Many of the women of Afghanistan are frightened right now. And those who worked for the foreigners who’ve pulled out of the country, are even more so. They are some of the top Taliban targets and too many of them are telling us how the Taliban are going from door to door, trying to find
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Syrian President Bashar al Assad has met Vladimir Putin in Moscow – their first meeting in the Russian capital since 2015. Mr Putin congratulated his counterpart on winning May’s presidential election, according to the Kremlin. The election – in which Mr Assad is said to have won 95% of the vote – was dismissed as
Behold the war games spectacular, a dazzling 45 minute piece of theatre for the commander-in-chief to ogle through his binoculars and for the Russian public back home to marvel at their country’s military might. Just in case they were wondering where all the money went. And of course to impress upon the West quite what
Women in Afghanistan will be allowed to continue their studies in universities but classrooms will be gender-segregated, the Taliban has said. The announcement from the Taliban‘s new higher education minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani follows the group forming an all-male government and, on Saturday, hoisting its flag over the presidential palace. Haqqani said that women would
The notorious detention centre built by the Americans inside the huge Bagram military base is a terrifying place even when empty. It’s known locally as Afghanistan‘s Guantanamo. Those who were held here feared they’d never leave. Many who did leave have never been the same since. We’re the first Western television team to get inside the
The Taliban fighters we are with are on a charm offensive. “We have changed. We have changed a lot,” one of them tells us. “Praise God, our behaviour is very good now…we are polite, our manners are good and our behaviour is much improved. We’re much better than the last government. Kabul is safe now.
The British embassy’s new tenants in Kabul cannot understand why the diplomatic staff have not returned since the Taliban took control. “Why don’t they come back?” one of the Taliban commanders escorting us asks. He knows we are British and pushes us further. I wonder briefly whether he’s taunting us. After a 20-year war in
A boat used by 13 migrants to cross the English Channel has been traced by Sky News to a boatyard hundreds of kilometres away in the Netherlands. The owner of the boatyard is fearful people smugglers may target him and his family if he reveals details of the people he sold the boat to. Home
Twenty years on from the September 11th terror attacks, the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan. After being driven out by US forces following 9/11, the US commitment to withdraw from the country ahead of the two-decade anniversary has resulted in Islamist rule there once again. Despite Taliban promises to keep al Qaeda and
Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban was a “catastrophe”, according to a former secretary-general of NATO. Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Sky News that agreeing a leave date with the militants allowed them to “wait us out”. He was speaking for Sky’s new documentary, Collapse: Retreat from Afghanistan, which details the final days of the coalition’s
Suspects have started arriving in a courtroom ahead of their trial over the 2015 Paris attacks. Twenty men are accused of being involved in the atrocities, with a heavy security presence in place outside. Police secured the area near the Paris courthouse on the Ile de la Cite during the arrival of a convoy believed
A huge fire has killed at least 41 inmates at an overcrowded prison near Indonesia’s capital Jakarta. Televised footage showed firefighters battling to extinguish orange flames while black smoke billowed from the Tangerang prison after the fire broke out at around 1am. It also showed dozens of bodies in orange bags laid in a room
Taliban gunmen fired into the air to disperse anti-Pakistan protestors in the capital of Afghanistan. Video clips on Tuesday showed people running as gunfire was heard. There were no immediate reports of injuries. People are protesting against the Taliban and Pakistan’s alleged interference in Afghanistan’s affairs, with the Islamist group calling the neighbouring nation its
The Taliban is claiming it now controls the whole of Afghanistan after taking complete control of Panjshir province, the last area in Afghanistan being held by resistance forces. A spokesman for the group, Zabihullah Mujahid, issued a statement saying the area had been “completely conquered” and a “number of people” were killed while the “rest
Soldiers in Guinea claim they have dissolved the government of President Alpha Conde and its constitution, as well as closed all land and air borders. The announcement on state television comes after hours of gunfire around the presidential palace in the capital Conakry, sparking fears of a coup attempt. But the defence ministry said an
The Taliban has broken up women’s rights protests in Kabul by firing shots into the air and using teargas and tasers, witnesses say. Women marched through the Afghan capital for a second day in a row on Saturday demanding their freedoms are guaranteed under the new Islamist regime. The demonstrations began peacefully with a number
An RAF pilot missed smashing his aircraft into a bus carrying evacuees at Kabul airport by about 3m (10ft) after the vehicle steered onto the runway as he was taking off. Wing Commander Kev Latchman revealed military air traffic controllers had been praying for him when they saw his C-17 transport aircraft hurtling towards a
The man who stabbed seven people at a New Zealand supermarket has been named as Ahamed Samsudeen. The 32-year-old had been assessed by authorities as such a high risk that he was being monitored by up to 30 police officers in the weeks leading up to the attack. Samsudeen, who had arrived in New Zealand
Six people have been injured after a “violent extremist” began stabbing people in a New Zealand supermarket. The offender, a Sri Lankan national, cannot be named due to a suppression order currently in place. However, local media reported he is a 32-year-old man who had recently been released from prison. He first came to the
A man, inspired by ISIS ideology, who entered a New Zealand supermarket and stabbed at least six people was a “violent extremist” known to the police, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said. The man was shot and killed by police within 60 seconds of beginning his attack, which wounded at least six people at a
The remnants of Hurricane Ida have killed at least 22 people in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with the storm bringing relentless rain to large parts of the northeastern United States. Here are a selection of photos showing the impact Ida has had since it made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday and later weakened