Empty Schools In Afghanistan & The World’s Happiest Country
March 22, 2023
The Taliban Battle Truancy (And Women’s Rights)
A new school year began on Tuesday in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, no students actually showed up for class, as they were unaware that classes were being held. The new school year was also overshadowed by a ban on education for teenage girls, a move that has attracted mass international criticism.
Taliban leaders, who gained power in 2021, have abolished the Persian new year tradition of Nowruz, which was formerly a public holiday, and the country’s education ministry then pushed forward the start of the school year by one day. “We did not send children to school in Kabul today because it’s the new year holiday,” said Ranna Afzali, a former TV journalist in Kabul who lost her job when the Taliban returned to power. “In the past, the new year used to be a public holiday all over Afghanistan, but the Taliban terminated the holiday, so the schools were open but attendance was almost nil.”
The start of the school year also marks a dark reality for older schoolgirls across the country. While girls are still allowed to access a primary school education, Taliban leaders have barred them from attending secondary school and university. They had originally promised that women would still be allowed a full education last year, but later reversed course. The only remaining educational option for women is all-girls religious schools, which have seen a spike in applications in the past year.
The government maintains it will reopen secondary schools for women once certain “conditions” are met, including securing new funding for girls’ education and reforming syllabuses to align with Islamic values. Currently, no government recognizes the Taliban as legitimate leaders in Afghanistan, and the U.N. has called the country the “most repressive country in the world” in terms of women’s rights.
Some Good News
- New Mexico Game and Fish is now hiring ‘professional bear huggers’ (CNN)
- Biden to create national monuments in Nevada, Texas at conservation summit (ABC)
- Supreme Court rules for deaf student who sued school district (NBC)
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A State Of Disconnectivity
- The northern Indian state of Punjab has been struck by internet shutdowns as the government continues its massive manhunt for Heirs of Punjab leader Amritpal Singh Sandhu, a Sikh preacher pushing for a separate Sikh state. The shutdown began over the weekend and was supposed to last until noon Monday, but was extended another 24 hours as Sandhu evaded capture.
- Police have been searching for Sandhu since Saturday, accusing him of disrupting communal harmony. The internet shutdown was extended after his followers were filmed vandalizing India’s San Francisco consulate, with a similar stunt pulled at London’s Indian high commission. Sandhu became widely known in February when he staged an armed rescue of his lieutenant from a police station and then threatened to assassinate home minister Amit Shah.
- The shutdown has cut off both internet and SMS in order to stop the spread of fake news, but has also impacted schools and businesses in the state of over 30 million people. Sandhu remains on the run from police.
COVID Ain’t Nothing But A Raccoon Dog (Disease)
- While discourse over the origins of Covid-19 has come back into headlines after the U.S. Energy Department reportedly decided that the virus came from a lab leak, the truth remains unclear. New information suggests that Covid-infected animals were held at a Wuhan market and they could be a “potential source of human infections”
- On Monday, an unreleased report by a team of international researchers showed that raccoon dogs and other Covid-carrying species were present at the Huanan market in Wuhan in the earliest days of the outbreak. “This adds to the body of evidence identifying the Huanan market as the spillover location of Sars-CoV-2 and the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic,” concluded the report.
- On the other hand, reports that Covid came from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, if true, could also implicate the U.S. funding in the release of the disease. According to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Health sent $8 million to a U.S. health nonprofit named Ecohealth in the years leading up to the pandemic, which in turn funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan. Gain-of-function research makes diseases more transmissible in order to study them, though the NIH funding was not meant to support such research.
Additional World News
- Iran violations may amount to crimes against humanity, UN expert says (Reuters)
- Garbage: In Paris streets, heaps of it become protest symbol (AP)
- ‘War crimes’ committed by all sides in Ethiopia, says US secretary of state (Guardian)
- Taiwan’s President to transit US on Central America trip, but no word on meeting with Speaker McCarthy (CNN)
- Kenya police say 1 killed in opposition-led protests (AP)
- Ecuador declares state of emergency in provinces hit by earthquake, rains (Reuters)
- South Africans demonstrate and call for president to resign (ABC)
“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” – Bruce Lee
Jumping Off The Fox Ship
- Fox News producer Abby Grossberg has filed a lawsuit claiming the network pressured her to give misleading testimony in the Dominion defamation lawsuit. She also claims the network discriminated against her for being a woman and Jewish. She is currently on forced administrative leave.
- Dominion Voting Systems is seeking a cool $1.6 billion from Fox News, arguing that the network’s claims of voter fraud amount to defamation against the company. Grossberg says Fox attorneys advised her against hiring a personal attorney for the case and indicated that she should not be “too candid” in her depositions.
- Fox has filed a countersuit, seeking to prevent Grossberg from sharing confidential discussions with company lawyers. In a statement, the embarrassed network said, “Her allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and we will vigorously defend Fox against all of her claims.”
Please Stay Here But Don’t Drink The Water
- The Supreme Court heard arguments this week over who can access the already-overtapped Colorado River water supply. The Navajo Nation reservation stretches across Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, and almost a third of the 170,000 people who live there do not have access to clean, reliable drinking water, the tribe says.
- As the seven states argue over who should get access to the river, and how much they’re allotted for their 40 million residents, the Navajo Nation argues that they should be represented in the fight. After all, they were forced to move to these reservations, the tribes have argued.
- Some of the more conservative members of the bench seemed to sympathize with the Navajo Nation’s plight. Justice Neil Gorsuch asked, “Could I bring a good breach-of-contract claim for someone who promised me a permanent home, the right to conduct agriculture and raise animals if it turns out it’s the Sahara Desert?”
Additional USA News
- Florida may ban elementary school students from learning about periods in class (NBC)
- Surveillance video shows deputies pile on top of Irvo Otieno, who died in police custody (CBS)
- Top Republican says he returned donations from a recent fundraiser at Signature Bank headquarters (NBC)
- Massive strike shuts down LAUSD, leaving 420000 students out of school (LAT, $)
- Is this normal? California is facing its 12th atmospheric river this winter following a historic drought (CNN)
- Wyoming governor calls trans athlete ban bill ‘draconian’ and then allows it to pass (NPR)
- Trump loses last bid to keep key evidence out of rape trial (NBC)
Finding Happiness In Finland
- Despite its cold weather and long winters, Finland is “the happiest country in the world” – for the sixth year in a row. According to the World Happiness Report, the Nordic country has beaten out second-place Denmark and third-place Iceland to maintain its title this year. The U.S. placed 16th out of the 137 countries on the index, with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan taking up the last spot on the list.
- Despite a global pandemic and looming economic issues, humanity has remained relatively happy – a reminder that all the doom and gloom in the headlines doesn’t need to seep into our daily lives. “Average happiness and our country rankings, for emotions as well as life evaluations, have been remarkably stable during the three Covid-19 years,” said report author John Helliwell.
- Finland’s crown of happiness, according to the report, is due to a variety of factors. The report points to short work commutes freeing up more time for personal enjoyment compared to other countries, as well as the Finnish concept of “sisu,” a national character that the Finns describe as a mix of stoic determination and grit.
Additional Reads
- Rupert Murdoch set to marry for fifth time at 92 (BBC)
- ‘I cried for a long time’: Black hair stylist’s dream crushed by racist neighbor (Guardian)
- A jury convicts 3 men of the robbery and murder of rapper XXXTentacion (NPR)
- ‘I’m the wrong guy right now’: Florida mayor quits in the middle of city council meeting (USA Today)
- South Korea planned a 69-hour workweek. Millennials and Generation Z had other ideas (CNN)
- ‘Like a Roman hoard’: calls grow for return of Hampshire shark’s body parts (Guardian)
- Kitchen renovation unearths paintings nearly 400 years old in York, England (CNN)