China’s sprawling rail projects, from Pakistan to Indonesia

ZAPORIZHZHIA: Sofia had hesitated to go back to her school in south Ukraine, afraid that “something might happen because of the war.”
Like hundreds of thousands of other children in her country, she has been learning remotely for years, first due to the coronavirus pandemic and then the risk of aerial attacks since Russia’s invasion.
But after spending a few hours in her new classrooms, seven meters underground in a brightly-lit anti-radiation bunker, the 12-year-old felt reassured.
“There won’t be any shrapnel, any strikes. I am safe,” she told AFP.
The Ukrainian government has been working to bring children like Sofia back to the classroom amid concerns that distance learning is having an impact on their education, three years into the war.
There were at least 576 attacks on educational facilities in Ukraine in 2024, a 96 percent increase compared to the year before, according to the UN.
Underground schools, like Sofia’s in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, allow students to return and socialize with their classmates while keeping them safe from attacks.
The children have adapted quickly, said Lidia Yeremenko, head of the Left Bank Education Department at Zaporizhzhia City Council.
“When they saw their peers, their eyes lit up. That was it, they forgot that there was a war going on,” she said.
Sofia also had a positive impression.
“I like the way it looks from the outside, because it seems that there is no school, everything is underground,” the shy pupil with big dark eyes told AFP.


The sky over Ukraine has become synonymous with danger since Russia invaded in February 2022, launching missiles, bombs and drones at Ukrainian cities on an almost daily basis.
Systemic attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia have intensified since September, said Oleksandr Kovalenko, spokesman for the region’s military administration.
Moscow’s use of longer-range guided bombs has increased the threat to the city, around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the frontline.
The region is building a dozen fully underground schools, and Zaporizhzhia’s remaining 138 are working below ground in repurposed shelters.
Going underground was a no-brainer for Tanya Lupar, a 47-year-old mother and teacher at the school.
“I feel safe working here and having my child nearby, and not at home exposed to these horrors,” she told AFP.
She believed in-person learning was vital to recover lost ground after years of online schooling through the coronavirus pandemic and the first years of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
A UNICEF statement based on preliminary surveys from Kyiv’s education ministry warned that pupils studying remotely had shown declining performance.
To try to bring students back to class, the ministry launched the “Offline School” initiative.
It has brought down the number of pupils fully studying online from 600,000 at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, to 430,000 in February 2025 according to statistics shared with AFP.


Even Valeria Syvash, a top student chosen by the school director to speak to AFP, agreed studying had taken a backseat at home.
“You don’t feel the same way about lessons. They’re not important anymore. You can just log in and go to sleep,” the 12-year-old admitted.
She had enjoyed sleeping at times, but was relieved to be back at school with her teachers and friends.
When the bell rang, some children rushed to get a snack while others sat down to play chess.
Other pupils gathered in a corridor, where they followed a cartoon character on a big screen encouraging them to dance and jump around.
“They love to hug between breaks because they feel protected, we protect them with our emotions,” said Lupar, the teacher.
Children and teachers took turns in leading a group dance every day, she added, one way to keep busy in the absence of a regular playground where they would have safely played in peacetime.
But Sofia and Valeria missed the years when they could walk outside without any worries in the world.
Sofia reminisced about playing hide and seek in the streets.
“I liked it better when we went to school before the war, we could go out, we felt free,” Sofia said softly.

BERLIN: German voters go to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament that will determine how the country is run for the next four years.
Europe’s biggest economy is the 27-nation European Union’s most populous nation and a leading member of NATO, as well as the second-biggest weapons supplier to Ukraine, after the United States, following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Germany’s next government will be central to Europe’s response to an assertive new US administration.
Here’s a look at what to expect for Sunday and beyond.
What happens on election day?
Polls are due to open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m.. Germans can also vote by postal ballot, but their ballot must arrive by the time polling stations close on election day to be counted.
Exit polls will come and vote-counting will begin immediately after voting ends, and the general picture of the outcome should be clear very quickly. A final official result is expected early Monday.
Who are the contenders?
Four candidates are running to be Germany’s next leader: incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the center-left Social Democrats; Friedrich Merz, the candidate of the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union party; current Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, of the environmentalist Greens; and Alice Weidel, of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD.
Preelection polls have put Merz’s Union bloc in the lead with support of about 30 percent, ahead of AfD, with around 20 percent. Scholz’s Social Democrats and Habeck’s Greens are further back.
Merz is favored to replace Scholz as chancellor, but it’s not yet clear what governing coalitions will be possible after the election. How easy it is to form a government may depend in part on how many parties are in the new parliament. Opinion polls show three parties hovering around the 5 percent of the vote needed to win seats.
All mainstream parties say they won’t work with AfD.
What’s up for grabs?
At least 59.2 million people in a country of 84 million are eligible to vote for the new Bundestag, or lower house of parliament. It is the 630-member Bundestag that will elect the next chancellor, Germany’s equivalent of a prime minister.
There are 29 parties on the ballot, but it’s likely that between five and eight of them will get enough votes to win seats in parliament. In most cases, parties must win at least 5 percent of the vote to get a share of the seats.
What happens after polls close?
Germany’s electoral system rarely gives any party an absolute majority and opinion polls suggest that no party is anywhere near one this time. The country has no tradition of minority governments at national level, which means that two or more parties will most likely form a coalition.
There is no formal referee for the process of forming a new government, and no set time limit. Parties hold exploratory talks to determine who they have most common ground with, and one combination of parties then moves on to formal coalition talks.
Those negotiations typically produce a detailed coalition agreement setting out the new government’s plans. That will typically need approval at least from conventions of the parties involved. Some parties may choose to put it to a ballot of their entire membership.
Once that process is complete, the Bundestag can elect the new chancellor.
What’s at stake?
A strong German government would be important to Europe’s response to the new US administration and to turmoil in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Germany and neighboring France have traditionally been the motor of the EU, but both heavyweights have been consumed by domestic political instability in recent months.
This election is being held seven months earlier than originally planned because Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed in November as it argued about how to reinvigorate the economy, which has shrunk for the past two years. One of the new government’s most urgent tasks will be to find a coherent response to that problem.
Another challenge will be further reducing irregular migration, which has been a top issue in the campaign.
Merz has said he hopes to form a new government by mid-April if he wins. Scholz’s outgoing government will remain in office on a caretaker basis until the Bundestag elects the new chancellor.