ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to launch today, Tuesday, the second phase of mandatory training for Hajj pilgrims, the Pakistani religion ministry said, with 142 workshops scheduled to be held in 72 cities nationwide.
Pakistan conducted its first phase of training for Hajj pilgrims in Jan. that continued across the country until late Feb., with intending pilgrims trained via audio-visual devices and other materials.
Pakistani religious affairs minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf has said that around 90,000 pilgrims are expected to perform Hajj under the government’s scheme this year, promising to ensure the best possible facilities for them.
As part of the second phase, Hajj workshops will be held in Islamabad, Mirpur Khas, Mirpur Mathilo, Qila Saifullah, Chakwal and Pishin districts on Tuesday, while training sessions will be held in Hyderabad, Mirpur Mirs, Zhob, Qila Abdullah, Chaman, Daki, Ziarat, Mianwali and Nowshera districts on Wednesday.
“The second phase of Hajj pilgrim training will continue until April 24,” the Pakistani religion ministry said. “Overseas Pakistanis will receive training at the relevant Hajj camps after returning home.”
Training programs will be held in Tando Adam, Nowshehro Feroze, Loralai, Haripur, Khushab and Kohat districts on April 10, while workshops in Benazirabad, Dadu, Mardan and Dera Ismail Khan districts will be held on April 11, the religion ministry said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed in Jan. the Hajj 2025 agreement, under which 179,210 Pakistani pilgrims were supposed to perform the annual pilgrimage under the government and private schemes.
However, the South Asian country failed to fulfill its private Hajj quota of pilgrims, prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week to constitute a three-member inquiry committee to probe why Pakistani authorities had failed to comply with the Kingdom’s Hajj 2025 policy and consequently lost the quota.
Pakistan will begin its Hajj operations on Apr. 29, when the first flight carrying Hajj pilgrims will depart from the eastern city of Lahore to Saudi Arabia.
The Trump administration has largely gutted USAID, the main US humanitarian assistance organization
Updated 08 April 2025
AFP
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The United States has ended emergency food aid for 14 countries, endangering the lives of millions of hungry or starving people, a United Nations agency said Monday.
The World Food Program (WFP), which was already grappling with a 40 percent drop in funding for this year, said it had been advised of the new American aid halt to 14 countries.
In comments on X, the agency did not name these countries.
“If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” the agency said.
The WFP is not the only UN body hit by US funding cuts, as the United States under President Donald Trump turns sharply inward and stops trying to help other countries around the world as part of an isolationist agenda.
The Trump administration told the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health, that it was ending two programs, the organization told AFP Monday.
One of programs was for Afghanistan, while the other involved Syria.
Other countries besides the United States have also announced funding cuts in recent months, causing alarm among NGOs and international organizations.
The Trump administration has largely gutted USAID, the main US humanitarian assistance organization. It previously had a yearly budget of $42.8 billion, which was 42 percent of all aid money disbursed around the world.
An Israeli strike hit near a charity kitchen in Gaza as Palestinians gathered for food
The strike hit around noon as the kitchen was distributing meals to displaced people living in tent camps
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 1,000 health workers and at least 173 journalists, according to the UN and the Committee to Protect Journalists
Updated 08 April 2025
AP
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: An Israeli strike on Monday hit next to a charity kitchen where Palestinians crowded to receive cooked meals as food supplies dwindle under Israel’s month-long blockade of the Gaza Strip, one of a string of attacks in the territory that killed more than 30 people, mostly women and children, hospital officials said.
Another strike hit a media tent outside a hospital, killing two people, including a local reporter, and wounding six other journalists, medics said. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a man whom it identified as a Hamas militant posing as a journalist.
Video footage showed people carrying the body of a little girl, her face covered with blood, from the blast that witnesses said hit a tent next to the charity kitchen outside the southern city of Khan Younis. Six other people were killed, including two women, and at least 10 people were wounded, hospital officials said.
The strike hit around noon as the kitchen was distributing meals to displaced people living in tent camps. Samah Abu Jamie said her nephew was among those killed and her young daughter was wounded as they waited with their pots to collect meals for their families.
“They were going to get food. I told her, ‘Daughter, don’t go’,” she said. “These were children, and they had nothing with them but a pot. Is a pot a weapon?”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike. ‘Bombed and starved again’
Charity kitchens have been drawing bigger crowds of Palestinians because other sources of food are running out. More than a month ago, Israeli cut off all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies for Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people, forcing aid groups to ration their stocks.
The World Food Program has warned that its supplies to keep kitchens going could be depleted by next week. It had to stop distributing boxes of food staples directly to families last week, spokesperson Abeer Etefa said Monday. The bakeries it ran have also shut down for lack of flour, ending a main source of bread for hundreds of thousands of people.
Since it ended its ceasefire with Hamas last month, Israel has carried out bombardments across Gaza, killing hundreds of people, and ground forces have carved out new military zones. Israel says it is pressuring Hamas to free its remaining hostages, disarm and leave the territory. Under the ceasefire deal, it had agreed to negotiate for the hostages’ release.
The heads of six UN agencies operating in Gaza said in a joint statement Monday that the blockade has left Gaza’s population “trapped, bombed and starved again.” They said Israeli claims that enough supplies entered during the ceasefire “are far from the reality on the ground, and commodities are running extremely low.”
“We are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life,” they said. “Protect civilians. Facilitate aid. Release hostages. Renew a ceasefire.”
Strikes hit journalists and homes
The strike outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis about 2 a.m. set the media tent ablaze, killing Yousef Al-Faqawi, a reporter for the Palestine Today news website, and another man, according to hospital officials.
The military said the strike targeted Hassan Eslaiah, claiming he was a Hamas militant who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited the war. Eslaiah was among six journalists who were wounded in the strike, according to the hospital.
Eslaiah had occasionally contributed images to The Associated Press and other international media outlets as a freelance journalist, including on Oct. 7. The AP has not worked with him for over a year.
A strike that hit a street in Gaza City killed an emergency room doctor, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Israel’s campaign has killed more than 1,000 health workers and at least 173 journalists, according to the UN and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Hospitals in Khan Younis and the central town of Deir Al-Balah said they received the bodies of 33 people, 19 of them women and children, from strikes overnight and into the day on Monday, including those from the kitchen and the media tent attack.
Some of the strike reduced houses to rubble. Imad Maghari said the blast that hit his neighbors in Deir Al-Balah at 2 a.m. was like “an earthquake,” followed by the screams of women and children. He said one neighbor lost five family members and another a young boy.
“I don’t know what danger he poses. He’s 7 years old,” Maghari said.
Israel’s military offensive in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry, whose count does not distinguish between militants and civilians. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the Gaza Strip and displaced around 90 percent of its population.
Israel says it tries to avoid civilian casualties and blames Hamas for their deaths because it operates among the population.
In the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people. They are still holding 59 captives — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Protests in Israel as Netanyahu meets Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday to discuss Gaza and other issues.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem to call for an agreement to release the captives. Many fear that Netanyahu’s decision to resume the fighting has put the remaining hostages in grave danger and hope Trump can help broker another deal.
“Now the moment of truth has come,” said Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander, addressing Netanyahu. “You are in the United States and you have to sit there with President Trump and close a deal so that everyone will be released home.”
How the ban on girls’ education will hamper Afghanistan’s development
The Taliban’s refusal to educate girls is considered among the biggest barriers to Afghanistan’s recovery and growth
Experts say denying girls an education only entrenches gender inequality and limits workforce productivity
Updated 08 April 2025
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: With the Taliban’s ban on secondary education for teenage girls now in its fourth year, the dreams of millions across Afghanistan remain on hold. If the policy continues, experts say it could have serious implications for women’s health and the nation’s development.
The ban, reimposed in September 2021, has already deprived 2.2 million Afghan girls of secondary education as of 2025, according to the UN children’s fund, UNICEF. If the ban persists until 2030, this number could rise to more than 4 million.
“The consequences for these girls — and for Afghanistan — are catastrophic,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director, warned in a statement, adding that the ban “negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.”
The ban is among the harshest measures imposed by the Taliban since its return to power in August 2021. It bars girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade and from universities. Afghanistan is the only country in the world to enforce such a ban.
The Taliban claims its policy aligns with its interpretation of Islamic law, mirroring similar measures during its initial rule from 1996 to 2001.
The ban is among the harshest measures imposed by the Taliban since its return to power in August 2021. (AFP)
The ramifications of the ban extend far beyond the immediate exclusion of girls from schooling. Its effects are likely to reverberate through Afghan society for decades unless the policy is reversed.
Salma Niazi, editor in chief of the Afghan Times, told Arab News the ban “will have devastating, multi-generational effects,” risking “a profound brain drain, economic stagnation, and increased poverty.”
Economically, Afghanistan loses an estimated 2.5 percent of its annual gross domestic product due to the exclusion of girls from secondary education, according to a 2022 UNICEF report.
Niazi said educated women are vital to a nation’s progress, contributing to healthcare, governance, and community resilience.
“Denying them education entrenches gender inequality, limits workforce productivity, and exacerbates cycles of vulnerability, including child marriage and maternal mortality,” she said. “The societal and economic costs will be felt for decades.”
IN NUMBERS
2.2m Afghan girls currently out of school
4m Projected to lose out if ban persists to 2030
Dr. Ayesha Ahmad, a global health humanities scholar at St. George’s University of London, echoed these concerns. “Even if boys and men can access education, there is no foundation for a country’s flourishment without equality in education,” she told Arab News.
“Most significantly, for the forthcoming multiple age groups affected by the education ban, there is a generational impact that will take designated efforts to heal the collective traumas that are being enforced and imposed onto the lives of Afghan girls and women.”
The Taliban’s December 2024 closure of medical education programs for women has intensified these risks. UNICEF’s Russell warned that fewer female doctors and midwives will leave women without critical care, estimating “an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths.”
She said in her March statement: “These are not just numbers; they represent lives lost and families shattered.”
Afghanistan already has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, with at least 600 deaths per 100,000 live births — nearly triple the global average.
Economically, Afghanistan loses an estimated 2.5 percent of its annual gross domestic product due to the exclusion of girls from secondary education, according to a 2022 UNICEF report. (AFP)
The Taliban’s requirement for male guardians to accompany women seeking healthcare further endangers those in labor. UN Women projects that by 2026, the education ban could increase early childbearing rates by 45 percent and maternal mortality risks by 50 percent.
Ahmad accused the Taliban of “weaponizing discrimination into genocide” through barring women from medical training. “Girls and women simply will die,” she said.
With nearly 28 percent of Afghan girls married before they are 18, UNICEF warns the education ban will only heighten the risk of child marriage, threatening girls’ health and agency.
“With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health,” Russell said.
It is through such policies that the Taliban systematically erases women’s autonomy, said Ahmad, “deliberately shrinking spaces that girls and women can occupy through their growth, individuality, wishes, and agency.”
After Taliban closed medical education programs for women in December 2024, UNICEF’s Russell warned that fewer female doctors and midwives will leave women without critical care, estimating “an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths.” (AFP)
Beyond physical harm, the mental health toll is severe. Ahmad said the ban fosters “hopelessness, despair, depression, and suicidality” among Afghan girls and women.
She called for greater awareness of what she described as “a gender apartheid,” urging action against the Taliban policies that erase women’s autonomy.
The policy also threatens Afghanistan’s global standing.
Hasina Safi, Afghanistan’s former minister for women’s affairs, said the ban on girls’ education “will further isolate Afghanistan and Afghan women” while deepening “inequality and instability at all levels — from grassroots communities to policy making.”
She told Arab News: “When you educate a man, you educate an individual; when you educate a woman, you educate an entire family. The first school of a child is a mother.
“The first word of the Qur’an revealed was ‘Iqra,’ which means read — which clearly reflects the importance of education even in Islam.”
Dr. Ayesha Ahmad, a global health humanities scholar at St. George’s University of London, said the ban fosters “hopelessness, despair, depression, and suicidality” among Afghan girls and women. (AFP)
Despite these challenges, families are seeking alternatives to ensure their daughters receive an education. Some are turning to illegal underground schools, the former minister said.
Ahmad explained that although underground schools provide some relief for Afghan girls desperately seeking an education, they remain informal and poorly resourced. “Unfortunately, these are not of an adequate standard,” she said. “They operate in silence.”
Online programs offer another avenue but come with obstacles such as high overseas fees and limited internet access. Afghan students also struggle with power outages and technological barriers while trying to meet academic expectations.
Even if Afghan women complete their education through such means, employment opportunities remain scarce under Taliban restrictions.
“One student I know from Afghanistan had to write her dissertation whilst managing electricity power cuts and not being able to charge or use her laptop to work or access student systems such as lectures,” said Ahmad.
“And to what end? There is no employment for women to develop a career from their education.”
Hasina Safi, Afghanistan’s former minister for women’s affairs, said the ban on girls’ education “will further isolate Afghanistan and Afghan women.” (AFP)
Niazi of the Afghan Times said that in addition to underground schools, Afghan civil society, educators, and international organizations “have shown remarkable resilience,” discretely operating digital learning platforms and community-based initiatives.
“Some NGOs are providing scholarships for Afghan girls to study abroad, while advocacy groups continue to pressure the Taliban through local and global campaigns,” she said. “However, these efforts are often fragmented and operate under severe constraints.”
Highlighting efforts by her independent news outlet, Niazi added: “At the Afghan Times, we’ve launched an Open Mic Podcast where young women share how they’ve clung to hope through online education.
“Their stories — of studying secretly via Zoom, accessing smuggled e-books, or teaching younger sisters at home — reveal both resilience and desperation.”
The three women urged the international community to play a greater role in pressuring the Taliban to lift the ban, which remains a stark violation of fundamental rights and continues to draw widespread condemnation from international organizations and activists alike.
The education ban remains a stark violation of fundamental rights and continues to draw widespread condemnation from international organizations and activists alike. (AFP)
Safi noted that while the international community has responded to the issue, including “condemnations and advocacy,” these actions have “yielded no results.”
She added: “The international community can play a pivotal role at multiple levels of engagement with the Taliban by implementing short, mid, and long-term programs to restore access to education through conditional funding and other proven strategies.”
The international community has strongly condemned the Taliban’s actions. Organizations like UNICEF, UNESCO, and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan have repeatedly called for the immediate lifting of the ban, emphasizing its catastrophic impact on Afghanistan’s future.
Countries like the UK have taken a firm stance against the restrictions, and Islamic nations have sought to pressure the Taliban into reversing the policy.
Afghan women hold placards during a protest in front of Kabul University in Kabul on October 18, 2022. (AFP)
While the Taliban remains resistant to outside pressure, Safi said sustained international efforts could still create pathways for Afghan girls to access education — even under restrictive conditions.
The Taliban stance is further complicated by its lack of recognition from the international community, primarily due to its systematic oppression of women and girls. No country has granted formal diplomatic recognition to the Islamic Emirate since its 2021 takeover, with ongoing human rights violations cited as the central obstacle.
Niazi called for consistent diplomatic and economic pressure on the Taliban, advocating for increased funding to alternative education programs, including online learning and cross-border initiatives.
The Afghan Times editor also stressed that “global media, like Arab News, play a crucial role in keeping this issue visible,” while “neighboring countries and Islamic leaders could leverage their influence to advocate for change, framing education as a religious and moral imperative.”
The international community has strongly condemned the Taliban’s actions. Organizations like UNICEF, UNESCO, and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan have repeatedly called for the immediate lifting of the ban. (AFP)
Ahmad criticized what she believes to be the international community’s selective engagement. “When there is a perceived threat to ‘Western’ populations, it is justified to intervene, even if that intervention destroys generations of lives and hope,” she said.
“Yet when there is a structurally violent threat to girls through the institution of education, there is global silence. This is another form of violence.”
She urged nations to prioritize a unified response to ensure educational equality, warning that the continued ban on girls’ education could mean Afghanistan’s “destruction.”
Indeed, she added: “Nothing can be created without education.”
Newcastle step up Champions League chase with Leicester win
Fifth place will almost certainly be enough to secure a place in the Champions League next season after strong performances by English clubs in continental competition
Updated 08 April 2025
AFP
LEICESTER, United Kingdom: Newcastle coasted to a 3-0 win over sorry Leicester on Monday to step up their Champions League charge and condemn the Foxes to an eighth straight Premier League defeat without scoring.
Eddie Howe’s men, still on a high after winning the League Cup last month, are up to fifth in the table, level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea, but with a game in hand.
Fifth place will almost certainly be enough to secure a place in the Champions League next season after strong performances by English clubs in continental competition.
But Ruud van Nistelrooy’s hapless team are heading back down to the Championship after a solitary season in the Premier League.
The visitors were 2-0 up in the 11th minute after two goals from Jacob Murphy, the second a tap-in from close range after an audacious effort from Fabian Schar hit the crossbar, and Harvey Barnes added a third before half-time.
Leicester were brighter in the second half but could not end their goal drought in the league, which stretches back to January.
The opening moments of the contest gave false hope to the long-suffering home fans as Jamie Vardy tested Nick Pope in the visitors’ goal.
Newcastle were ahead in the just second minute after Tino Livramento squared for Murphy to tap home after an attack down the left.
Minutes later time stood still as Schar, spotting goalkeeper Mads Hermansen off his line, nearly scored from his own half.
His effort cannoned off the crossbar but landed at the feet of Murphy, who was the only player to react.
The game was effectively over before half-time when former Leicester player Barnes finished from close range after Hermansen saved from Joelinton, declining to celebrate.
Van Nistelrooy introduced Stephy Mavididi and Facundo Buonanotte for Victor Kristiansen and Patson Daka at the interval and the game was more even in the second period, but Leicester struggled to make an impact.
The home fans cheered the entrance of 15-year-old Jeremy Monga late in the game as he became the second-youngest Premier League player.
Newcastle, whose fortunes have been transformed since a Saudi-funded takeover in 2021, are eyeing another season in the Champions League after exiting at the group stage in the 2023/24 campaign — after two decades away.
Howe, who led Newcastle to their first major trophy in 56 years against Liverpool at Wembley last month, has the chance to add gloss to a historic season.
But it is a tight battle — only six points separate third-placed Nottingham Forest from Aston Villa in seventh spot.
Van Nistelroy arrived at the King Power Stadium in November after a spell as interim manager at Manchester United but results have nosedived after an encouraging start.
The shock 2016 Premier League champions are almost certain to be joined in the second tier by Ipswich, who also came up last season.
Basement club Southampton are the only club whose relegation has been confirmed.
