It was early morning in Kabul, Afghanistan, when Fatima Amiri first heard the gunshots from inside her classroom. She and hundreds of other students had been preparing for college entrance exams at the time, but then the girls began screaming in panic. Amiri swiftly stood up to calm the class down, but when she turned around, she saw a man with a gun deliberately firing at students.

“I was afraid; I tried to take shelter under the desks when an explosion happened,” the 17-year-old said.

Amiri lost an eye and an eardrum as a result of the explosion. Her jaw was also badly damaged. In all, 54 other students, mostly girls, were killed.

As a minority, Shiites in Afghanistan have been targeted and persecuted for a long time.

Amiri lives in the Dasht-e-Barchi vicinity, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in western Kabul city. Terrorists have been targeting Shiite mosques, schools, athletic clubs, and cultural centers. A horrific assault on a maternity ward in 2020 killed 20 civilians, including women and their newborn babies.

Amiri knew attending school from a security perspective was risky. However, she never thought that one day a terrorist would be trying to kill her inside a classroom.

Undeterred, two weeks after the attack, Amiri showed up for a university entrance exam and was declared one of the top scorers.

“I want to tell the terrorists that no matter how much oppression you would impose on us, you can’t defeat us!” Amiri said. “Your attacks inspire us to rise again and again.”

The UN Security Council and other world leaders condemned the attack on the Kaaj education center in Kabul, where Amiri went for two years to prepare for the university entrance exam, but no robust security measures had been taken by the political regimes in Afghanistan to ensure the safety of the Shiites who now feel more marginalized under the Taliban.

In recognition of her courage and resilience, the BBC placed Amiri on a list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2022.

The attack came in the wake of a ban by the Taliban on girls schools beyond the sixth grade in Afghanistan after the group swept into power in the summer of 2021. But young Afghans like Amiri are still hopeful that the international community will put pressure on Taliban leaders to respect the right of girls to education and the right of women to work.

“I appeal to the international community to do something for Afghan women and girls,” she said. “Hear their voice and take action. It’s almost two years now that schools are closed for girls. There is the possibility that the university will be closed too. Currently, the situation is hard. Afghan women and girls can’t work.”

Amiri’s prediction of a restriction on higher education for girls was proved right after the Taliban imposed a complete ban on women’s access to university on Dec. 20. Five days later, the regime also ordered nongovernmental organizations to stop women from coming to work. Although the ban on women’s access to education and work sparked strong condemnation from the international community, Taliban leaders have said that they will not compromise.

US federal prosecutors have charged two Chinese nationals with smuggling a toxic fungus into the United States, which authorities claim could be turned into a “potential agroterrorism weapon”.

The charges against Jian Yunqing, 33, and Liu Zunyong, 34, two researchers from China, were unsealed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan on Tuesday. The pair face additional charges of conspiracy, visa fraud and providing false statements to investigators.

Prosecutors allege that Liu smuggled the fungus, called Fusarium graminearum, into the US so he could carry out research at a University of Michigan laboratory where his girlfriend, Jian, worked.

Fusarium graminearum causes “head blight”, a disease in crops like wheat, barley, maize and rice, and is “responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year”, according to the charges.

The pathogen also poses a danger to humans and livestock, and can cause “vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects”.

The investigation was carried out by US Customs and Border Protection and the FBI, whose mandate includes investigating foreign and economic espionage as well as counterterrorism.

Jian was earlier arrested by the FBI and is due to appear in federal court this week, where her ties to the Chinese government are also under scrutiny at a time of increased paranoia within the US government about possible Chinese infiltration.

Jian allegedly received funding from the Chinese government to carry out research on the same toxic fungus in China, according to the charges.

The Associated Press news agency, citing the FBI, said that Liu was sent back to China from Detroit in July 2024 after airport customs authorities found the fungus in his backpack. He later admitted to bringing the material into the US to carry out research at the University of Michigan, where he had previously worked alongside his girlfriend, the AP said.

During their investigation, the FBI found an article on Liu’s phone titled “Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions”. Messages on the couple’s phones also indicated that Jian was aware of the smuggling scheme, and later lied to investigators about her knowledge.

It is unlikely that Liu will face extradition as the US does not have an extradition treaty with China.

FBI director Kash Patel claimed on X that China was “working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences”.

New… I can confirm that the FBI arrested a Chinese national within the United States who allegedly smuggled a dangerous biological pathogen into the country.

The individual, Yunqing Jian, is alleged to have smuggled a dangerous fungus called “Fusarium graminearum,” which is an…

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 3, 2025

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The University of Michigan on Tuesday issued a brief statement condemning “any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security, or undermine the university’s critical public mission”.

The case comes just a week after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to start “aggressively” revoking the visas of Chinese students in the US on national security grounds.

Targeted students include Chinese nationals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), an institution that counts about 100 million members. While some Chinese may join for ideological reasons, membership in the CCP comes with perks like access to better jobs and educational opportunities.

It is not uncommon for students from elite backgrounds, like those studying in the US, to also be members of the CCP.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously pledged to “firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests” of its students studying overseas following news of the visa crackdown.

On Sunday, a group gathered in Boulder, Colorado, to raise awareness for hostages held in Gaza was attacked, leaving 12 people injured.

The suspect, Mohammed Sabry Soliman, accused of throwing incendiary devices at them, allegedly planned the attack for a year, and told police he wanted to “kill all Zionist people,” according to court documents.

It was the latest in a string of attacks against Jewish people and institutions, ratcheting up anxiety among those in North America’s Jewish community who see these incidents as signs of growing antisemitism in the US.

The Boulder attack occurred just weeks after a suspect shot and killed a couple outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. They were later identified as employees of the Israeli embassy who had been attending an event at the museum. In April, the official residence of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro was set on fire, just hours after the Jewish lawmaker celebrated the first night of Passover.

“Jews are feeling the impact and are more afraid than they were two weeks ago, or that fears that existed in some communities a few weeks ago are more heightened,” said Adina Vogel Ayalon of J Street, a pro-Israel advocacy group that’s critical of the war and has called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“These types of hate crimes are not distinguishing between where you fall on the political spectrum about the war” between Israel and Hamas, Ms Ayalon said. “And that is something very unsettling.”

Israel has faced sustained international criticism over its military actions in Gaza, which it undertook after Hamas attacked the country on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking 251 hostages.

Over 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The statistics do not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters, and the BBC and other international media organisations are blocked by Israel from entering Gaza to verify.

But a United Nations report that assessed Gazan deaths during a six-month period found nearly 70% of verified victims were women and children. Throughout the conflict, human rights experts have raised the alarm of widespread hunger, disease, and displacement within Gaza.

The war also has become a divisive political issue in the US. Pro-Palestinian protests across university campuses and in major cities have ignited greater debates over education and free speech. There are religious, generational, and partisan divides within the American Jewish community about support for Israel and the question of Palestinian statehood.

But the attacks in Boulder and Washington DC, struck a broader nerve because they crossed a “clear red line between legitimate free speech and political violence,” Ms Ayalon said.

Boulder’s attack has drawn condemnation outside the Jewish community.

“Acts of antisemitism have no place in our society,” the Muslim Public Affairs Council condemned the Boulder attack in a statement. “This violent assault is not only an attack on a specific community but a direct threat to the values of pluralism, dignity, and safety for all people of faith. As Muslims, our faith calls us to speak out against injustice and to uphold the sanctity of every human life.”

The group targeted in Boulder, Run For Their Lives, holds weekly meetings and marches across the country to call for the release of the remaining hostages taken to Gaza.

“The premise of the group is to peacefully raise awareness of the hostages. We’re apolitical, we’re not protesting anything,” said global coordinator Shira Weiss.

Many of the group’s members are Jewish and support Israel, but those are not requirements for participation.

“We get people from all walks of life – who vote Republican, Independent, Democrat, who support the Israeli government, or don’t support the Israeli government,” Ms Weiss said.

Safety has always been a top priority for group chapters, she said, but they “never thought such a violent attack would happen.”

Jewish communities and institutions across the US have long required security, but many bolstered their defences after a shooter espousing right-wing antisemitic conspiracy theories murdered 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania synagogue in 2018. The following April, another shooter attacked a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one person and injuring three others.

Those conversations are again happening in the wake of the Boulder incident.

“The attacks, especially given the succession of attacks in a short period of time have made every Jewish American question their security, whether it’s their personal security or the security of Jewish institutions that they visit,” said Haliey Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“There’s a sense that what has occurred in DC and Boulder could have happened anywhere, could have happened to anyone.”

The Jewish Colorado organisation announced a fundraiser to support increased security for Boulder’s Jewish community, as well as financial and trauma support for victims of the attack. Its goal is $160,000.

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom in Vancouver, Canada frequently joins Run For Their Lives events and plans to continue advocating for the hostages in Gaza.

But he worries the Boulder attack would not be an isolated incident.

“It’s only going to inflame more radicalisation,” he said. “It’s only going to inspire more people to do those things.”