A few days ago, I complained about how impatient I'm becoming with the situation in Cuba, and it seems as if Donald Trump heard me. Just kidding, but he did sit down with Fox News this week, and it sounds

In 2012, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot for opposing the Taliban restrictions on womens education in her homeland, Pakistan. Malala had been a civil rights activist for years, anonymously publishing the fears and challenges she and her friends faced at school on her blog. Following the Taliban attack, which garnered worldwide attention, more than two million people signed the petition for womens right to education in Pakistan, resulting inPakistans first Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill. For her efforts, in 2014, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.Early Years & Life of Malala YousafzaiMalala Yousafzai and her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, by Rebecca Hendin. Source: BuzzfeedMalala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, the largest city in Pakistans Swat Valley. Her name, Malala (grief-stricken), refers to the famous Afghan woman, poet, and warrior Malalai of Maiwand.Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was a passionate poet and educational activist who ran a private school called Khushal Public School. Malala expressed an interest in education and literature from a very young age, as school had been a central part of her life. Educated primarily by her father, Malala became fluent in Pashto, Urdu, and English.Unlike other girls in Pakistan, Malala was allowed to stay up late at night to have conversations with her family members, especially with her father, about literature, politics, and existing socio-cultural challenges in their country. This late-night discussion inspired Malala to pursue politics as a future career path, even though she initially wanted to become a doctor.Malalas father played a pivotal role in inspiring her to fight for girls rights in Pakistan.In her own words, Welcoming a baby girl is not always cause for celebration in Pakistanbut my father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was determined to give me every opportunity a boy would have.Early Activism & the Talibans Education BanA group of girls at a school in Pakistan, by Vicki Francis/Department for International Development, 2011. Source: Wikimedia Commons/DFID UK Department for International DevelopmentThe first public appearance of 10-year-old Malala Yousafzai was in September 2008. Accompanied by her father, Malala held a speech at the local press club, criticizing the existing environment in her region: How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education? This challenging question was widely covered by newspapers and television channels throughout Pakistan.As part of her social activism, in 2009, Malala started writing an anonymous blog under the name of Gul Makai on the Urdu language site of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The blog was named Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl. She was 11 years old at this time. Malalas BBC blog gained international recognition, raising awareness about the struggles of girls and women in Pakistan.By this time, the First Battle of Swat (2007) between Pakistani and Taliban forces had already devastated Malalas residential area, resulting in the death of thousands and the consolidation of the Talibans power in the region. As schools were bombed, fewer students attended it. Eventually, on January 15, 2009, the Taliban issued an edict prohibiting girls from attending schools.Photograph of Malala at the 2023 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, by flowcomm, 2023. Source: Wikimedia CommonsIn her blog, Malala described her life in Swat Allay under Taliban rule, her fears, and her disappointment as she was forced to stay home. She often questioned the Talibans motivations and policies in Pakistan.She wrote:I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools. Only 11 out of 27 pupils attended the class because the number decreased because of the Pakistani Talibans edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.The situation in Pakistan quickly deteriorated due to increasing conflict between the Pakistani government and the Taliban. In May 2009, Malala was forced to leave her home for safety, becoming an internally displaced person.Return to Swat & Rising RecognitionMalala speaking with John Lewis, 2015. Source: Wikimedia CommonsIn July 2009, internally displaced persons in Pakistan, including Malala, were informed that it was safe to return to their residential areas. On their way home, Malala and her family, along with other activists, were invited to meet with United States President Barack Obamas special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. Malala utilized the opportunity and pleaded to Holbrooke: Respected ambassador, if you can help us in our education, please help us. If you cannot, then at least do not harm us.The same year, Malala was featured in documentary films about the Pakistan school ban to share her thoughts and experiences. The films were later posted on The New York Times website, gaining wider public recognition.Malala appeared more frequently on television, advocating for female education. She also became a member of several charity and civil rights organizations, such as the Khpal Kor Foundation, a non-governmental organization and partner of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), assisting children affected by years of conflict in Swat, Pakistan.Even though the Taliban reopened schools in 2009 and allowed girls to attend lessons, Malala continued her civil activism and remained outspoken about the challenges and threats girls were facing to acquire education.In October 2011, South African activist and human rights leader Desmond Tutu nominated Malala for the International Childrens Peace Prize of the Dutch international childrens advocacy group, KidsRights Foundation, stating: Malala dared to stand up for herself and other girls and used national and international media to let the world know girls should also have the right to go to school.Malala became the first Pakistani girl to be nominated for the award. The same year, she won PakistansNational Youth Peace Prize. This led to her rising prominence and recognition, especially after the release of The New York Times documentary titled Class Dismissed: Malalas Story (2010).Why Was Malala Yousafzai Shot?Photo of Malala Yousufzais shawl at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, photograph by Rhododendrites, 2019. Source: Wikimedia CommonsDue to the increasing prominence, Malalas and her fathers identity was revealed to Taliban militants. As the Taliban was extensively monitoring media coverage, by 2012, Malala had become one of their targets, receiving threatening letters and messages multiple times.On October 9, 2012, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman while riding her school bus, two of her classmates were critically injured as well.The same day, Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility, declaring that:She is a Western-minded girl. She always speaks against us. We will target anyone who speaks against the Taliban. We warned her several times to stop speaking against the Taliban and to stop supporting Western non-governmental organizations, and to come to the path of Islam.This attack propelled her into the global spotlight as a symbol of resilience and the fight for education rights. In Malalas own words, We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.Malala survived, though she had to go through several surgeries at a Pakistani military hospital and received rehabilitation in the UK. She was discharged from the hospital in January 2013. Malala found the strength and courage to continue her fight. As one of her powerful quotes states: They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And out of that silence came thousands of voices.Malala resumed her education in England and graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).Global Activism & the Malala FundMalala Yousafzai at the Women of the World Festival, photograph by Southbank Centre, 2014. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOn July 12, 2013, Malala Yousafzai held a speech before the United Nations. The speech marked one of her most powerful moments, delivered on her 16th birthday after surviving the Taliban attack, leaving behind touching and inspiring quotes: One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first.The same year, Malala and her father co-founded the Malala Fund. The fund advocates for girls education in developing countries (Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan) by supporting local educators and advocates. Through acquiring, finding, and investing about $47 million in civil activism, the Malala Fund challenges policies that prevent young girls from receiving free, safe, and quality education.Aiming to establish worldwide support, in 2014, Malala visited Jordan and met with Syrian refugees, then traveled to Kenya to meet young female students, and finally to northern Nigeria. In Nigeria, she met with President Goodluck Jonathan and addressed the issue of the kidnapping of girls by terrorist groups of Boko Haram. Speaking with Malala prompted the president to meet with abducted girls family members, which, in turn, amplified international attention to the matter through the global advocacy campaign #BringBackOurGirls.Malala speaking with Sohaila, photograph by Amna Zuberi. Source: Malala FundIn 2013, Time Magazine named Malala Yousafzai one of the worlds most influential people, stating: People whose courage has been met by violence populate history.The same year, at the age of 17, Malala became the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Kailash Satyarthi, a childrens rights activist from India, becoming the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. According to Malalas quote from her Nobel Lecture on December 10, 2014:This award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want an education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change. I am here to stand up for their rights; to raise their voice . . . it is not time to pity them. It is time to take action so it becomes the last time that we see a child deprived of education. I have found that people describe me in many different ways. Some people call me the girl who was shot by the Taliban. And some, the girl who fought for her rights.Ongoing Advocacy & LegacyMalala Yousafzai visiting a government school in Borno, Nigeria. Source: The Malala FundMalala Yousafzai continues to be an active proponent of education as a fundamental civil right for all, especially vulnerable women in conflict-torn societies. Alongside the Malala Funds activities, in January 2025, Malala attended an international summit on girls education in Islamabad, Pakistan, organized by the Muslim World League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). She used the high-level meeting to urge the Muslim leaders to classify gender apartheid as a crime under international law.Through leveraging various platforms, Malala Yousafzai continues to advocate for education and womens rights, fighting to amplify the voices of marginalized communities worldwide. I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the story of many girls, she declared during her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on December 10, 2014, in Oslo, Norway.To this day, Malala Yousafzai remains a symbol of non-violent and peaceful protest against violence and terror.

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Several ancient Egyptian princesses buried with bows, arrows and a dagger may have trained with those weapons during their lives, possibly using them while hunting or practicing archery, a controversial new study suggests. Researchers examined the remains of six royal individuals who lived during Egypt's Middle Kingdom nearly 4,000 years ago. After analyzing the muscle-attachment sites on these bones, the researchers suggested that certain pronounced areas might be linked to repeated activities such as archery and weapon handling. "Members of the royal family, especially the women, were active participants in skilled, physically demanding activities such as archery and hunting," study first author Zeinab Hashesh, an archaeologist at Beni-Suef University in Egypt, said in a statement. The finding, published Friday (July 17) in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, challenges the assumption that weapons placed in the women's tombs were largely ceremonial. It may also provide new information about the health and physical activities of royal women. However, bioarchaeologists who were not involved in the study told Live Science that skeletal changes cannot reliably indicate a specific activity. Age, body size, genetics and other repetitive movements can produce similar results, they said. Royals rediscovered in a museum basementIn the 1890s, French archaeologist Jacques de Morgan excavated a site near the tomb of pharaohs Amenemhat II and Amenemhat III. From these excavations, de Morgan found various royal individuals, whose partial remains were later stored at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The French archaeologist Jacques de Morgan found the royal burials in the 1890s. (Image credit: Gallica Digital Library via Wikimedia Commons)For decades, the remains were forgotten about. But in 2020, museum workers rediscovered the bones during a museum curation project. The collection included King Hor, Princess Ita, Khenmet, Itaweret and Noub-Hotep, as well as an unidentified woman who may have been Princess Sathathormeryt (also spelled Sithathoriunet). Four of the women are believed to have been daughters of the pharaoh Amenemhat II. However, the skeletons' identities depend heavily on those 19th-century labels, which "means that we cannot be certain how reliable they really are," Sonia Zakrzewski, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton in the U.K. who was not involved in the research, told Live Science in an email. Most of the individuals' skulls were missing, and only around 22% to 58% of each skeleton survived. Their soft tissues had largely decayed into powder, but the remaining bones allowed the team to estimate the sex and age and look for injuries, diseases and signs of physical activity. Signs of weapons training?Using X-ray scans and specialized infrared spectroscopy, which can help identify different materials, the researchers examined the entheses, the places where muscles, tendons and ligaments attach to bones. Repeated muscle use can contribute to enlarged or pronounced attachment sites, although several other processes can also create this result. Princess Ita, who died between the ages of 28 and 34, had pronounced attachment sites on parts of her right shoulder, arm and hand. The team suggested that these changes could reflect repeated gripping and weapon handling, possibly involving the ornate dagger found in her tomb. Princess Noub-Hotep, who died in her early 40s, had strongly developed attachment sites in her forearms and right hand. De Morgan had discovered "arrows with their barbs in an astonishing state of preservation" in the princess's tomb, according to an 1896 issue of the journal American Anthropologist. Similarly, Princess Itaweret showed robust attachment sites around her shoulder and chest, while Khenmet had pronounced features on her arms and shoulders. King Hor also displayed differences between muscle attachments on the left and right sides of his body. The authors argued that these patterns fit actions involved in drawing back a bowstring a process that can create muscular asymmetry between the left and right upper body. They also posited that these muscular patterns could be from gripping objects like daggers or maces and suggested the weapons buried with the royals weren't just symbolic. Experts remain doubtfulDespite the pronounced attachment sites on these individuals' bones, Zakrzewski said it's unknown if the royals got buff through archery or some other activity. The sites on the bones show that "certain muscles appear to have been repeatedly used, but the actual cause of that use is uncertain," she said. "We cannot say therefore that these skeletal changes necessarily are associated with the use of weaponry," especially since the researchers didn't look at comparison groups from the Nile Valley or elsewhere. Zakrzewski added that it's unknown why artifacts like arrows were included in the tombs. Perhaps they were meant to be "used by individuals associated with the deceased," she said.Scott Haddow, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Turin in Italy who was not involved in the study, noted that some of the skeletal changes were present on both sides of the remains. "Archery is a highly asymmetrical activity; finding generalized, bilateral robusticity in some bones (with some asymmetry observed in other bones) does not make a particularly strong case for these individuals practicing archery," he told Live Science via email. The individuals' ages at death could also explain the differences. Khenmet was between 35 and 45 when she died, while Noub-Hotep was approximately 40 to 44. Muscle-attachment sites are influenced by aging, as well as by body size and genetics, Haddow said. An old photo of Dashur Pyramid, where the royal individuals were found. (Image credit: Rijksmuseum via Wikimedia Commons)Princess versus pauperOne of the study's largest caveats was the absence of a comparative group, which would have shown how unusual the changes were compared with other Egyptians from the same period. "It would be very useful to know how much such side differences exist in contemporaneous Egyptians, whether royal or not," Zakrzewski said. Besides missing a comparison with a "control" group, other experts believe that the researchers are reading too much into the weapons being buried with the royals. Related stories18 ancient Egyptian tombs with dozens of gold 'tongues' discovered along the Mediterranean coastArchaeologists discover perfectly circular ancient Egyptian temple that may have been used for sacred water ritualsWe finally know why Queen Hatshepsut's statues were destroyed in ancient Egypt"Although the presence of funerary artifacts (e.g., arrows, daggers) makes the princesses' involvement in such activities plausible, the authors provide limited biomechanical or biomedical evidence to substantiate this claim," Sbastien Villotte, an anthropologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research, told Live Science via email. He added that "a more robust approach would involve comparing these individuals to non-elite contemporaries from the same region and period. This would help determine whether such degenerative changes (at these locations) were common in the general population (who were unlikely to engage in the same activities) or truly indicative of elite-specific behaviors." Although the study has a number of uncertainties, Zakrzewski said they shouldn't diminish the value of examining the remains. "It allows us to sort of put flesh on the bones and understand more about their lives," she said. Can you identify these historical objects of war? Test your smarts with our weapons of the world quiz!

Historical Events1841 - British humorous and satirical magazine "Punch" is first published; it closes in 20021856 - The Great Train Wreck of 1856 between Camp Hill and Fort Washington, Pennsylvania kills over 60 people1925 - Tris Speaker, is 5th to get 3,000 hits1958 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands2023 - Typhoon Talim, makes landfall on China's Guandong coast with winds of nearly 140km/h (87mph), forcing the evacuation of nearly 230,000 peopleMore Historical Events Famous Birthdays1889 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American detective writer (Perry Mason), born in Malden, Massachusetts (d. 1970)1908 - (Alfons) "Fud" Candrix, Belgian jazz saxophonist, violinist, and bandleader, born in Tongeren, Belgium (d. 1974)1918 - Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, Guatemalan army colonel and President of Guatemala (1970-74), born in Barberena, Guatemala (d. 2003)1942 - Don Kessinger, American baseball shortstop (6 x MLB All Star; Gold Glove 1969, 70; Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago WS), born in Forrest City, Arkansas1969 - Tommy Soderstrom, Swedish NHL goalie (Sweden, NY Islanders), born in Stockholm, SwedenMore Famous Birthdays Famous Deaths1894 - Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist, dies at 832005 - Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish actress (Pawnbroker, Easy Money), dies of complications from Alzheimer's disease at 912010 - Fred F. Carter Jr., American country session guitarist, singer, producer and composer (Nashville's "A-Team"), dies of a stroke at 762015 - Jules Bianchi, French auto racer (Marussia Formula 1 Racing Team), dies from injuries during accident at 2014 Japanese F1 GP, at 252024 - Cheng Pei Pei, Hong Kong actress, cinema's 1st female action star (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), dies at 78More Famous Deaths