- Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- European, US markets wobble awaiting Santa rally
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Sweden says China blocked prosecutors' probe of ship linked to cut cables
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate fears
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Beyond Work Unveils Next-Generation Memory-Augmented AI Agent (MATRIX) for Enterprise Document Intelligence
- Sweet smell of success for niche perfumes
- 'Finally, we made it!': Ho Chi Minh City celebrates first metro
- Tunisia women herb harvesters struggle with drought and heat
- Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
- Secretive game developer codes hit 'Balatro' in Canadian prairie province
- Stellantis backtracks on plan to lay off 1,100 at US Jeep plant
- Banned Russian skater Valieva stars at Moscow ice gala
- Biden signs funding bill to avert government shutdown
- Sorrow and fury in German town after Christmas market attack
- France's most powerful nuclear reactor finally comes on stream
- Sierra Leone student tackles toxic air pollution
- Amazon says US strike caused 'no disruptions'
- Qualcomm scores key win in licensing dispute with Arm
- Scientists observe 'negative time' in quantum experiments
- US approves first drug treatment for sleep apnea
- Amazon expects no disruptions as US strike goes into 2nd day
- US confirms billions in chips funds to Samsung, Texas Instruments
- Wall Street rebounds despite US inflation ticking higher
Nationwide protests if Afghan girls' schools stay shut: activists
Women's rights activists pledged Sunday to launch a wave of protests across Afghanistan if the Taliban fail to reopen girls' secondary schools within a week.
Thousands of secondary school girls had flocked to classes on Wednesday after the hardline Islamists reopened their institutions for the first time since seizing power last August.
But officials ordered the schools shut again just hours into the day, triggering international outrage.
"We call on the leaders of the Islamic Emirate to open girls' schools within one week," activist Halima Nasari read from a statement issued by four women's rights groups at a press conference in Kabul.
"If the girls' schools remain closed even after one week, we will open them ourselves and stage demonstrations throughout the country until our demands are met."
The Taliban should be building more schools for girls in the country's remote rural areas rather than shutting existing facilities, said the statement, which comes after several high-profile women's activists in the country were detained in recent months.
"The people can no longer tolerate such oppression. We do not accept any excuse from the authorities," it said.
On Saturday, about two dozen schoolgirls and women staged a protest in Kabul demanding the reopening of the schools.
The education ministry has so far not given a clear reason for its policy reversal, but senior Taliban leader Suhail Shaheel told AFP that some "practical issues" were still to be resolved before reopening the schools.
Since storming back to power the Taliban have rolled back two decades of gains made by the country's women, who have been squeezed out of many government jobs, barred from travelling alone, and ordered to dress according to a strict interpretation of the Koran.
The Taliban had promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
But many restrictions have still been imposed -- if not at the national level then implemented locally at the whim of regional officials.
Some Afghan women initially pushed back against the Taliban's curbs, holding small protests where they demanded the right to education and work.
But the Taliban soon rounded up the ringleaders, holding them incommunicado while denying that they had been detained.
Since their release, most have gone silent.
M.P.Jacobs--CPN