Early Wednesday morning, at her home on a hilltop in the west of Kabul, 15-year-old Marzia packed her bag for school, for the first time since the Taliban took power last August. “I became so, so happy when I heard school was restarting,” she told the BBC. “It makes me hopeful about the future again.”  round 200 other girls had also made their way to the Sayed ul Shuhada school, far fewer than usual, as pupils and their families debated whether or not lessons would actually start and whether it would be safe for them to attend. Since August, in most of Afghanistan, only girls’ primary schools have remained open, along with all boys’ schools. Today as a new academic year began, girls’ secondary schools were finally expected to re-open along with other institutes.

Nicaraguan opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro has been given an eight-year sentence after being found guilty of money-laundering. Ms Chamorro says the charges were politically motivated and designed to stop her from running in November’s election, which saw President Daniel Ortega win a fifth term in office. She was one of seven presidential hopefuls detained ahead of the poll. The 68-year-old is expected to be kept under house arrest. M Chamorro was seen by many in the opposition as their best hope of defeating Mr Ortega in the election. She comes from one of Nicaragua’s most influential families. Her father was the editor of the newspaper La Prensa, which opposed the autocratic Somoza family that ruled Nicaragua for decades. He was assassinated in 1978. Her mother, Violeta Chamorro, won the 1990 election to become the first female president in Latin America, putting an end to Daniel Ortega’s first 11 years as president. Shortly after Cristiana Chamorro announced she would run for president, prosecutors accused her of “abusive management [and] ideological falsehood” during her time at the helm of a media foundation she had led until early 2021.(BBC)…[+]

Two teachers in their 50s have died after a violent attack at a secondary school in the southern Swedish city of Malmö, police say. An 18-year-old student at the school has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Local media report that the victims were stabbed, but no firearms were used in the attack. The two women, employees of Malmö Latin School, were taken to hospital by ambulance but died of their injuries. At a news conference on Tuesday morning, police said the suspect was arrested just 10 minutes after the alarm was raised. Officers arrived at an apparently calm school, but found the two injured women and the suspect on the third floor. Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet reports that he was found with an axe and a knife.(BBC)…[+]

Russia’s most prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny has been given nine years in a “strict regime penal colony” in a fraud case rejected by supporters as fabricated. Navalny was detained when he returned to Russia last year, after surviving a poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He is already serving three and a half years in jail for breaking bail conditions while in hospital. A judge has now found him guilty of fraud and contempt of court. Prosecutors accused him of stealing $4.7m (£3.5m) of donations given to his now banned organisations, including his anti-corruption foundation. Delivering her verdict, Judge Margarita Kotova said Navalny had carried out “the theft of property by an organised group”. A visibly gaunt Navalny folded his arms and exchanged comments with his lawyer as the ruling was read out. Accusing the authorities of jamming his “last word” in court, he tweeted that he and his supporters would continue to fight censorship to “bring the truth to the people of Russia”.(BBC)…[+]

A Ukrainian MP has accused Russia of trying to starve the besieged port city of Mariupol into surrendering. Dmytro Gurin was speaking soon after Ukraine rejected a Russian deadline demanding Mariupol’s defenders lay down their arms in exchange for safe passage out of the city. Mariupol is a key strategic target for the Russian military. Around 300,000 people are believed to be trapped there with supplies running out and aid blocked from entering. Residents have endured weeks of Russian bombardment with no power or running water. Mr Gurin said there was no question of Mariupol surrendering.  “Russians don’t open humanitarian corridors, they don’t let humanitarian convoys enter the city and we clearly see now that the goal of the Russians is to start to [create] hunger [in the city] to enforce their position in the diplomatic process,” he said. “If the city does not surrender, and the city will not surrender, they won’t let people out. They won’t let humanitarian convoys into the city.” Under the proposal, which Ukraine had until 05:00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT) to accept, Russian troops would have opened safe corridors out of Mariupol from 10:00 Moscow time, initially for Ukrainian troops and “foreign mercenaries” to disarm and leave the city.(BBC)…[+]

A British-US national temporarily freed from prison in Iran before being sent back to jail two days later has gone on hunger strike, his family says. Morad Tahbaz, 66, who also has Iranian citizenship, has since been moved to a hotel, the Foreign Office has said. His sister Taraneh told the BBC his family was “absolutely distraught” and feared he would be forgotten about. The Foreign Office says it is continuing to lobby Iran at the highest levels for Mr Tahbaz to be released. Hopes had been raised that Mr Tahbaz would be freed when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were released and flew back to the UK on Thursday, but he was returned to Evin prison on Friday. The Foreign Office said it had been informed by the Iranians this move was in order for Mr Tahbaz to have an electronic ankle bracelet fitted. Speaking on the Today programme, Taraneh Tahbaz said the family does not know what is going on. “[Morad] is in despair and we are in despair and we no longer know what else we can do. “For four years we were led to believe that he would be part of the deal [which led to the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori]… and the deal was made, the money [for an historic UK debt to Iran] was paid, and he wasn’t part of the deal and he’s still there.(BBC)…[+]

A prison guard has been arrested in Colombia following the escape of gang leader Juan Castro from the maximum-security La Picota jail in Bogotá. Castro, better known under his alias “Matamba”, escaped in the early hours of Friday and is still on the run. CCTV footage appears to show him leaving through an open cell door wearing a guard’s uniform. President Iván Duque said he was outraged by Matamba’s escape and announced a reform of the jail system. The director of La Picota has been suspended along with more than 50 prison guards who were on shift at the time of Matamba’s escape, according to prosecutor Margarita Cabello. Guards noticed Matamba was not in his cell during the early morning roll call on Friday. Surveillance footage released by Colombia’s prison service shows a man they say is Matamba calmly leaving the prison wing through a door left ajar in what looks like a guard’s uniform. No guards are seen in the footage, only a little dog appears to notice the man leaving.(BBC)…[+]