Malala Yousafzai calls for end to Syria war, welcomes young activist to Britain

Malala, who moved to Britain in 2012 after being shot in the head in Pakistan by the Taliban for refusing to quit school, won acclaim for her advocacy of women’s right to education. She became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nearly two years after they met in a refugee camp in Jordan, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday welcomed the Syrian schoolgirl activist Muzoon Almellehan to her new home in northern England.

Malala, who moved to Britain in 2012 after being shot in the head in Pakistan by the Taliban for refusing to quit school, won acclaim for her advocacy of women’s right to education. She became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Meeting with families in tow at a gleaming public library in the northeast English city of Newcastle, 18-year-old Malala and Muzoon, 17, pledged to campaign together for access to education for Syrian refugee children.

“I hope world leaders promise the future generation that they will not deprive them of their basic human right, which is education,” Malala told Reuters in an interview.

The setting for their reunion was a far cry from the sprawling lines of tents comprising the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in the Jordanian desert, where the pair first met in early 2014.

Malala now lives in England’s second city, Birmingham, where she was treated after being shot, and Muzoon is among the first Syrians from refugee camps in the Middle East to have come to Britain.

Since the two first met, the number of registered Syrian refugees has doubled to almost 4.4 million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR).

More than 250,000 people have been killed since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

“I hope 2016 becomes a year when this war ends and world leaders must try,” Malala said.

Appeals for funding from the world’s governments have fallen far short of targets. With only days before the end of the year, the UNHCR’s $4.3 billion appeal for Syria in 2015 has raised just $2.2 billion.

Syria’s children

UN children’s agency UNICEF estimates 2.6 million Syrian children are no longer in school. Muzoon, often dubbed the “Malala of Syria”, made her name encouraging girls to stay in school, rather than being married off at a young age.

“We need to speak about education and how to help children, especially in Syria, because there are more children in Syria without education,” Muzoon said.

Malala and Muzoon met again in July this year to open a school for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and have kept in touch through Skype and email.

“(World leaders) need to listen to Muzoon - she has a dream, she wants to become a journalist, she has been away from her home for three or four years, and she wants to go back to her country one day,” Malala said.

Despite being occupied by school exams and plans to attend university in the next couple of years, the pair will be keeping a close eye on an international summit due to be held in Britain in early February, focused on Syria’s humanitarian crisis.

“This coming generation of Syrians are going to be deprived of their right and it means that country is going to face more problems if its children are uneducated,” Malala said.

Britain said in September it would resettle up to 20,000 Syrian refugees through to 2020. Germany was the world’s biggest recipient of new asylum claims at 159,000 during the first six months of 2015 alone, according to the UNHCR.

Malala expressed hope that Newcastle would welcome Muzoon in the same way Birmingham did for her.

“I call myself a Brummie now,” Malala said, referring to the nickname for residents of Birmingham.

“It’s a lovely society where you can interact with people and feel like you’re just part of it. I hope Muzoon can have a similar feeling.”

We need to give confidence to our young players, they are our future, says Waqar Younis

Pakistan are lying ninth in the one-day rankings and barely managed to qualify for the Champions Trophy as they look to build for the next World Cup - both events to be held in England. 

Sharjah: Pakistan's head coach Waqar Younis Sunday stressed young players are key to his team's building for the future, with the Champions Trophy 2017 and World 2019 as prime targets.

Pakistan are lying ninth in the one-day rankings and barely managed to qualify for the Champions Trophy as they look to build for the next World Cup - both events to be held in England.

And Waqar told AFP: "Youngsters are our future. If we continue to give young players chances then it will have a better impact as we look to build the side for the two main events, Champions Trophy and the World Cup."

Pakistan will play England in four one-day internationals after the ongoing third and final Test ends in Sharjah.

The squad for the one-day series is expected to be announced later this week. Waqar, in his second stint as coach, added: "One-day cricket has changed a lot, now a 300 plus total is very common so we need to adopt this change and I am happy that the mindset of the young players has changed which is very good."

He led Pakistan to the semifinals of the World Cup in 2011 before leaving the job that same year.

Waqar rejoined Pakistan in June last year on a two-year contract. Under him Pakistan lost five one-day series in a row before winning in Sri Lanka this year and beating Zimbabwe twice -- home and away.

Waqar said the one-day team was taking shape with a number of talented youngsters. "We have a number of talented youngsters like Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Babar Azam and Anwar Ali around whom we can build the team for the future. It will take time to build but we are in the right direction and we need to give confidence to our young players as they learn fast and are eager to do well in all forms of the game." 

Alastair Cook plays down spat with Shane Warne

Shane Warne irked England skipper Alastair Cook with critical comments about his captaincy last year in a newspaper column when he suggested the Englishman should step down from his role. 

Sharjah: England skipper Alastair Cook on Saturday said his spat with famous rival Shane Warne had been blown out of context as he insisted he now has a better relationship with the Aussie great.

Warne irked Cook with critical comments about his captaincy last year in a newspaper column when he suggested the Englishman should step down from his role.

Visibly upset at the comments, Cook hit back, saying: "Well something needs to be done because for the three years I've been England captain I have in my eyes been criticised for a hell of a lot of that."

But a courtesy visit by Warne to help England spinner Adil Rashid in the nets in Sharjah on Friday ahead of the decisive third Test against Pakistan seemed to have eased out the tension.

"He was still fairly critical in the summer as well, as (former Australian captain) Michael Clarke's best mate he was always going to do that," said Cook of Warne's comments during England's 3-2 Ashes win this year.

"Me and Warne's so-called spat, what I said was taken a little bit out of context – it was probably directed to the whole media, not just him, and people jumped on that," Cook said.

Cook said he talked to Warne on the phone last year, which helped ease the tension. "We had a phone call for an hour, hour and a half, and have stayed in contact ever since. We have a better relationship than before the phone call and it was great of him to come down. It was great of him to come down and spend some time with Rash," said Cook.

Cook believes Warne's advice will help Rashid, who made his debut in the drawn first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. "For a young leg-spinner to spend time with the greatest ever and have access to him, and for him to be so open with Adil, was brilliant," said Cook of the meeting.

"Me listening to what he was telling Rash was fantastic and we are very grateful to him. I'm sure the Pakistanis were as well with Yasir, so he's just evening himself out," said Cook.

Rashid will be key to England's plans as they seek to level the series in the third and final Test starting on Sunday. Pakistan won the second Test in Dubai to take a 1-0 lead. "Hopefully Rash took something from it -- I'm sure he did -- and can continue on his improvement as a young leg-spinner in terms of experience at international level," added Cook.

Cook also insisted that he has learnt with each game as captain, something which Warne had also conceded. "Absolutely, I've learnt. No doubt. The more you do the job the better you get at it. You can better cope with everything that goes with it," he said.