
-
PSG coach Luis Enrique targets unbeaten season
-
Duterte victims seeking 'truth and justice': lawyer
-
US job growth strong in March but Trump tariff impact still to come
-
UK comedian and actor Russell Brand charged with rape
-
Stocks, oil slump as China retaliates and Trump digs in heels
-
Postecoglou 'falling out of love' with football due to VAR
-
EU hails 'new era' in relations with Central Asia
-
US hiring beats expectations in March as tariff uncertainty brews
-
'Unique' De Bruyne one of the greats, says Guardiola
-
Automakers shift gears after Trump tariffs
-
Where things stand in the US-China trade war
-
De Bruyne to leave Man City at end of the season
-
Youthful Matildas provide spark in friendly win over South Korea
-
Stocks, oil extend rout as China retaliates over Trump tariffs
-
De Bruyne says he will leave Man City at end of season
-
UK spy agency MI5 reveals fruity secrets in new show
-
Leverkusen's Wirtz to return 'next week', says Alonso
-
England bowler Stone to miss most of India Test series
-
Taiwan earmarks $2.7 bn to help industries hit by US tariffs
-
Rat earns world record for sniffing landmines in Cambodia
-
Elton John says new album 'freshest' since 1970s
-
EU announces 'new era' in relations with Central Asia
-
Greece nixes Acropolis shoot for 'Poor Things' director
-
'Historic moment': South Koreans react to Yoon's dismissal
-
Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon strike
-
Trump unveils first $5 million 'gold card' visa
-
Crashes, fires as Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japan GP practice
-
India and Bangladesh leaders meet for first time since revolution
-
Israel expands ground offensive in Gaza
-
Families of Duterte drug war victims demand probe into online threats
-
Stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
Kolkata's Iyer more bothered about impact than price tag
-
BP chairman to step down after energy strategy reset
-
Indian patriotic movie 'icon' Manoj Kumar dies aged 87
-
China floats battle barges in Taiwan invasion plans
-
McLaren's Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japanese GP practice
-
South Korea seize two tons of cocaine in largest-ever drug bust
-
Pacific nations perplexed, worried by Trump tariffs
-
The race to save the Amazon's bushy-bearded monkeys
-
TikTok must find non-Chinese owner by Saturday to avert US ban
-
Trump tariffs to test resiliency of US consumers
-
Clamping down on 'forever chemicals'
-
Prominent US academic facing royal insult charge in Thailand
-
Yana, a 130,000-year-old baby mammoth, goes under the scalpel
-
'Don't want to die': Lesotho HIV patients look to traditional medicine
-
Curry scores 37 as Warriors outgun LeBron's Lakers
-
Crops under threat as surprise March heatwave hits Central Asia: study
-
Japan PM says Trump tariffs a 'national crisis'
-
Security 'breakdown' allows armed men into Melbourne's MCG
-
Norris fastest in Japan GP first practice, Tsunoda sixth on Red Bull debut
CMSC | -0.61% | 22.126 | $ | |
SCS | -3.07% | 10.42 | $ | |
JRI | -3.64% | 12.37 | $ | |
BCC | -3.82% | 91.15 | $ | |
NGG | -2.65% | 67.6 | $ | |
RYCEF | -13.29% | 8.65 | $ | |
RBGPF | 1.48% | 69.02 | $ | |
BCE | 0.94% | 22.875 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.93% | 22.46 | $ | |
RELX | -3.58% | 49.66 | $ | |
GSK | -4.95% | 37.17 | $ | |
AZN | -5.34% | 70.17 | $ | |
BP | -8.93% | 28.771 | $ | |
VOD | -6.78% | 8.775 | $ | |
BTI | -2.98% | 40.705 | $ | |
RIO | -6.37% | 54.93 | $ |

Ukraine students brace for underground school year
Five metres beneath a Kyiv classroom, headmaster Mykhaylo Aliokhin puts the finishing touches on the bunker where his students will spend much of their time once Ukraine's school term starts later this week.
The study hall above is still littered with school bags abandoned since February 23 -- the last day before Russia invaded and school bells fell silent, replaced by the skirl of the air raid siren.
Down here, there are no windows. Desks, display boards, colourful books and globes all remain upstairs. This was once a changing room, but as shelling remains a threat in the capital it now serves as a shelter.
"As soon as a siren goes off, staff will immediately bring the children down to the basement regardless of the activity at the time," Aliokhin told AFP. "As much as possible, they'll carry on with their work in a relaxed way."
Despite the austere conditions he hopes one third of his 460 pupils, aged between six and 16, will return when schools reopen on Thursday for the first time since the war started.
- Learning to adapt -
There are 4.2 million schoolchildren in Ukraine, according to 2021 figures.
Following Russia's invasion more than two million children left the country, while another three million were displaced internally between February and June, according to the UN children's agency UNICEF.
Nonetheless in Kyiv -- now distant from front line fighting raging to the east and south -- 132,000 pupils are preparing to return to school on September 1, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko.
On Kyiv's left bank, at Aliokhin's private school, which AFP has chosen not to identify, staff have prepared two scenarios ahead of the first day back.
One will be a normal "overground" programme of learning, 10 metres (33 feet) from the shelter entrance.
The other curriculum will take place underground in case the air raid siren sounds, as it does most days.
"It's not out of the realm of possibility that our enemy, who is very fond of symbolic dates, would take advantage of this one," said 26-year-old Aliokhin.
Regardless of whether or not there are missiles, teachers will stage a party downstairs "to show the children that this is a safe place where they will certainly spend a lot of time this year".
The bunker will be stocked with enough food and water for 48 hours. Medical staff and psychologists will be available at all times.
"I could never have imagined this, but here we are... in this new reality," said Aliokhin.
- 'Live in the present moment' -
Nationwide, half of the 23,000 schools surveyed by Ukraine's education ministry -- about 51 percent -- are equipped with the bunker facilities necessary to begin classes offline. Those without will teach classes online.
The sobering setting does not seem to be dampening enthusiasm for the new school year.
"I live next to my school," said 16-year-old Polina, enjoying time with friends at a Kyiv cafe the week before school restarts.
"I will be safer there, because we will be brought down to the shelter in an organised way.
"To tell the truth, we just want to live our life fully after two years of Covid and six months of war," she added.
"We are not afraid, we have already lived enough. Our generation has decided to live in the present moment."
The choice may be more difficult for parents. According to Ukraine's education ombudsman Sergiy Gorbachov, most parents reject face-to-face education because they fear the risks.
The education ministry says 2,135 schools have been damaged in the war.
"Regions close to the front are going completely online. Face-to-face just isn't possible there," said Gorbachov.
Nevertheless Youlia Shatravenko-Sokolovych -- who AFP met in Kyiv -- has decided her seven-year-old daughter Myroslava will be back in the classroom on Thursday.
"Of course we are all scared, but I cannot deprive my child of socialisation," she said. "I trust the Ukrainian army, which defends us.
"The fact that we are back to more or less normal life gives me hope."
A.Gasser--BTB