International
Taliban add more compulsory religion classes to Afghan universities
AFP
Afghan university students will have to attend more compulsory Islamic studies classes, education officials said Tuesday while giving little sign that secondary schools for girls would reopen.
Many conservative Afghan clerics in the hardline Islamist Taliban, which swept back into power a year ago, are sceptical of modern education.
“We are adding five more religious subjects to the existing eight,” said Abdul Baqi Haqqani, minister for higher education, including Islamic history, politics and governance.
The number of compulsory religious classes will increase from one to three a week in government universities.
He told a news conference that the Taliban would not order any subjects to be dropped from the current curriculum.
However, some universities have altered studies on music and sculpture — highly sensitive issues under the Taliban’s harsh interpretation of sharia law — while an exodus of Afghanistan’s educated elite, including professors, has seen many subjects discontinued.
Officials have for months insisted that schools will reopen for girls, swaying between technical and financial issues as reasons for the continued closures.
Abdulkhaliq Sadiq, a senior official at the education ministry, on Tuesday said families in rural areas were still not convinced of the need to send girls to secondary school.
Under the Taliban’s last regime between 1996 and 2001, both primary and secondary schools for girls never reopened.
“We are trying to come up with a sound policy in coordination with our leaders… so that those in rural areas are also convinced,” he said.
Since seizing power on August 15 last year the Taliban have imposed harsh restrictions on girls and women to comply with their austere vision of Islam — effectively squeezing them out of public life.
Although young women are still permitted to attend university, many have dropped out because of the cost or because their families are afraid for them to be out in public in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, without a secondary school certificate, teenage girls will not be able to sit future university entrance exams.
The international community has made the right to education a key condition for formally recognising the Taliban government.
Despite being in power for a year, no country has so far recognised the government.
International
Four suspected PCC members killed in Police shootout in Florianópolis
At least four armed men, allegedly linked to an organized crime group, were killed Sunday night during a shootout with police officers at Ponta das Canas beach on the island of Florianópolis, capital of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, local media reported on Monday.
According to the Santa Catarina Military Police, one of the men killed was a native of the state of São Paulo (southeast) and identified as a leader of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), a gang that controls drug trafficking in the Papaquara community in northern Florianópolis, one of Brazil’s most popular tourist areas.
Police said officers were conducting a patrol in the Ponta das Canas neighborhood when they noticed a man entering a house in a hurry, raising suspicion. Upon entering the residence, they encountered four heavily armed individuals.
During the police operation, one of the suspects reportedly attempted to seize an officer’s rifle, triggering the exchange of gunfire. “Faced with the imminent threat and the criminals’ high firepower, the officers responded to stop the aggression,” the Military Police said on social media.
International
U.S. uses $4.65 billion in emergency funds to sustain SNAP benefits amid shutdown
The U.S. government will use $4.65 billion from an emergency fund to finance payments under SNAP, the country’s primary food assistance program, covering roughly “50% of benefits for eligible households,” according to a Department of Agriculture official in court filings.
The administration, however, does not plan to make up the funding shortfall through other resources, as noted in documents submitted to a federal court in Rhode Island.
This announcement follows a federal judge’s order in Providence — one of two issued last week — requiring the government to tap emergency funds to ensure the program remains operational.
The Trump administration argues that SNAP is running out of money amid a month-long federal government shutdown, triggered by a budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans who continue to blame each other for the crisis.
President Trump said on Friday that he was willing to release the necessary funds if the courts required it and emphasized that he does not want “Americans to go hungry.”
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, accused Trump and the Republican Party on Sunday of “weaponizing hunger” during the political dispute.
International
U.S. strike in Caribbean kills three suspected drug traffickers
A U.S. strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean killed three people on Saturday, according to Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth, marking the latest in a series of attacks in international waters.
The United States has deployed ships to the Caribbean and sent fighter jets to Puerto Rico as part of a large military force that Washington says is aimed at curbing drug trafficking.
“This vessel, like all the others, was known to our intelligence for being involved in illicit narcotics smuggling,” Hegseth stated on X. “Three narcoterrorists were aboard the vessel during the attack, which took place in international waters,” he added.
Experts argue that the attacks, which began in early September, amount to extrajudicial executions, even if the targets are known traffickers.
Washington has yet to publicly provide evidence that the targeted individuals were actively smuggling drugs or posed a threat to the United States.
Hegseth said the U.S. would continue “hunting… and killing” suspected traffickers. He also shared video footage of the strike, showing the vessel being hit and engulfed in flames. As in previous videos, sections of the ship were blurred, making it impossible to verify the number of people on board.
The United Nations called on Friday for Washington to halt its attacks.
Four suspected PCC members killed in Police shootout in Florianópolis
U.S. uses $4.65 billion in emergency funds to sustain SNAP benefits amid shutdown
U.S. strike in Caribbean kills three suspected drug traffickers
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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