World

The Taliban government in Afghanistan says it has reached an agreement in principle with the United States to carry out a prisoner swap.

With just five years left to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new United Nations report has warned that the world is “alarmingly off-track” on gender equality, placing millions of women and girls at risk of being left behind.

Fletcher’s statement amid what he described as “a massive military offensive” by Israeli forces against Palestinians in Gaza City, and the failure of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas militants.

In one part of the world, floods inundate entire cities. In another, droughts silently wither crops. Glaciers, which took centuries to form, are disappearing in decades. Groundwater, hidden and unseen, is being depleted faster than it can be replenished.

The report says that US consumer spending slowed significantly in the first half of 2025, decelerating from the robust pace seen in late 2024.

In 2023 alone, roughly 260,000 women worldwide died during or shortly after childbirth, with 22 per cent (about 58,000 maternal deaths) occurring in the Asia-Pacific – many of which were preventable with timely midwife-led care.

The report says that in India, sectors such as manufacturing, customer service, clerical roles, and routine administration are projected to witness the steepest job declines.

UNICEF also called for more humanitarian aid and commercial traffic to come in to stabilise the situation and reduce the desperation of the population.