Two items for the desk today.
Pakistan. The FCDO's live travel advice, last updated 7 August 2026, warns of demonstrations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, with road closures, suspended mobile and internet services and clashes with security forces. It advises against all but essential travel to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and against all travel within 10 miles of the Line of Control. That sits on a standing hostile-area picture: advise against all travel to Balochistan and much of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and an explicit kidnap threat to British nationals across the country. The comms suspension is the operational edge, degrading tracking and reach-back where movement is already disrupted.
Regulation. The SIA's removal of BIIAB as a licence-linked awarding body is now in force, effective 10 August 2026, leaving five recognised awarding organisations. Qualifications BIIAB already awarded remain acceptable within the usual three-year window, so validly-qualified operators are not affected. Anyone booked onto a BIIAB course should confirm their provider has moved to a recognised body before a licence application stalls.
