- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
School's out: how climate change threatens education
Record-breaking heat last month that prompted governments in Asia to close schools offers fresh evidence of how climate change is threatening the education of millions of children.
The arrival of seasonal rains has now brought relief to some parts of the region, but experts warn the broader problem remains, and many countries are poorly prepared to handle the impacts of climate change on schooling.
Asia is warming faster than the global average, and climate change is producing more frequent, longer, and more intense heatwaves.
But heat is not the only challenge.
A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which can result in heavy rains and flooding.
This can damage schools or put them out of commission while they are used as shelters.
Hot weather can also drive wildfires and spikes in air pollution, which have caused school closures everywhere from India to Australia.
"The climate crisis is already a reality for children in East Asia and Pacific," the UN children's agency UNICEF warned last year.
Mohua Akter Nur, 13, is living proof of that claim, sweltering in a one-room home in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after her school closed.
Intermittent electricity means she cannot even rely on a fan to cool the cramped dwelling.
"The heat is intolerable," she told AFP last month.
"Our school is shut, but I can't study at home."
- Poorest hit hardest -
April marked the 11th straight month of record global heat, and the pattern is clear in Bangladesh, said Shumon Sengupta, country director for NGO Save the Children.
"Not only are the temperatures higher, the duration of the high temperatures is much longer," he told AFP.
"Previously, few areas used to have these heatwaves, now the coverage of the country is much higher," he added.
Schools across much of Asia are simply not equipped to deal with the growing consequences of climate change.
Bangladesh's urban schools can be sturdy, but are often overcrowded, with little ventilation, said Sengupta.
In rural areas, corrugated metal roofs can turn classrooms into ovens, and electricity for fans is unreliable.
In Bangladesh and elsewhere, students often walk long distances to and from school, risking heatstroke in the process.
But closing schools comes with serious consequences, "particularly for children from poorer, vulnerable communities who do not have access to resources such as computers, internet and books," said Salwa Aleryani, UNICEF's health specialist for East Asia and the Pacific.
Those children "are also less likely to have better conditions at home to protect them during heatwaves".
They may be left unsupervised by parents who cannot afford to stay home, and school closures put children at higher risk of child labour, child marriage and even trafficking, said Sengupta.
- 'Wake up to this' -
Climate change also threatens schooling indirectly.
UNICEF research in Myanmar found that crop shortages caused by rising temperatures and unpredictable rain caused families to pull children from school to help with work or because they could no longer afford fees.
Some wealthy countries in the region have taken steps to protect children's education in the face of a changing climate.
In Japan, fewer than half of all public schools had air conditioning in 2018, but that figure jumped to over 95 percent by 2022 after a series of heatwaves.
Not all impacts can be mitigated, however, even in developed economies.
Australian authorities have repeatedly closed schools because of wildfires, and research has found long-term impacts on learning among students whose communities were worst affected.
Developing countries in the region need help to invest in upgrading infrastructure, said Sengupta, but the only real solution to the crisis lies in tackling the root cause: climate change.
"It's very important for government and policymakers to really, really wake up on this," he said.
"The climate crisis is a child crisis. Adults are causing the crisis, but it's children who are impacted the most."
J.Williams--AMWN