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Afghan girls and women cling to glitchy, lonesome online learning

Afghan girls and women cling to glitchy, lonesome online learning

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Afghan girls and women cling to glitchy, lonesome online learning

Sequestered at home in a remote Afghan town, 18-year-old Shekiba often roams the house hunting for the patchy internet signal that is her last link to an education.

Shekiba has turned to online learning since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and shut her out of classrooms, signing up for live economics lectures she squints at on a pocket-sized phone screen.

She hopes to save for a laptop but is forced to buy expensive mobile data packages that still don’t guarantee a signal in the town of Ishkashim perched high in mountainous Badakhshan province.

“If there were no internet issues, it would be much easier,” she told AFP by phone. “But it’s better to carry on, instead of sitting and doing nothing.”

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“I just hope to study, to succeed, to progress. If one person progresses in a family, the whole family progresses, as well as the whole society.”

Boys and men returned to classes with the start of the Afghan new year, but girls and women will be left behind again by a Taliban government education blockade that is part of a raft of restrictions the United Nations has labelled “gender apartheid”.

While online alternatives have sprung up, a dearth of computers and internet, as well as the isolation of learning via screen, makes them a poor substitute for in-person learning, students and teachers say.

Many of those alternatives also cannot provide diplomas, which offer a promise that qualifications will be acknowledged.

‘No perspective of future’

It’s unclear exactly how many girls and women are involved in online learning, but two higher education platforms report Afghans registering or applying in the tens of thousands since the Taliban takeover.

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Begum Academy, an online platform with some 8,500 free videos in Dari and Pashto covering the Afghan secondary school curriculum, launched in December 2023 and quickly had more than 3,000 users.

Director Hamida Aman said parents are grateful but it’s hard for girls to stay driven.

“It’s difficult to get motivated when everything is closed to you and there’s no perspective of future,” she told AFP from France, where she is based.

“These girls cannot have certificates, or they cannot have the ambition to go to the university or to have any job later.”

Education for girls and women was a key aim of the US-backed government but gains were largely limited to cities, with only 23 percent of girls aged 13 to 18 in school nationwide, according to the International Crisis Group.

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The think tank said that figure dropped to 13 percent after the Taliban government issued its edicts barring female education in 2022.

Zainab was soon to start high school when it came into effect and was twice rebuffed by an online school that was at capacity before she finally secured a place.

“Before taking online classes, we were idle at home. We were worried. We used to sleep most of the time, which made us depressed,” said Zainab, who asked not to use her full name for fear of reprisal.

Online classes “keep us busy”, she told AFP, but they “cannot replace schools”.

Twenty-two-year-old Ruhila teaches English classes online while trying to continue her university education, also virtually, and says the teaching helps her spirits.

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“The only thing that gives me energy in the current situation is teaching these girls,” she said.

“But when you accept that it’s going to be online forever then you lose enthusiasm and you don’t put in the same effort,” she said. “Mentally, online classes are very tough. They are stressful, and boring.”

Taliban authorities have insisted since girls were barred from secondary school that they are working on establishing a system that aligns with their interpretation of Islamic law.

Poor internet, few computers

Widespread virtual schooling during the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated it was “at best, a rather partial substitute for in-person instruction”, a UNESCO report found.

Afghan students face the burden of trying to log on in a country where the internet is often down – or painfully slow – and where electricity outages are common.

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Less than a quarter of the population uses the internet, according to online insights company DataReportal. With stark poverty rates in Afghanistan, computers are also a luxury many cannot afford.

Some 90 percent of Begum Academy students use their phones to learn, according to Aman.

But even more than those frustrations, 18-year-old Aisha misses the social aspect of school.

“Online classes cannot be as effective as physical classes where we meet our peers and our teachers and exchange our ideas,” she said.

“Online courses can only give us a hope,” she added. “But we can never say, ‘I have studied online so I have graduated from school.’” 

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Estonia summons Russian embassy chief over GPS jamming

Estonia summons Russian embassy chief over GPS jamming

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Estonia summons Russian embassy chief over GPS jamming

Estonia’s foreign ministry has summoned the head of the Russian embassy in Tallinn to protest the jamming of GPS signals, the Baltic country said on Wednesday.

Estonia accuses neighbouring Russia of violating international regulations by disturbing GPS navigation in airspace above the Baltic states, echoing concerns from airlines that say they have contended with such interference for months.

The Estonian foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Russia’s charge d’affaires to convey its message. Moscow and Tallinn last year expelled each other’s ambassadors as relations deteriorated in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Jamming the GPS signal is an element of Russia’s hybrid activities, disrupting everyday life and threatening the security of allies,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a statement.

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Russia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GPS, short for Global Positioning System, is a network of satellites and receiving devices used for positioning, navigation and timing on Earth in everything from ships and planes to cars.

The jamming of GPS signals can be disruptive to commercial airliners but they can usually navigate by other means.

Finnish carrier Finnair last month said it would pause all flights to Tartu in Estonia to allow the local airport to upgrade its navigation system, which has so far relied only on GPS.

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Australia boosts funds to Taiwan-ally Tuvalu amid Pacific contest for influence with China

Australia boosts funds to Taiwan-ally Tuvalu amid Pacific contest for influence with China

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Australia boosts funds to Taiwan-ally Tuvalu amid Pacific contest for influence with China

Australia will quadruple its financial assistance to Tuvalu, a Pacific Island nation at risk from rising seas, to cement a landmark climate migration and security deal as China also courts small island states.

On a visit to Tuvalu, foreign minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday evening Australia has committed A$110 million ($72.27 million) in its national budget to Tuvalu.

The sum includes A$50 million ($32.85 million) to build the first undersea cable connecting the island’s residents to global telecommunications services, and A$19 million for a land reclamation project to fortify Tuvalu’s coastline from rising seas.

Another A$15 million will be spent on a national security coordination centre, as well as A$10 million in direct budget support.

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The funding is a significant boost on the A$17 million ($11.17 million) Australia provided to Tuvalu in 2023-24.

China’s ambitions for a greater security presence in the Pacific became an election issue in Tuvalu in January, as two leadership contenders said Tuvalu should consider switching ties from Taiwan to Beijing for more funds, and revise a new security pact with Australia.

Neighbour Nauru cut ties with Taiwan a fortnight before Tuvalu’s vote, after China built a port and promised more aid.

Tuvalu’s new prime minister Feleti Teo pledged to stick with Taiwan, and to ratify the Falepili Union signed with Australia in November. The treaty allows Tuvalu citizens to migrate to Australia for work or study, while recognising Tuvalu continues to exist despite the rising sea levels.

“Australia has provided a security guarantee to support Tuvalu in a humanitarian disaster, a pandemic or the event of attack,” Wong said in a speech on Wednesday evening.

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“It is also the first time in history that two nations have agreed in a legally binding instrument that statehood endures in the face of sea level rise,” she added.

The treaty allows Australia to vet Tuvalu’s deals with third countries in a broad range of security areas from ports to telecommunications.

On Thursday, Wong and Teo are expected to say that the security cooperation does not limit Tuvalu’s ability to enter into diplomatic agreements with other nations, according to an advance copy of a joint statement viewed by Reuters.

“We recognise that the people of Tuvalu deserve the choice to live, study and work elsewhere, as climate change impacts intensify at home,” the text of the statement reads.

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Probe launched after Boeing cargo plane lands in Istanbul without front landing gear

Probe launched after Boeing cargo plane lands in Istanbul without front landing gear

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Probe launched after Boeing cargo plane lands in Istanbul without front landing gear

A FedEx Airlines Boeing cargo plane landed at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday without its front landing gear, a Turkish Transport Ministry official said, adding there were no casualties and authorities had launched an investigation.

The aircraft, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, informed the control tower in Istanbul that its landing gear had failed to open and touched down with guidance from the tower, managing to remain on the runway, a ministry statement said.

Airport rescue and fire fighting teams were scrambled before landing, but no one was injured. The ministry gave no reason for the failure.

The aircraft involved is a nearly 10-year-old Boeing 767 freighter, one of the most common cargo planes and based on the 767 passenger model dating back to the 1980s.

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An official from Turkey’s transport ministry said its teams were conducting examinations at the scene as part of the ongoing investigation, but did not provide further details.

Boeing referred queries to FedEX, which said in a statement it was coordinating with investigation authorities and would “provide additional information as it is available”.

Video footage obtained by Reuters showed sparks flying and some smoke as the front of the plane scraped along the runway before coming to a halt and being doused with firefighting foam. No fire appeared to have broken out.

The video showed the pilots holding the plane’s nose above the runway for several seconds after the main wheels had touched the ground, apparently executing the emergency drill for landing with a retracted nose gear that pilots train for, according to the SKYbrary aviation database.

In June last year, a small 22-year-old Boeing 717 flown by Delta Airlines made a similar smooth landing without a nose gear in Charlotte, North Carolina, in an incident later blamed on a fractured component.

The runway was temporarily closed to air traffic, but other runways at Istanbul airport were still operating normally, the airport operator IGA said.

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Manufacturers are not typically involved in the operation or maintenance of jets once they enter service, but Boeing has been under intense media and regulatory scrutiny following a series of incidents on its smaller 737.

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