Five years after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, the doors of secondary schools remain shut for 2.4 million girls. This drastic reversal erases years of educational progress, leaving a vast number of young Afghan women bereft of schooling opportunities.

UNESCO recently reinforced its call for Afghanistan to restore women’s educational rights “immediately and unconditionally,” pointing out that this nation now stands alone in officially denying education to girls and women beyond primary school.

According to warnings from the United Nations, the impact of the Taliban’s educational policies extends well beyond academics. Women now face systemic barriers to employment, particularly in most paid positions and public roles, and their mobility is heavily restricted without male accompaniment.

“Women have been erased from public life, and as a new generation of girls grows without an education, their future becomes increasingly dark,” UNESCO said in a statement.

The Taliban swept back into power on Aug. 15, 2021, as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan after two decades of war.

The Taliban soon barred girls from secondary schools and later expanded the restrictions to universities, employment and other areas of public life.

Despite years of pressure from the United Nations, humanitarian groups, human rights advocates and several Islamic countries, the Taliban has refused to lift the education restrictions and has maintained that the issue is a domestic matter, according to The Associated Press.

The impact has been a dramatic reversal of the educational gains made by Afghan girls during the previous two decades.

While girls had severely limited access to schooling in 2001, nearly 1 million were enrolled in secondary education by 2021, according to UNESCO.

Five years later, an estimated 2.4 million girls are excluded from secondary education.

“Five years is not a temporary interruption in a child’s education,” Hoda Jaberian, UNESCO’s program coordinator for education in emergencies, said during a video news conference Tuesday, according to The AP. “It is clearly almost an entire secondary school cycle.”

UNESCO warned that denying education to girls while restricting women’s ability to work could deepen Afghanistan’s already severe economic problems.

Nearly half of Afghanistan’s population lives below the poverty line, according to UNESCO, which said preventing women from studying and working further limits their ability to support their families and contribute to the country’s economy.

The agency also warned that excluding girls from school can damage their mental and physical well-being and increase the risk of early marriage.

The effects could also reach Afghan boys.

UNESCO said the Taliban’s ban on female teachers teaching boys is worsening teacher shortages and undermining the quality of education across Afghanistan.

With formal secondary and higher education closed to women and girls, UNESCO says it has turned to community-based education, literacy and skills development programs and psychosocial support to keep them learning.

Nearly 70,000 people have participated in UNESCO’s programs, with women accounting for 73% of the learners, according to the agency.

Some literacy and skills classes take place in community spaces and in the homes of facilitators with the knowledge of authorities, according to The AP. More than 1,000 literacy facilitators are involved, most of whom have been trained by UNESCO and its partners.

UNESCO said a recent study found evidence that its literacy and skills programs have helped increase household incomes and improve livelihoods.

The agency acknowledged, however, that such efforts cannot replace formal schooling.

“Afghanistan’s girls and women have the right to learn, to work, to move freely, and to shape their own futures,” UNESCO said, adding that “the world must not look away until their human rights are restored.”

UNESCO said it would continue working with local communities and partners to maintain alternative opportunities for Afghan women and girls while pressing for the education ban to be lifted.

“UNESCO continues to call for the immediate and unconditional restoration of girls and women’s right to secondary and higher education,” Jaberian said Tuesday. “It is not negotiable. It’s a basic human right and we reiterate that there is no substitute for this.”

In a heartfelt moment that captured the attention of fans worldwide, Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez have officially tied the knot in a civil ceremony held in the picturesque town of Cascais, Portugal.

The couple celebrated their union in an intimate and private ceremony on Tuesday, surrounded by their five children. This significant step comes a year after they initially announced their engagement.

Ronaldo took to Instagram to share the exciting news with his followers, posting a photo of their wedding bands to commemorate the culmination of their decade-long relationship.

Accompanying the photo, he simply captioned it: ‘C❤️G,’ symbolizing their enduring bond.

A spokesperson for Ronaldo confirmed the marriage, stating, “Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez were married today in a civil ceremony in Cascais, Portugal, and are now officially husband and wife.”

‘The ceremony was a private and intimate moment attended by their five children.’

The wedding news comes just days after it was thought the couple were set to marry in Funchal Cathedral, leading to thousands of fans gathering outside the church.

However, it was then revealed that the couple were not getting married there at all, and the ceremony turned out to be for an entirely unconnected Portuguese couple from Madeira called Fabio Ramos and Fatima Nicole Cunha Teixeira.

Georgina was working at a Gucci store in Madrid, earning £10 an hour, when she and Ronaldo met in 2016.

Recalling their meeting, Georgina said: ‘I was finally able to leave the shop to go home three hours later than I should have and as I was getting ready to leave Cristiano came in with his eldest son and some friends.

‘Let’s just say it was butterflies in my stomach.’

Cristiano would then pick Georgina up from work in his £1.5million Bugatti – after she had arrived at the shop on the bus.

‘Many times he’d come after work’, she said in her Netflix series I Am Georgina. 

‘He would come, I remember once, once in a Bugatti. My coworkers went crazy. They get there on the bus, and I would leave in a Bugatti. I mean people couldn’t believe it.’

By December, she quit her job shortly after fans began crowding outside the store.

The following month, the pair made their first public appearance at The Best FIFA Football Awards, confirming speculation that they were a couple.

Cristiano and Georgina made their Instagram debut as a couple in March 2017 when the footballer posted a sweet snap of them cuddling on a couch. 

In June of that year, the footballer welcomed twins Mateo and Eva via surrogacy and then five months later, Georgina gave birth to their daughter, Alana Martina.

Then the next month, they announced they were expecting, giving birth to their daughter Alana Martina in November.

The following month, Georgina posed for photos with her newborn daughter Alana for the cover of HOLA!

Revealing how they came up with the name for their daughter, she said: ‘We both chose the name. Cristiano chose Alana and I chose Martina.

‘We decided to give her both names that each of us chose. We thought it was even more special.’

In 2022, the couple welcomed twins; however, their baby boy tragically died during childbirth, while his sister, Bella Esmeralda, survived.

Opening up about how he and Georgina coped with the heartache of losing a baby, the footballer told Piers Morgan at the time: ‘I feel that we always support each other. Sometimes it’s like in a relationship you have good moments, bad moments it is part of the journey.

‘But probably in that period, we consolidated it more, the relationship, but even in the worst moments you have to meet, you have to make the thing smooth.

‘I learned so many things. I saw the other perspective of the life. My daughter, now who is three years old, she is the queen of the family, who made the house happy.

‘Everything happens for a reason. I believe in that. So, we are a blessed family. I am proud of that.’

After nearly a decade together, fans were then desperate to know when Georgina and Cristiano would marry, with their family now complete.

However, in an interview with Marca last year, the Portuguese admitted he hadn’t yet married Georgina because he hadn’t felt the ‘click’.

He said: ‘I always tell her, “when we get that click”. Like everything with our life, and she knows what I’m talking about.

‘It could be in a year or it could be in six months or it could be in a month. I’m 1000 per cent sure that it’ll happen.’

In August, the footballer finally popped the question with a giant diamond ring.

Fans speculated the pair got engaged the month before after the model shared pictures of a bridal-themed dinner, complete with ‘C heart G’ pillows, a six-piece band and stunning white flower arrangements.

She also wore a giant sparkler on her wedding ring finger, hinting at the pair’s secret engagement. 

Georgina gleefully shared the news on Instagram with a photo of her glitzy engagement ring. ‘Yes I do. In this and in all my lives,’ she wrote in a heartfelt caption.

Cristiano then revealed that two of his children inspired him to give Georgina a ‘not-so romantic’ and off-the-cuff proposal.

He revealed that he didn’t plan to propose to the ‘woman of his life’ the night they got engaged, but it felt like the ‘right time’. 

‘It was like 1am. My daughters were in bed sleeping,’ the 41-year-old told Piers Morgan in part one of their new interview.

He said: ‘One of my friends gave me the ring to offer Gio (Georgina) and as I was giving her the ring, my two kids come in and say “Daddy, you’re going to give the ring to mum and you’re going to ask her to get married.”

‘I said, “Wow, this is the right moment to say yes.” It was the time. I knew that I was going to do it one day but I hadn’t planned to do it then.

‘Because my daughters said that and my friends were filming, it was what I wanted and I offered (the ring). I didn’t (get on one knee) because I wasn’t prepared but it was a beautiful moment. I made a speech. 

‘It was simple, I’m not a very romantic guy. Well, I am, but I’m not very romantic, not the kind of guy who brings flowers every week to the home. But I’m romantic in my way. It was beautiful and I knew that it’s the woman of my life so I did that and I hope that I did it well.’ 

Asked about when they plan to tie the knot, the footballer joked: ‘Not yet. We plan to do it after the World Cup with the trophy! But she is not the person that likes big parties. She doesn’t like it. She likes private things. So I will respect these decisions.

‘One thing that I love, she didn’t care about the ring. She asked me if I was honest and I said, “I want you and I want to marry you.” I didn’t cry but I had tears on my eyes.’ 

Experts estimated that Cristiano splashed out an astonishing £1.5million on Georgina’s engagement ring.

In a move that continues to rattle international waters, North Korea has fired yet another ballistic missile, as confirmed on Tuesday. This marks the nation’s second missile test in just under a week’s time.

The announcement of this latest development was made by Japan’s prime minister’s office. As of now, specifics concerning the missile’s path, its flight range, and its landing site remain undisclosed.

In response, the United States military has actively begun tracking the missile’s launch while engaging in consultations with allied nations and partners across the region.

The U.S. Pacific Command issued a statement acknowledging awareness of the missile launch, emphasizing ongoing collaborations with allied countries. “Our initial assessments suggest these incidents do not pose any immediate threat to US personnel, US territory, or our allies,” the statement noted. “The United States continues to uphold its commitment to defend both the US homeland and our regional allies.”

The latest launch comes less than a week after North Korea test-fired a short-range ballistic missile from its eastern Wonsan area on Aug. 5.

That missile landed in waters off North Korea’s east coast and did not reach Japanese territory, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said following the launch.

Koizumi said North Korea’s repeated missile launches pose a threat to Japan and the region, and Tokyo lodged a protest with Pyongyang through their embassies in Beijing.

South Korea’s military bolstered its surveillance posture and coordinated with the U.S. and Japan following the Aug. 5 launch, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

South Korea’s presidential national security council called that launch “a provocation” that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions and urged North Korea to stop its missile activity.

The launches come ahead of annual joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, which are typically held during the second half of August.

“This annual exercise aims to build understanding between Combined Forces Command, United States Forces Korea, the United Nations Command, and ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), ROK government agency, ensuring their ability to fortify the combined defense posture and enhance Alliance response capabilities against a spectrum of security threats,” United States Forces Korea has said of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises.

“It will feature live, virtual, constructive and field-based training, engaging personnel from the various military services,” it added.

U.S. and South Korean officials have said the training is defensive in nature, while North Korea has characterized the exercises as preparation for an invasion and has often responded to military drills with missile tests.

The Aug. 5 test was North Korea’s first ballistic missile launch since late June, when it tested a tactical ballistic missile carrying what state media described as a “special mission” warhead along with other weapons.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said following those tests that his military needed to bolster its “deadly and destructive offensive posture.”