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Afghan authorities say a Pakistani attack killed hundreds of civilians; Islamabad rejects claim as ‘false’.

Families have gathered outside a drug treatment centre in the Afghan capital, Kabul, looking for their loved ones after it was hit in a Pakistani air strike, which Taliban authorities said killed 408 people.

The attack on Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital took place at about 9pm local time (16:30 GMT) on Monday.

Baryalai Amiri, a 38-year-old mechanic, was at the 2,000-bed facility on Tuesday to look for his brother, who was admitted about 25 days ago.

“We are not given the proper information,” Amiri told the AFP news agency, as rescuers picked through the rubble nearby. “So far, we don’t know where he is.”

Afghanistan and Pakistan have been in conflict for months, with Islamabad accusing its neighbour of harbouring armed groups that have mounted deadly cross-border attacks.

The latest round of violence that began last month⁠, two days before the world’s focus shifted sharply to the US-Israel war on Iran, is the worst ever between the neighbours.

The two nations share a 2,600km (1,600-mile) border. The conflict had ebbed amid attempts by friendly countries, including China, to mediate and end the fighting before flaring up again.

Pakistan denied Afghan claims that its latest attack targeted civilians, instead insisting that it carried out precision strikes on “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.

“Pakistan’s targeting is precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted,” the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said. Islamabad dismissed the claim as “false and aimed at misleading public opinion”.

The health authorities said there were about 3,000 patients from across Afghanistan at the clinic at the time of the attack, which triggered panic in Kabul just after residents had broken their daily Ramadan fast.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said he was “dismayed” by reports of the air raids and civilian casualties.

“I urge parties to de-escalate, exercise maximum restraint & respect international law, including the protection of civilians and civilian objects such as hospitals,” he posted on X.

‘It was like doomsday’

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs said on Tuesday that the attack killed 408 people and injured 265.

Witnesses said they heard three explosions just as people in the hospital were completing evening prayers. Two of the bombs struck rooms and patient areas, they said.

“The whole place caught fire. It was like doomsday,” 50-year-old Ahmad told the Reuters news agency.

“My friends were burning in the fire, and we could not save them all,” he said, giving only his first name as he was under treatment at the facility.

Ambulance driver Haji Fahim told Reuters that he arrived at the site shortly after the air raids.

“When I arrived [last night], I saw that everything was burning, people were burning,” Fahim said on Tuesday. “Early in the morning, they called me again and told ⁠me to come back because there are still bodies under the rubble.”

The clinic was established in 2016 and has treated hundreds of people, also providing them with vocational training, such as tailoring and carpentry, to make them employable, according to local media reports.

Is there anything better than a good old British pub? Well, a Dutch person may prefer a bruine kroeg (brown bar). Often nondescript from the outside and thus easy to miss, these cosy, homely, rustic cafe-style bars typically have plain dark-wood furniture, candles on the tables, aged knick-knacks and faded pictures. There will be dim lighting, usually from antique-style lamps, and they make ideal hubs – they are often referred to as a “surrogate living room”.

The name comes from the venues’ tobacco-stained walls and ceilings, which since the smoking ban started in 2008 have been topped up by dark brown paint. Beers and jenevers (Dutch gins) are the most popular drinks, and snacks such as bitterballen (meat ragout croquettes), boiled eggs and borrelnootjes (nuts with a crispy coating) are often available too. The choice of background music is a vital component; soft vintage jazz is ideal, so when I visited Cafe ’t Hooischip the Michael Jackson and Culture Club soundtrack jarred somewhat with the cosy, historic setting.

These drinking rooms used to be all-male hangouts, but today everyone, young and old, flocks to them. Few places encapsulate Dutch culture and tradition like the bruine kroegen. But in recent years they have come under threat from ever-rising rates, property prices and modern bars that are able to generate greater income.

They are still found throughout the Netherlands but it is estimated that more than a quarter have closed since 2010. That said, those I visited in the centre of Amsterdam (the city has the highest density, and boasts hundreds) appeared to be thriving.

This one, in the Jordaan district, has the usual enticing brown bar attributes and features a cute curved wooden staircase leading to a cubby-hole room above with further seating. The crowd is mainly Dutch, but I deduct a point because it feels a little too polished for a brown bar. Even worse, the English couple next to me are discussing their Ocado order for their return to London, which completely ruins the ambience. 7/10

It is delightful to approach a building so wonky that the leaded windows are positioned at a striking slant. So it is disappointing to then learn that the previous owner of Café Pieper installed them on purpose to accentuate the historic feel of this venue, which has been trading since 1665. That’s the main quandary when embarking on a brown bar crawl – how much of the old-time feel is genuine, how much is manufactured?

However, once inside the small, low-ceilinged venue, which seats about 25 with room for a few more at the bar, there is a lovely feeling of gezelligheid (conviviality) and cosiness. Locals tend to visit in the evening, tourists in the day. It’s heartening to see that here, as in most of the brown bars I visited, there’s a strong contingent of young people.

“It’s like a second home for our regulars; we know exactly what they like to drink,” says manager Chag Walvisch, who was a regular himself for 10 years before being asked to work here two years ago. “They appreciate the considerably higher service level you get in a brown bar. We are always welcoming and relaxed about guests starting a tab rather than having to pay each time they buy a round – that sort of thing. You can come here alone and easily get into a conversation; you just don’t get all that in a normal bar. We had some Americans come in for four days in a row last week because they loved it so much.” 8/10

It’s quite remarkable that a bar so homely, cosy and frozen in time is only moments from Centraal Station at the end of Warmoesstraat, one of the most garishly touristy streets in Amsterdam, stuffed with fast-food restaurants and neon signs.

Dating from 1519, it’s among the oldest bars in Amsterdam, with a name that translates as “in the monkey”, apparently evolving from when sailors would return from the East Indies with pet monkeys, sometimes paying their tabs with them, and as a result the bar would be full of apes. Around the dark, wooden bar are displays of vintage clay beer bottles, a model boat – and lots of statues and posters of monkeys, of course.

“There’s no threat to brown bars, at least in the centre of the city,” says bartender Richard Krelekamp, as he pours me a Wolf white beer for €6, although two of those euros seem to be for froth, due to the way beers in these parts are served with a big head. “If anything, more and more people are coming here,” says Krelekamp. “They are fed up of fancy bars and expensive cocktails they’ve never heard of. About half of our customers are tourists, the other half locals.” 8/10

From the outside, Café Eijlders looks like any touristy cafe, but step inside and you are transported back to the 1940s, when it opened as a meeting place for Dutch artists, writers, and bohemians in occupied Amsterdam. Centred around the semicircular bar, where stools, chairs and banquettes fan outwards, are two raised tables.

The colour scheme is in various shades of dark brown and dark red, from the burgundy upholstery on the chairs to the garish and dated floor tiles. A soundtrack of Nina Simone and Nat King Cole plays softly in the background. There’s not a tourist in sight despite this bar being metres from the hellish tourist trap that is Leidseplein. 7/10

Considered to be the smallest bar in Amsterdam, Café De Dokter has no more than 20 seats in total. The chandelier above my head, covered in dust and cobwebs, has a Miss Havisham vibe, while there’s no way of telling the time from the clock on the wall as it is so deeply layered in grime. There are several paintings, but again I have no clue what they depict due to the heavy layers of dust. The ceiling and walls look as if they haven’t been cleaned since the place opened in 1798.

And that is exactly why I love it – Café De Dokter oozes character. I love it even though the woman at the bar is terse, whereas all the staff I’ve encountered at other brown bars have been very friendly. Despite the dust, the glasses are spotless, and the floor and furniture sparkling clean. And there’s some sleepy vintage jazz playing, which is entirely appropriate for the setting. 9/10

The trip was provided by I Amsterdam. Eurostar has direct trains from London to Amsterdam from £57. Hotel Jakarta has doubles from €218 B&B; Conscious Hotel Museum Square has doubles from €114 room-only

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor remains under investigation, which means he has neither been charged nor exonerated by police.

British police are searching the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for a second day after questioning him on suspicion of misconduct in public office linked to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The search of the disgraced royal’s former Royal Lodge home on the Windsor estate continued on Friday, one day after the 66-year-old was released under investigation after being held by police for 11 hours over allegations that he sent confidential government documents to the late convicted sex offender Epstein.

During his time in custody, police had raided Wood Farm on the sprawling grounds of the King’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, where he is currently living, and his former home, the 30-room Royal Lodge residence in the parkland near Windsor Castle, west of London.

Unmarked vans, believed to be police vehicles, were seen entering the grounds in Windsor throughout Friday morning.

Mountbatten-Windsor remains under investigation, which means he has neither been charged nor exonerated by Thames Valley Police, the force responsible for areas west of London.

The king issued a rare, personally signed statement Thursday, insisting “the law must take its course”, seeking to project a business-as-usual air on one of the most tumultuous days in the modern history of the United Kingdom’s royal family.

Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, but the release of millions of documents by the United States government showed the friendship continued long after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.

Those files suggested Mountbatten-Windsor had shared British government reports with the financier while serving as the government’s special representative for trade and investment. The reports related to investment opportunities in Afghanistan and assessments of Vietnam, Singapore and other places he had visited.

Thames Valley’s Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said in a statement on Thursday that officers had now opened a full investigation into the offence of misconduct in public office.

A conviction for misconduct in a public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and cases must be dealt with in a Crown Court, which handle the most serious criminal offences.

Thames Valley Police has previously said it was also reviewing allegations that a woman was trafficked to the UK by Epstein to have a sexual encounter with Andrew. Thursday’s arrest was not related to that allegation.

In 2022, the king’s brother settled a civil lawsuit brought in the US by the late Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager at properties owned by Epstein or his associates.

Other police forces are also conducting their own investigations into Epstein’s links to the UK, including the assessment of flight logs at airports. They are coordinating their work within a national group.

On Friday, London’s Metropolitan Police said it was assessing, with the help of US counterparts, whether the capital’s airports, which include Heathrow, “may have been used to facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation”.

It also said that it is asking past and present officers who protected Mountbatten-Windsor to “consider carefully” whether they saw or heard anything that may be relevant to the investigations.

As of now, it said no new criminal allegations have been made regarding sexual offences within its jurisdiction.

The arrest of the senior royal, eighth in line to the throne, is unprecedented in modern times. The last member of the royal family to be arrested in the UK was Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649 after being found guilty of treason.

Not only is Betye Saar a living legend, but the prolific L.A. artist continues to add to her impressive oeuvre day by day.

She’s been creating powerful, thought-provoking artwork since the ’60s and her pieces have been shown at the Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and LACMA, as well as museums and galleries around the world.

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

As her centennial birthday approaches this July, Saar shows no signs of slowing down. She still routinely creates art and continues to garner headlines and accolades. Last year, she was honored with the distinction of “Icon Artist” at the Art Basel Awards. During the upcoming Frieze Los Angeles art festival, which opens Feb. 26, she will be the subject of the photography installation “Betye Saar Altered Polaroids.” And this May, “Let’s Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar” will debut at Roberts Projects, the gallery that represents her. The exhibition will feature pieces from her early career as a costume and jewelry designer.

Though she’s skilled at painting and photography, she’s most widely known for assemblage, the art of juxtaposing miscellaneous items to form a single cohesive work. Her dioramas, sculptures and large-scale multimedia installations explore the legacy of American slavery, confront racial injustice and celebrate the strength and resiliency of African American women.

“I work with found objects that had another purpose before they came to my hands,” Saar says while seated at a patio table in her succulent-filled tiered garden. “The hardest part of it is going to a flea market, secondhand stores, an estate sale or even just going behind a store to see what people throw away.”

Over the years, she’s traveled by plane, train and automobile in search of usable materials. Meanwhile, admirers, colleagues and gallery workers have sent her curios from New Mexico, Tennessee, New England and beyond. Her daughters — artists Alison and Lezley, and writer Tracye, their mother’s studio director — also stay on the lookout for objects that might catch her eye.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I have quite a collection,” she says.

Indeed, Saar’s multi-level home studio in Laurel Canyon is bursting with dozens of old empty picture frames, discarded window panes, wooden chests, antique chairs and vintage clocks. But there’s always room for more.

Her idea of a perfect Sunday includes foraging for new items (or old ones, as the case may be) to use in her daily art practice. And she’d return to her roots to do it.

“Pasadena is my hometown and I still have a few relatives that live there,” she says.

While visiting her old stomping grounds, she’d embark on a multi-stop shopping spree and wander through a longtime favorite San Gabriel Valley attraction (where her work just so happens to be on display).

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

10 a.m.: Search for hidden treasures

Pasadena Community College Flea Market is something that’s part of “the hunt.” Alison usually drives, sometimes Tracye. Some people are there early to get the deals; we’re not like that anymore. I like to look around and sometimes I find interesting fabrics, scarves to wear and strange-shaped succulents for my garden. I hardly ever find really good antiquing things there, because those are at antique stores and they’re usually pretty pricey. But I bought an old, rusty metal birdcage the seller said was from France. I like rusty stuff for my art. I also found an indigo blue kimono to wear at an art event later this year.

1 p.m.: Replenish with Thai food

I’d go down Fair Oaks Avenue — there’s some secondhand stores. Usually, it’s nothing I can use, but I still can’t say no. I have to go see for myself. Then, lunch at Saladang Garden. I always order chicken sate and the green papaya salad. Last time I went, we tried the Thai corn fritter which was really good and crispy. If food is too spicy, I can’t eat it. But somebody in my party would always have something spicy and I can have a spoonful to add to mine.

2:30 p.m.: More shopping

I am attracted to all the odd things at Gold Bug. Notepads and trinkets, curious vintage-y things with animals or interesting patterns, strange candles. Sometimes I surprise myself by buying something. They have a mixture of things that — whether it’s for the color, or the texture — I feel that I can recycle and fit into an art object that I’m making.

3:30 p.m.: Visit a childhood haunt (with a side of more shopping)

I really like the Huntington’s gardens. I remember the first time I went there was with my mother and a friend of hers, and we walked around. All the paths were dirt, you know, they hadn’t even gotten around to paving it yet. But I just fell in love with it. And I really like their gift shop.

6 p.m.: Head west for a culinary classic

If I go someplace to eat for lunch, I usually have leftovers to warm up. Nothing wrong with leftovers — if you liked it the first time, you’ll like it again! But if I had to go out to dinner, the Apple Pan. I would go there in the ’80s with my daughters. I like their sandwiches, or the hickory burger with cheese, and there’s good French fries.

8 p.m.: Tuck into some wind-down watching

Before bed, I like to watch the news because, otherwise, I don’t know what’s going on. I also like a lot of shows on PBS. “Finding Your Roots,” or dramas like “Sister Boniface Mysteries” and “Call the Midwife,” which has been going on forever!