Since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan returned to power in 2021 under Taliban leadership, the situation for women in Afghanistan has deteriorated sharply. State-sanctioned discrimination has further eroded the already limited freedoms and autonomy of Afghan women, with new decrees systematically restricting their rights and legitimising increasingly severe forms of oppression.
A missile strike, an attack that opened the United States–Israel military campaign against Iran on 28 February 2026, destroyed the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, in southern Hormozgan province of Iran.
The assault occurred during the school day. Classrooms were full. More than 165 young children were killed, the majority of them girls between the ages of seven and twelve.
In Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, a district long scarred by insurgency, violence, and institutional collapse, a quiet but profound transformation is unfolding. For decades, poor infrastructure,...