Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride and his crew were filming with the Thai military near the Cambodian border when an artillery duel broke out, forcing them to take cover. Fighting between the two sides has killed at least 20 people and around half a million have fled their homes.
The air quality in New Delhi and its surrounding areas has turned hazardous as a dense layer of smog blanketed the Indian capital. Several parts of Delhi recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 400 and even 450 – a level considered as “severe” under international pollution standards.
Every winter, air pollution in Delhi spikes around this time when cold air traps smoke and fumes from fireworks, stubble burning and heavy traffic. The crisis is aggravated by vehicular and industrial emissions, massive road dust, construction activities and coal and biomass-fired residential heating.
As dozens of Indian cities grapple with “poor” or “very poor” air quality, per India’s pollution watchdog, China serves as a model for its neighbouring nation. Beijing, through stringent measures and effective air pollution control policies, has made a considerable effort to improve its air quality while also achieving impressive economic growth.
Twenty years ago, Beijing was crowned as the world’s smog capital. China’s temporary emission reduction regulations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics set the stage for its war on air pollution. With the launch of a five-year national action plan in 2013, the country introduced a raft of measures, including the closure of coal-fired boilers, promoting public transport and new energy vehicles, accelerating technological reform of enterprises and boosting innovation and green energy.
Special emphasis was given to slashing the “particulate matter (PM2.5)”. These inhalable particles, equal or less than 2.5 microns in diameter, are a major source of air pollution and pose the greatest danger to human health over their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.
Beijing’s efforts, coupled with the establishment of an early warning and emergency response system, better regulation of pollution activities, relocation of factories from populated areas and incentives for farmers to discourage agricultural burning, made a lasting impact, showing a dramatic 35 percent improvement in highly polluted areas by 2017.
In the following years, Beijing continued its campaign against air pollution. Average PM2.5 concentration dropped by a half, from 72 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³) in 2013 to 36μg/m³ in 2019, dropping further to 29.3μg/m³ in 2024. Although substantially higher than the World Health Organization’s guidelines – 5μg/m³ – it still marked a major breakthrough in China’s push against air pollution.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, China sustained its battle for blue skies, rolling out targeted air pollution control policies such as limiting construction-related emissions, deploying clean industrial technologies, cutting steel production, retiring old cars and encouraging the adoption of electric energy vehicles. The measures paid dividends as China’s capital transformed from an environmental backwater into an emblematic case of urban air quality governance. Blue skies are indeed back in Beijing, given PM2.5 concentration averaged 24.9μg/m³ in the first three quarters of 2025, per the government.
The recent improvement builds on prior gains. In 2022, average annual PM2.5 concentration across China fell to 29μg/m³, according to Chinese media, and the number of days classified as having good air quality in 339 cities reached 316 – a progress not many regional countries could match. As many parts of the world experienced rising PM2.5 levels, China’s steep reductions were so substantial that they single-handedly drove a decline in global pollution, highlighting the country’s outsized contribution to improving air quality worldwide.
Independent research supports the data. Thanks to timely government intervention, strong coordination between local and central administrations and international financial institutions, the Greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region notched a significant achievement. According to the Asian Development Bank, the region has made major gains in air quality: between 2015 and 2023, average annual PM2.5 levels fell by 44.2 percent, sulphur dioxide by 76.3 percent and nitrogen dioxide by 34.8 percent, while the share of days with good air quality rose by 10.3 points to 63.1 percent.
Experts underscore that China’s environmental frameworks have boosted cross-sector cooperation and spurred active participation from industries that were once major polluters. Over the years, Beijing has developed the world’s largest and most comprehensive new energy industrial chain. Its leadership in producing renewable energy and manufacturing electric vehicles positions it at the centre of the global clean energy transition, making it an important actor to combat air pollution at home and abroad.
With Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) growing by more than 73 percent between 2013 and 2024 and PM2.5 concentrations plunging to 26μg/m³ in the January-September period, the country demonstrates how a consistent, policy-driven approach can maintain a high growth rate and still strive to deliver clean air to its people. This experience offers a precedent for India and other nations, pursuing to curb pollution without impeding their development goals.
Air pollution is the greatest environmental health risk. It knows no borders, exacerbates climate change, causes economic losses and reduces agricultural productivity. Even in China, where three-quarters of cities met their annual PM2.5 targets in 2024, the monster is resurging sharply across several regions, urging Beijing to intensify its own measures and ensure enforcement.
The scale of this challenge necessitates strengthening cooperation and sharing best practices, particularly among countries in South, Southeast and East Asia that are worst affected. Being at the forefront of the air pollution crisis – what China faced a decade earlier amid rapid development and urbanisation – India cannot afford to be complacent in drawing valuable lessons both from Chinese past successes and nascent challenges.
By adopting elements of China’s clean-air playbook – from shutting down highly polluting factories and expanding electric bus fleets to establishing real-time dust monitoring at construction sites and reinforcing interprovincial coordination – India could make meaningful progress in securing cleaner air and a sustainable future for its people, while advancing its own development and economic growth.
Israeli media outlets have aired footage of six Israeli captives lighting Hanukkah candles in a Hamas tunnel in Gaza, eight months before their deaths during Israel’s genocidal war in the besieged enclave.
The footage, depicting captives Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino and Alex Lobanov, was released online on Thursday night after being aired on Israeli television.
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The Israeli military said the footage had been filmed by Hamas for propaganda purposes but never released, and had been recovered by the Israeli military during its operations in Gaza.
The footage, which had previously only been shown to the captives’ families, differed from other clips of Israeli captives released during the war, which typically showed the Israelis reading statements.
It showed the captives marking Hanukkah in December 2023 by lighting candles and singing, some 80 days into their captivity and eight months before they were killed in August 2024.
Israel says the six were killed by being shot at close range by their captors in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood on August 29, 2024, and discovered by the Israeli military two days later, before their remains were returned home.
The captives were also shown eating as they marked the start of the new year in 2024, as well as playing cards and backgammon.
One of the captives, Goldberg-Polin, was shown missing the lower part of his left arm, which was blown off by a grenade during the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli media reported.
The families of the captives depicted in the footage released a statement saying the clips depicted their loved ones’ humanity, unity and strength.
“Lighting the candles in this dark place is the Jewish essence of the heroism of light over darkness,” said the statement.
“Hamas filmed the videos as part of a plot to spread propaganda, but the humanity of the six heroes shines through.”
Israeli media reported that the bodies of the six captives were found about 1km (0.6 miles) from where another captive, Farhan al-Qadi, had been rescued by the Israeli military just days earlier.
The return of the captives, both living and dead, was a central plank of the US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
On October 13, as per the deal, Hamas released all 20 remaining living Israeli captives in exchange for 250 Palestinians serving long prison sentences and 1,700 Palestinians disappeared by Israel since the start of the war. Many of the returned Palestinians described beatings and abuse during their time in Israeli detention.
In subsequent exchanges of remains, 27 of the 28 bodies of Israeli captives have been returned, as well as more than 300 Palestinian bodies, many of which were mutilated and showed signs of torture and execution. Many remain unidentified, leaving families with missing relatives unable to find closure in their mourning.
Israeli media has released what it says is video of six Israeli captives held in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip before they were killed in August 2024. Israeli media says the Israeli army found the video in one of the tunnels.
Afghanistan’s International Olympic Committee member Samira Asghari says the Taliban authorities must face the stark truth that if they are ever to be accepted internationally, they must respect the rights of women to education and sport.
Asghari, who at 31 is living in exile for the second time, does, however, favour engaging with Afghanistan’s rulers.
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The Taliban government have banned girls from schools beyond the age of 12, and barred women from most jobs and public services – and from playing sport.
Asghari, who in 2018 became Afghanistan’s first ever IOC member, accepts her “situation is quite challenging” and beating the drum for Afghan women’s sport “does require certain precautions”.
Nevertheless, the former international basketball player, like many top Afghan women athletes, is undeterred in speaking out about the treatment of women under the Taliban authorities.
“The reality is that when you take a public stand for women’s rights you do become a target, but I believe strongly in communication and engagement,” she said in an email interview with the AFP news agency.
“As long as the Taliban remain the reality on the ground in Afghanistan, we cannot afford to waste time doing nothing.
“In my role, I have tried to help smooth the discussions between the IOC and those currently in control, focusing on the sport rights of women and girls and particularly primary school girls who are still inside Afghanistan.”
Asghari, one of four children born to a retired professional makeup artist mother and a father who was a manager in the Afghan Olympic national committee, says the “conversations are not always easy”.
“They are not about legitimising any government,” she said.
“But they are very important for creating tangible opportunities for future generations of young boys and girls in Afghanistan.”
With Afghan sportswomen spread around the globe, putting together teams is complex.
However, a women’s football team, Afghan Women United, made up of players based in Europe and Australia, recently competed in FIFA Unites: Women’s Series 2025 in Morocco.
“This support for athletes outside Afghanistan is just the first step, and I hope FIFA can align with the IOC’s ongoing talks with the Taliban,” she said.
Asghari, who had been involved in the “project” for more than a year, hopes the message gets through to Afghanistan’s rulers.
“The Taliban were given the country and now they’re trying to maintain power while ignoring fundamental human rights, particularly for women,” she said.
“It’s very difficult for them to continue ruling Afghanistan this way in the long term, and the Taliban need to understand that their international acceptance is directly linked to respecting human rights, including the rights of women to education and sport.”
Asghari, who attended the recent Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, where Afghan women and men competed, said she hoped for “small openings” in the Taliban’s stance.
“I also believe that if we can find small openings — like developing sport in primary schools where girls are still allowed to attend up to sixth grade — we should take them,” she said.
“This isn’t about accepting the Taliban’s restrictions, it’s about not abandoning the girls and women of Afghanistan.
“We have to work with reality, while continuing to push for fundamental change.”
Asghari says even achieving small breakthroughs like that could prevent the long-term harm women suffered during the Taliban’s first spell in power, from 1996 to 2001.
She said she had seen the impact on her return from her first period of exile, in Iran.
“What concerns me deeply is that we’re creating another lost generation,” she said.
“I remember when I was in sixth grade aged 12, and there was a 20-year-old woman sitting next to me in the same class because she couldn’t go to school during the previous Taliban era.
“I didn’t know how to communicate with her and it was difficult for both of us, but especially for her because she had lost so many years.
“I cannot accept seeing this happen again. That’s why even small opportunities matter so much.”
Asghari retains hope despite the bleak outlook and believes in “continued engagement and dialogue” with the Taliban.
Israeli warplanes have carried out at least a dozen attacks across southern Lebanon, targeting what the military claims are Hezbollah training facilities in the latest flagrant near-daily violations that have further undermined a year-old ceasefire.
The raids hit hills and valleys in the Jezzine and Zahrani areas, including locations near al-Aaichiyeh, between al-Zrariyeh and Ansar, and around Jabal al-Rafie and the outskirts of several towns, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.
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Israel’s military said it struck a compound used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force for weapons training, claiming the facilities were being used to plan attacks against Israeli forces and civilians.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut described the ceasefire in Lebanon as “a one-sided truce, since Israel has continued near-daily attacks on the country.”
Khodr said the latest attacks avoided densely populated areas. “The locations were in hills and valleys, not population centres,” she said, noting this marked a repeated pattern.
“In fact, just a few days ago, in the middle of the night, they did the same thing.”
The Israeli military said it also hit what it said were rocket-launching sites and other infrastructure, describing the operations as necessary to counter what it deemed violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.
However, the continued bombardment has drawn sharp criticism from the United Nations, which reported in November that at least 127 civilians, including children, have been killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect in late 2024. UN officials have warned the attacks amount to “war crimes”.
Khodr explained that the attacks form part of a sustained military pressure campaign.
“This is all part of military pressure on Hezbollah to force it to disarm,” she said. Israel wants the group “to give up its strategic weapons, its long-range weapons, its precision-guided missiles, its drones” which the Israeli military believes are stored in the Bekaa Valley and further inland.
But Hezbollah has sharply refused to relinquish its arsenal as long as Israel bombards and occupies parts of Lebanon. The group “doesn’t want to give up its weapons because it would view that as surrender”, Khodr added, noting that “Hezbollah and Lebanon do not have the upper hand. Israel enjoys air superiority.”
Tensions escalated further two weeks ago when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing Hezbollah’s top military commander, Haytham Ali Tabatabai. The group has yet to respond, but said it will do so at the right time.
The attacks come as Lebanon and Israel recently dispatched civilian envoys to a committee monitoring their ceasefire for the first time in decades, a move aimed at expanding diplomatic engagement.
However, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem criticised Lebanon’s decision to send former Ambassador Simon Karam to the talks, calling it a “free concession” to Israel.
Lebanese officials have expressed frustration over Israel’s near-daily attacks.
“It is one of the reasons why Lebanon agreed to sit down for face-to-face talks with the Israelis,” Khodr said, “engaging in diplomatic talks that are seen as very sensitive in Lebanon, in the hopes that it would avoid war.”
President Joseph Aoun said last week that Lebanon “has adopted the option of negotiations with Israel” aimed at stopping the continued attacks, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called for a more robust verification mechanism to monitor both Israeli violations and Lebanese army efforts to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure.