-
'Frightening': US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash
-
Cuba looks to sun to solve its energy crisis
-
Experts warn 'AI-written' paper is latest spin on climate change denial
-
PSG eye becoming France's first 'Invincibles'
-
Late birdie burst lifts Ryder to Texas Open lead
-
Five potential Grand National fairytale endings
-
Trump purges national security team after meeting conspiracist
-
More work for McIlroy even with two wins before Masters
-
Trump hopeful of 'great' PGA-LIV golf merger
-
No.1 Scheffler goes for third Masters crown in four years
-
Where Trump's tariffs could hurt Americans' wallets
-
Trump says 'very close to a deal' on TikTok
-
Trump tariffs on Mexico: the good, the bad, the unknown
-
Postecoglou denies taunting Spurs fans in Chelsea defeat
-
Oscar-winning Palestinian director speaks at UN on Israeli settlements
-
With tariff war, Trump also reshapes how US treats allies
-
Fernandez fires Chelsea into fourth as pressure mounts on Postecoglou
-
South Korea court to decide impeached president's fate
-
Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island
-
E.T., no home: Original model of movie alien doesn't sell at auction
-
Italy's Brignone has surgery on broken leg with Winter Olympics looming
-
Trump defiant as tariffs send world markets into panic
-
City officials vote to repair roof on home of MLB Rays
-
Rockets forward Brooks gets one-game NBA ban for technicals
-
Pentagon watchdog to probe defense chief over Signal chat row
-
US tariffs could push up inflation, slow growth: Fed official
-
New Bruce Springsteen music set for June 27 release
-
Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's tariffs list
-
Zuckerberg repeats Trump visits in bid to settle antitrust case
-
US fencer disqualified for not facing transgender rival
-
'Everyone worried' by Trump tariffs in France's champagne region
-
Italy's Brignone suffers broken leg with Winter Olympics looming
-
Iyer blitz powers Kolkata to big IPL win over Hyderabad
-
Russian soprano Netrebko to return to London's Royal Opera House
-
French creche worker gets 25 years for killing baby with drain cleaner
-
UK avoids worst US tariffs post-Brexit, but no celebrations
-
Canada imposing 25% tariff on some US auto imports
-
Ruud wants 'fair share' of Grand Slam revenue for players
-
Lesotho, Africa's 'kingdom in the sky' jolted by Trump
-
Trump's trade math baffles economists
-
Gaza heritage and destruction on display in Paris
-
'Unprecedented crisis' in Africa healthcare: report
-
Pogacar gunning for blood and thunder in Tour of Flanders
-
Macron calls for suspension of investment in US until tariffs clarified
-
Wall St leads rout as world reels from Trump tariffs
-
Mullins gets perfect National boost with remarkable four-timer
-
Trump tariffs hammer global stocks, dollar and oil
-
Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
-
Tate Modern gifted 'extraordinary' work by US artist Joan Mitchell
Afghan women TV presenters vow to fight after order to cover faces
Women television presenters on Afghanistan's leading news channels on Sunday vowed to speak up for their rights after being forced by Taliban authorities to cover their faces on air.
Since seizing power last year, the Taliban have imposed a slew of restrictions on civil society, especially on women and girls to comply with the group's austere brand of Islam.
This month Afghanistan's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a diktat for women to cover up fully in public, including their faces, ideally with the traditional burqa.
The feared Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice ordered women television presenters to follow suit.
After defying the order a day earlier, presenters on Sunday wore full hijabs and veils that left only their eyes on view across leading channels including TOLOnews, Ariana Television, Shamshad TV and 1TV.
"Today, they have imposed a mask on us, but we will continue our struggle using our voice," Sonia Niazi, a presenter for TOLOnews, told AFP after presenting a bulletin.
"I will never ever cry because of this order, but I will be the voice for other Afghan girls."
The diktat was an attempt to push women journalists to quit their jobs, Niazi said.
"It is like stripping off your identity," she added.
"Despite this we want to raise our voice... We will come to work until the Islamic Emirate removes us from public space or forces us to sit at home."
- 'Not by choice but force' -
Lima Spesaly, a presenter with news network 1TV, said it was difficult working under the Taliban government but she was ready for a fight.
"We will continue our struggle until our last breath," Spesaly told AFP, minutes before going on air.
TOLOnews director Khpolwak Sapai said the channel had been compelled to make its women presenters follow the order.
"I was called on the telephone yesterday and was told in strict words to do it. So, it is not by choice but by force," Sapai said.
Women presenters were previously only required to wear a headscarf.
Male journalists and employees at TOLOnews on Sunday wore face masks at the channel's offices in Kabul in solidarity with the women presenters.
Other female employees continued to work with their faces visible.
- 'Threat' -
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Akif Sadeq Mohajir said authorities appreciated that broadcasters had observed the dress code.
"We are happy with the media channels that they implemented this responsibility in a good manner," he told AFP.
Mohajir said authorities were not against women presenters.
"We have no intention of removing them from the public scene or sidelining them, or stripping them of their right to work," he said.
The supreme leader's decree ordered authorities to fire women government employees if they fail to follow the dress code.
Men working in government also risk suspension if their wives or daughters do not comply.
"It is a threat to girls because no girl wants her husband, father or brother to be punished because of her actions," said Niazi.
During two decades of US-led military intervention in Afghanistan, women and girls made marginal gains in the deeply patriarchal nation.
Soon after resuming control, the Taliban promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
But they have since barred women from travelling alone and prevented teenage girls from attending secondary schools.
In the 20 years after the Taliban were ousted from office in 2001, many women in the conservative countryside continued to wear a burqa.
But most Afghan women, including television presenters, opted for the Islamic headscarf.
Television channels have already stopped showing dramas and soap operas featuring women, on the order of Taliban authorities.
X.Karnes--AMWN