Women from a taekwondo team in Herat call for the Taliban not to 'obstruct the path of girls' as they display their medals in the city in western Afghanistan. The Taliban's all-male government has shut down the ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with one that earned notoriety for enforcing religious doctrine during the hardliners' 1996-2001 stint in power. The Taliban's all-male government has shut down the ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with one that earned notoriety for enforcing religious doctrine during the hardliners' 1996-2001 stint in power.

Every weekend, fighters from around Afghanistan gather on a public field in the capital to pit their skills against each other in a sport that is a mix of judo and wrestling.

A black and white Taliban flag flies over the blown-up statue of a revered Hazara chief at the entrance to Bamiyan in central Afghanistan. Since the radical Islamists swept to power seven weeks ago, they have repeatedly promised a more moderate, inclusive brand of rule than during their last stint, when minorities were brutally persecuted. But members of the Hazara community here don't believe them.

Reached by narrow dirt roads, the Tangi Saidan clinic is alone in offering surgery in the remote area, with local Taliban leaders allowing some flexibility in the movement's rules on the segregation of the sexes.

Huddled around cooking fires as winter looms in Bosnia, refugees are risking beatings and humiliation from Croatian police in the desperate hope of a new life in the European Union. Largely from Afghanistan, many of them have endured months or years of flight from war and poverty, only to be met by Croatian police clubs and pointed guns at the gates to EU territory. At a ramshackle camp near the northwest Bosnian border town of Velika Kladusa, a group of mostly Afghans is hoping to cross into the EU. Some have been on the road for years and others left as the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government in August.

Before the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan, Kabul was a city with a vibrant nightlife and arts scene. But since then, there has been a radical transformation. Thousands of longtime Taliban fighters have poured into the capital, now working in round-the-clock security patrols. Meanwhile, financial disputes and quarrels between neighbours are being settled by Islamic judges. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent and Roméo Langlois report from Kabul.

The Murat 729, carrying 400 mostly Afghan migrants and refugees, sent a distress signal after its engines failed. Turkey failed to respond to a request to take back the vessel, despite a 2016 EU deal worth billions.

Rights groups say hundreds of Afghans fled to neighboring Uzbekistan to escape the Taliban. But, without official refugee status in the Central Asian country, they are vulnerable and could face deportation.

In the far north of Cameroon, Nigerian refugees have been fighting desertification for the past four years. The desert advances by 12 percent every year in the region, which gets on average three times less rainfall than the rest of the country. But the UNHCR is hoping that its programme at the Minawao camp can help turn back the tide. More than 360,000 seedlings have already been grown in the nursery and planted over more than 100 hectares. Our correspondents report.

After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, thousands of people were evacuated to Europe. Paralympic wheelchair basketball player Nilofar Bayat and her husband are now living in the Spanish city of Bilbao - making a fresh start on the court.

After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, thousands of people were evacuated to Europe. Paralympic wheelchair basketball player Nilofar Bayat and her husband are now living in the Spanish city of Bilbao - making a fresh start on the court.

After the European Union imposed sanctions on Minsk last june over serious human rights violations, a new humanitarian crisis is developing at the borders of Belarus and the EU.European leaders accuse Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko’s government of retaliating by pushing thousands of Afghan and Syrian refugees into neighbouring eastern European countries, which in response have sealed their borders.