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Nationwide communications blackout hits Afghanistan: report
A huge communications blackout hit Afghanistan on Monday, weeks after Taliban authorities began severing fibre optic connections in multiple provinces to prevent “vice”.
“A nation-wide telecoms blackout is now in effect,” said Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.
“We’re now observing national connectivity at 14% of ordinary levels.”
The watchdog said the incident “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”.
AFP lost contact with its bureau in the capital Kabul around 6:15pm (1315 GMT), including mobile phone service.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities began a crackdown on internet access earlier this month, severing connections in multiple provinces.
The move, ordered by Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, effectively shut down high-speed internet in several regions.
Fibre optic internet was completely banned in northern Balkh province on the leader’s orders, provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said on September 16.
“This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.
At the time, AFP correspondents reported the same restrictions in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south.
Over the past several weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent.
In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network — largely built by former US-backed governments — as a “priority” to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.
Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban have instituted numerous restrictions.
Just days before Easter, Meghan Markle was spotted doing something most parents can relate to.
The Duchess was seen scouring the toy aisles for perfect little surprises.
On April 1, the 44‑year‑old quietly slipped into a local children’s shop in Montecito, California, emerging moments later with two bulging brown paper bags.
Inside one bag, eagle‑eyed onlookers spotted a bright box of Magic Castle Sea‑Monkeys, the instant‑life critters that have delighted kids since the ’60s.
And a deck of Magic Rabbit playing cards for filling Easter baskets ahead of the weekend festivities.
HELLO! asked child and adolescent therapist Laura Gwilt of Swift Psychology what Meghan’s toy picks might suggest about her approach to parenting.
Gwilt points out that nostalgic items like Sea‑Monkeys or classic card sets aren’t just fun throwbacks, they’re developmental gold.
“Open‑ended toys like these encourage kids to invent play scenarios rather than follow instructions,” she explains.
That kind of imaginative freedom is strongly linked to creativity, and emotional regulation.
On Easter weekend Meghan shared clips of Archie and Lilibet hunting eggs, decorating them and frolicking in the garden of their Montecito home.
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Spoiler alert! "Survivor 50" castaway talks elimination and being first member of the jury
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King Charles, who was diagnosed with undisclosed form of cancer in 2024, has reportedly been making good progress in his health.
In a message shared on December 2025, to mark World Cancer Day, the monarch had shared the “good news” that his treatment will be “reduced” in 2026 which he described as a “personal blessing.
However, there are whispers that this has been a deliberate move to conceal any negative update about the King’s health, as the true story is different than what it seems, according to royal experts.
Royal correspondent Robert Jobson stressed that journalists were “pushed” by the Palace to “put a positive spin on the King’s health bulletins” when the reality is rather “sobering”.
He said during the The Royalist podcast that Palace aides had been focussed on only releasing positive news.
“I think it was overhyped in December. I think that the Palace were over-emphasizing the ‘good news’.”
The press spokespeople were saying, “Oh, this is good news.” They were trying to say to the journalists at the time, “Don’t interpret it any other way. This is good news.”
Meanwhile, royal editor Tom Sykes pointed out that since he shared the story about Charles having “live with cancer”, he was removed from the international media pool by the King’s powerful press office.
“Indeed, I was removed from the international media pool by the King’s communications secretary after I noted the King’s cancer was incurable, a fact the Palace has since acknowledged. My expulsion was used as an example to intimidate other journalists into toeing the Palace line,” Tom said.
He pointed out from then on, the press has been supressing the health updates as per the “privacy rules” of the King’s “powerful” press office.
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