Afghanistan extends Jonathon Trott’s contract as cricket coach for 2025
The decision comes after his successful 2.5-year tenure, during which he made significant contributions to the team’s progress and development, ACB said in a statement.
Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Monday confirmed the extension of the contract with Jonathan Trott, the national team’s head coach, for the year 2025.
The decision comes after his successful 2.5-year tenure, during which he made significant contributions to the team’s progress and development, ACB said in a statement.
The Afghanistan National Team had great achievements in the last two years and Trott was part of these achievements, notably during the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup, where Afghanistan secured impressive victories against formidable opponents such as England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands.
As a result, the national team made it to the top eight teams in the event, which allowed Afghanistan to qualify for their first-ever ICC Champions Trophy event in 2025, ACB said.
Additionally, the national team won five matches at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup this year, triumphing over strong teams like New Zealand, Australia, and Bangladesh. They ultimately reached the semifinals of the event for the first time in their cricketing history, and Jonathan Trott contributed well to this journey, the ACB said.
Afghanistan are currently on a tour to Zimbabwe for an all-format series featuring three T20Is, three ODIs, and two Test matches.
During the tour, Jonathan Trott will accompany the squad only in ODIs. He will be unavailable for the T20Is and Test matches due to personal commitments.
Hamid Hassan will step in and take on the role of Head Coach in Trott’s absence, and Nawroz Mangal, who recently helped the Afghanistan A lineup to the Emerging Asia Cup glory, will serve as Assistant Head Coach during the series.
Science & Technology
Meta turns off Instagram’s private messaging encryption worldwide
Meta said the decision was based on low user adoption, though critics argue optional privacy tools often see limited use because users must manually activate them.
Instagram has disabled its end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) direct messaging feature worldwide, marking a major reversal by parent company Meta on its previous commitment to stronger user privacy protections.
The move means Instagram users can no longer send ultra-private direct messages protected by E2EE — a security system that allows only the sender and recipient to read messages. Without the feature, Instagram can technically access the content of direct messages, including photos, videos and voice notes.
Meta had previously promoted encryption as “the future is private.” In 2019, CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged to expand the technology across the company’s platforms.
Facebook Messenger adopted E2EE in 2023, while Instagram introduced it as an optional feature with plans to make it standard.
However, Meta has now abandoned the wider Instagram rollout and updated the app’s terms in March to confirm encrypted messaging would no longer be supported after 8 May 2026.
Meta said the decision was based on low user adoption, though critics argue optional privacy tools often see limited use because users must manually activate them.
The move has divided opinion. Child protection groups, including the NSPCC, welcomed the change, saying encryption can make it harder to detect child grooming and abuse online.
Privacy advocates criticised the decision. Maya Thomas of Big Brother Watch warned the move weakens online privacy protections and could increase pressure on other social media companies to scale back encryption.
End-to-end encryption remains standard on platforms including WhatsApp, Signal, Apple’s iMessage and Google Messages, while other platforms continue to take mixed approaches to private messaging.
An Afghan man has pleaded guilty to sexual communication with a child in the United Kingdom. Najeebullah Arab appeared before a court in Oxford on May 8 and admitted to the offence, which took place in Grove in May 2024.
The 40-year-old had initially denied the charge and was expected to stand trial later this year. Court records stated that he made inappropriate comments to the child, including remarks about her appearance and requests to spend time alone with her.
Earlier this year, Arab also pleaded guilty to several other offences. These included one count of sexual assault linked to an incident in Grove on January 21.
He additionally admitted to charges of sexual assault, rape and kidnapping involving another woman on January 27. The court previously heard that he dragged a woman from an alleyway into a field during the incident.
Following the earlier hearings in March, a small group of protesters gathered outside the court building carrying flags and banners. Police officials praised the victims for coming forward and said the case reflected the strength of the evidence collected by investigators.
Arab is due to be sentenced for all offences on June 19. The court has ordered a pre-sentence report to assess whether he poses a danger to the public, while the judge ruled that he remain in custody until sentencing.
Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan says the National Archives digitized hundreds of historical documents, manuscripts and books during the 1404 solar year as part of efforts to preserve the country’s cultural and historical heritage.
According to the ministry, the National Archives digitized 741 books, 232 manuscripts, 358 decrees and one genealogy document over the past year.
The ministry also said that 830 books, 60 manuscripts and four decrees were restored and rebound during the same period.
In addition, 32 new manuscripts were handed over to the National Archives, further enriching the country’s collection of historical records.
Afghan officials have repeatedly stressed the importance of preserving historical documents and manuscripts, many of which date back several centuries and reflect the country’s rich cultural legacy.
Meta turns off Instagram’s private messaging encryption worldwide
Afghan man pleads guilty to sexual communication with child in UK
Afghanistan National Archives digitizes hundreds of historical documents in 1404
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