Entertainment
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.
Entertainment
Trump administration dismantling US Forest Service: Here’s what it means
The Trump administration has made a sweeping reorganisation of the U.S. Forest Service.
Critics referred to this as the most catastrophic attack on the 121-year-old agency in its history.
In a major dismantling, the headquarters are shifted to Utah, and all ten regional offices have been shut down.
The restructuring was announced on Tuesday, April 7, via a press release announcing that the Agency’s headquarters are shifting from Washington, DC, to Salt Lake City.
Ten regional centers will be shut down to make way for fifteen political appointees referred to as “state directors.”
Additionally, more than fifty scientific centers located in thirty-one different states will also be abolished. It is important to note that according to scientists, any attempt to relocate the decades’ worth of long-term ecological research will result in its death.
It is believed that there is a systematic effort to demolish. Already, the current government has reduced by over 25% of the number of staff members within the land management agencies. A reduction in the budget for the Forest Service by one-third has been proposed.
Entertainment
How Archie and Lilibet’s vintage toys support emotional growth
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.
Entertainment
Spoiler alert! "Survivor 50" castaway talks elimination and being first member of the jury
(Spoilers ahead) The latest castaway voted off “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” joins “CBS Mornings” to discuss being eliminated from the game, this season’s challenges and being the first member of the jury.
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