News stories by External Source, page 2

KABUL, March 12 (IPS) - In the bone-chilling Afghanistan winter, a woman was dragged into a public square early this year and publicly lashed for a crime she may or not have committed. According to the ruling handed by the Taliban Supreme Court, the woman and the male culprit who was jointly accused of extra-marital affair received 30 lashes each and a one-year suspended prison sentence. The sentence was carried out in the presence of several local officials and residents in a province whose name is left out to protect the victim.

Women and girls have never been closer to equality. And never closer to losing it.

KABUL, January 28 (IPS) - Young women in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, are trying their hands at unfamiliar tasks in embroidery, tailoring and designing beads in market stalls. Many should instead have been sitting at desks writing computer software or reporting news, the fields they trained for.

Once a lifeline of northern Bengal, Bangladesh’s Karatoya River now drifts through Bogura as a fragmented, polluted channel, where climate change and human neglect quietly reshape livelihoods, memory, and everyday life.

Multiple shocks defined 2025: conflict, climate breakdown and shrinking democracy. Multilateral institutions were tested as never before.

KABUL, December 11 (IPS) - Shabnam, a 26-year-old law graduate, manages her life and work by disguising herself as a boy.  In the middle of a crowded market with the clatter of street sellers and the smell of nearby restaurants, a small, nondescript shop blends into the chaos. Inside, rusty shelves line the walls, empty soda cans hanging on the wall add a touch of color, and an old table covered with a worn-out cloth sits in the corner. To most passersby, the shopkeeper looks like a young man.

In a world of turbulence and doubt, one promise remains. In 1948, nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I am an educated Afghan woman and a former government employee. I have long been active in women’s rights struggles, education, and community development. For me, living in Afghanistan is fraught with dangers and difficulties. In a context where women are denied the right to study, work, or participate in public life, my previous roles in government institutions and international organizations, and my afvocacy for women’s rights, place me at particular risk.

I greet the particular Churches of the Global South gathered at the Amazonian Museum of Belém, joining the prophetic voice of my brother Cardinals who have taken part in COP 30, telling the world with words and gestures that the Amazon region remains a living symbol of creation with an urgent need for care.

PARWAN, Afghanistan, November 13 (IPS) - When Roya, a former police officer under Afghanistan’s Republic government, left the country with her family, she felt a great sense of relief, having escaped from the horrors of Taliban rule. She never imagined that less than three years later she would be forced back into the same conditions, only worse.