just over $300 per kilo in 2024, according to the UNODC, a small fraction of what it fetches on the international black market.And the crop is more costly to produce than rice — more labour intensive, requiring expensive fertilisers and with small yields.Aung Naing says he makes just shy of a $30 profit for each kilo. “How can we get rich from that?” he asks.- ‘Unsafe’ -The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates there are more than 3.5 million people displaced in Myanmar.But fleeing conflict zones to farm opium does not guarantee safety. “Military fighter jets are flying over us,” said Aung Naing. “We are working in poppy fields with anxiety and fear. We feel unsafe.”Opium cultivation and production in Myanmar decreased slightly between 2023 and 2024, according to the UNODC — in part due to ongoing clashes between armed groups.”If our country were at peace and there were industries offering many job opportunities in the region, we wouldn’t plant any poppy fields even if we were asked to,” says farmer Shwe Khine, 43.Aung Hla agreed. With the war, he said, “we don’t have any choice”.

India skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday said he is “not retiring” from one-day international cricket after leading his team to a record third Champions Trophy title in Dubai.India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final of the 50-over tournament after Rohit handed the team a quick start with his 76 as they chased down their target of 252 with six balls to spare.Indian stalwarts Rohit, 37, and Virat Kohli, 36, had a lean run of form in India’s 3-1 Test defeat in Australia earlier this year and the pair came into the tournament with speculation swirling over their ODI retirements.”I want to clarify that I am not going anywhere, I am not retiring from this format,” Rohit told reporters at the end of a long post-match press conference at the Dubai International Stadium.He said a lot of rumours have been doing the rounds around his retirement, but he will stay on.Rohit has led India to their second successive ICC title after the team lifted the T20 World Cup in Barbados last year.Rohit, Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja all retired from the shorter format after the triumph.India, under Rohit, ended runners-up in the 2023 ODI World Cup after they lost the final to Australia in Ahmedabad.His 83-ball knock laced with seven fours and three sixes was Rohit’s first half-century in this tournament where India, who played all their matches in Dubai, were unbeaten in the five games they played.

Fans set off firecrackers and poured into the streets in ecstatic celebrations across cricket-crazy New Delhi late Sunday after India’s four-wicket victory in the final of Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Dubai.Packed with top global superstars, India had a long lean run since they lifted the 2013 Champions Trophy before winning the 2024 T20 World Cup title, only months after going down to Australia in the 50-over World Cup final in November 2023 on home soil in Ahmedabad. “We are just very, very happy that India won,” Nandika, 25, who only uses one name, told AFP at a sports bar in New Delhi. The young brand consultant said  she was a big fan of superstars Virat Kohli, 36, and captain Rohit Sharma, 37.There has been speculation going into the tournament about the future of the veteran duo in the game’s 50-over format after they announced their retirement from the national T20 team last year. The pair were pivotal in India’s undefeated run at the Champions Trophy, with Sharma winning the player-of-the-match for his 83-ball 76 in the final. “We have been watching Virat and Rohit play for years and (this) Indian team is really very good (and I hope) they will keep up” with their performances, Nandika added.Hundreds of fans on motorbikes and cars, many setting off firecrackers, gathered on roads and streets across New Delhi. Many gathered around the historic India Gate archway at the heart of New Delhi screaming, “we won! we won!”.Pratham Aggarwal, 24, said that he came to the India Gate “to be with the crowds”. “There are so many people here and we wanted to be here to celebrate the victory” with everyone, Aggarwal told AFP. “We recently won the World Cup in 2024 and now the Champions Trophy too. We all are very happy and excited that we have finally won it (again) after 2013,” he added. -‘Exceptional result’-India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X that it was “an exceptional game and an exceptional result”. “Proud of our cricket team for bringing home the ICC Champions Trophy,” Modi added. “They’ve played wonderfully through the tournament. Congratulations to our team for the splendid all around display”. The president of India, Droupadi Murmu, also congratulated the national team. “India becomes the only team to win the trophy thrice,” Murmu posted on X. “The players, the management and the support staff deserve highest accolades for creating cricketing history. I wish Indian cricket a very bright future,” she added.India have played all their matches in Dubai after they refused to tour hosts Pakistan due to political tensions.Yogendra Kumar, 32, a street vendor in New Delhi, said that he was “very happy that India has won”. “We left our work to follow this match. They (the team) are the pride of our country and this time they brought the trophy back home,” Kumar added.The Indian social media late Sunday was packed with videos from cities across the country of fans draped in the national tricolour flag celebrating by bursting firecrackers, shouting slogans, and honking on busy roads and key intersections.

Rohit Sharma made a combative 76 to back up a potent spin bowling display as India beat New Zealand by four wickets to win a record third Champions Trophy title on Sunday.Chasing 252 to win, India got off to a fast start through their captain’s first half-century of the tournament before KL Rahul hit an unbeaten 34 to help seal victory with six balls to spare in the final in Dubai.India added to their trophies in 2002 and 2013 to go past Australia, who have two titles. The world number’s one ODI team, India finished unbeaten in the eight-nation tournament played in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.”It is very nice,” Rohit said. “We played some good cricket though the tournament. To have the result our way is a great feeling.”Star batsman Virat Kohli said: “It’s been amazing, we wanted to bounce back after a tough Australia tour. Lovely playing with a bunch of amazing youngsters. They’re stepping up and taking India in the right direction.””When you leave, you want to leave in a better position. So many impactful knocks (Shubman) Gill, Shreyas (Iyer), Rahul have played. The team is in good hands,” he added.Both Kohli and Rohit had a lean run of form in India’s 3-1 Test defeat in Australia earlier this year and the pair came into the tournament with speculation swirling over their ODI retirements.In a battle of spin on a sluggish Dubai pitch, New Zealand’s bowlers put India in trouble at 203-5 with Rohit and Shreyas Iyer, who hit 48, back in the pavilion.But Rahul kept calm and along with Hardik Pandya (18) and Ravindra Jadeja, who hit the winning boundary, steered the team home to loud cheers from a largely Indian crowd in a sea of blue.India played all their matches at the Dubai International Stadium after they refused to tour hosts Pakistan due to political tensions.- Phillips takes another stunner -India played four spinners in their last three matches, which proved telling in deciding the outcome.Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each to help restrict New Zealand to 251-7 after the Black Caps elected to bat first.In reply, Rohit came out firing as he took on the pace bowlers with regular boundaries including a six and two fours in one over off Nathan Smith.The captain reached his fifty in 41 balls to put the pressure on the opposition.New Zealand’s spinners attempted to pull things back and a stunning catch from Glenn Phillips secured a key breakthrough.Phillips went airborne to pluck a flying ball at extra cover to dismiss Shubman Gill for 31 off skipper Mitchell Santner.Kohli fell in the next over, trapped lbw for one off Michael Bracewell’s off spin and the momentum shifted as runs dried up for India.Rohit, after a maiden over from Bracewell, jumped out of his crease against Rachin Ravindra only to be stumped by Tom Latham as India slipped from 105 without loss to 122-3.Iyer controlled the chase aided by a dropped catch by Kyle Jamieson but soon fell to Santner.India lost Axar Patel and Pandya but Rahul stood strong to drag his team over the line.”It’s been a good tournament,” said New Zealand’s Santner. “We have been challenged along the way and the way we have grown as a group. We lost to a better side today.”New Zealand missed their pace spearhead Matt Henry after he was forced out of the final due to a shoulder injury.Kane Williamson also could not come out to field after his batting effort of 11 due to a quad strain.Daryl Mitchell hit 63 and Bracewell made a quickfire 53 not out for New Zealand, but it was not enough against an Indian side with considerable batting depth.Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep’s two wickets in the space of two overs to dismiss Ravindra, for 37, and then Williamson proved crucial as India followed up their group-stage win over New Zealand with another triumph.

Nepal’s former king Gyanendra Shah was welcomed back to Kathmandu on Sunday by thousands of supporters who have been staging pro-monarchy demonstrations in the Himalayan republic. The Hindu-majority nation became a secular republic in 2008 after parliament abolished the monarchy as part of a peace deal that ended a decade-long civil war in which more than 16,000 people were killed.However, support for the restoration of the monarchy and a Hindu state has grown amid dissatisfaction over political instability, corruption and slow economic development.Shah’s supporters cheered and waved Nepal’s flag, chanting “Come king, save the nation” as he greeted them at the Kathmandu airport gate.The former king had been touring the country in recent weeks and returned to the capital from Pokhara in central Nepal.”The country faces instability, prices are high, people are jobless, and there is a lack of education and healthcare facilities,” said Rajindra Kunwar, 43, a teacher who had joined the crowd.”The poor are dying of hunger. The law applies to the public, but not to politicians. That’s why we need the king back,” he said. Shah, 77, has largely refrained from commenting on Nepal’s fractious politics and calls for the monarchy’s restoration, although he has made several recent public appearances with supporters. “It is now time. If we wish to save our nation and maintain national unity, I call on all countrymen to support us for Nepal’s prosperity and progress,” the former king said in a statement on the eve of national Democracy Day commemorations last month.Political analyst Lok Raj Baral told AFP that he did not see any possibility of the monarchy being restored because the institution had been “a source of instability”.   “For some disgruntled groups, it has become a retreat due to incompetence of politicians who have grown increasingly self-centred. This frustration has manifested in such gatherings and demonstrations,” he said.Shah was crowned in 2001 after his elder brother king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah and his family were killed in a palace massacre that wiped out most of the royal family.His coronation took place as a Maoist insurgency was raging in far-flung corners of Nepal.Shah suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament in 2005, triggering a democratic movement in which the Maoists sided with Nepal’s political establishment to orchestrate huge street protests.Parliament voted in 2008 to abolish Nepal’s 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.

Half-centuries from Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell steered New Zealand to 251-7 after India’s spinners called the shots in the final of the Champions Trophy on Sunday.The Black Caps won the toss and elected to bat first in Dubai after they suffered an early blow when fast bowler Matt Henry missed out due to a shoulder injury.India came in unchanged from their win over Australia in the semi-final and their four spinners kept the opposition on the backfoot for a large part of the 50 overs.Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each on a sluggish pitch that has aided the slow bowlers in the 50-over tournament played in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.India have played all their matches in Dubai after they refused to tour hosts Pakistan due to political tensions and have been unbeaten at the venue in four matches.Mitchell made 63 and put on key stands, before the left-handed Bracewell smashed an unbeaten 53 off 40 balls to boost the total. New Zealand openers started cautiously before previous-match hero Rachin Ravindra took on the bowling attack.The left-handed Ravindra, fresh from a century in the semi-final against South Africa in Lahore, smashed pace bowler Mohammed Shami for a six and two fours.Wrist spinner Chakravarthy struck first to send back Will Young, out lbw for 15, but the runs came quickly, albeit with some help from sloppy fielding.Ravindra survived two reprieves when Shami failed to take a return catch and Shreyas Iyer dropped a tough chance in the deep.But Kuldeep bowled Ravindra, for 37, on his first ball of the match with a googly from the left-arm wrist spinner.Kuldeep then got a largely Indian crowd — a sea of blue — on their feet when he had senior batsman Kane Williamson caught and bowled for 11.Williamson, also fresh from a ton in the previous win, had looked good in his brief stay of 14 balls.Mitchell and wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham attempted to rebuild as the pair took the team past 100, but soon Ravindra Jadeja struck with his left-arm spin.Jadeja trapped the left-handed Latham lbw for 14 as New Zealand slipped to 108-4.Mitchell, who survived a dropped catch by skipper Rohit Sharma on 38, stood firm and with Glenn Phillips, who made 34, put on 57 runs.Phillips was bowled by Chakravarthy off a fast googly.Mitchell put on another stand with Bracewell before he fell to Shami caught out at extra cover.Bracewell finished with a flourish with three fours and two sixes.India need 252 to win a record third Champions Trophy after winning the 2002 and 2013 editions.Australia also have also won two Champions Trophies, in 2006 and 2009.

A Pakistani man has been charged with murder after allegedly shooting the administrator of a community WhatsApp group who removed him from the chat, police said Saturday.Mushtaq Ahmed was shot dead on Thursday evening in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province that borders Afghanistan, which has a history of bloody sectarian violence.A man named only as Ashfaq has been charged with his murder, according to police documents seen by AFP and a local police official.Mushtaq allegedly kicked Ashfaq out of the WhatsApp group following an argument, according to a statement by Mushtaq’s brother seen by AFP. He said that both parties had arranged to meet and reconcile but alleges that Ashfaq turned up with a gun and opened fire, killing his brother.Ashfaq was angry “in reaction to removal from WhatsApp group,” according to his statement.The availability of firearms, the influence of tribal customs, and sometimes weak law enforcement contribute to the frequency of such incidents.