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.

In January 2017, an all-female orchestra from Afghanistan performed for world leaders at the World Economic Forum, a symbol of just how far the country had come since the dark days of the Taliban. Viola player Zarifa Adiba was just 18 years old when she led that orchestra in Switzerland. Her memoir, which has just been published in French, is an extraordinary account of how music offered her a chance to show herself, her family and the world what Afghan women are capable of. She joined us for Perspective and told us about her fears for Afghan women and girls, now that the Taliban are in charge once again.

Poland's PM Mateusz Morawiecki slammed Belarus' efforts to use migrants as "weapons" against the bloc ahead of talks with EU leaders. He also accused Belarus of having the "back-room support" of Russian President Putin.

Germany is deep in the midst of its fourth wave, and many of its European neighbors are no better off. Only in southern Europe is the virus still under control.

In Afghanistan, women have now been waiting for three months for their fate to be decided by the Taliban government. One key question is whether older schoolgirls will be able to return to high school. With winter school holidays coming up, women in Kabul fear that the Taliban will simply play for time and postpone any decision on the issue. In the meantime, some Afghan provinces have been able to reopen their schools, but not others. Our team on the ground reports from Kabul.

At least 27 people died as they were attempting to cross from France to England in a rubber dinghy. This tragedy is the result of a collective failure, says Barbara Wesel.

With the Taliban now in power for more than 100 days, women and girls in Afghanistan are still waiting to hear officially if they can return to work and school. Also, how do we flip the script when it comes to gender violence and teach men and boys to act appropriately? Annette Young talks to Michael Conroy, the founder of Men at Work, an UK organisation which offers training programs to foster violence-free relationships for men and boys.

The Taliban government leader asked for international aid and access to about $10 billion in funds frozen after the insurgents took over the country in August. The UN is warning half the country could starve this winter.

Many of the migrants currently languishing at the Poland-Belarus border come from Iraq. Most of them hail from the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan in the north of the country. This area is often described as a haven of peace, but the reality is somewhat darker. Our correspondent Lucile Wassermann went to meet the Iraqis ready to risk everything to flee their region.

French far-right pundit Eric Zemmour has officially launched his bid for president with a 10-minute video clip on YouTube that looks like a crash course on replacement theory – immigrants supposedly taking over, violently – all to the dramatic sound of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. We ask our panel about the unorthodox campaign launch.

The European rights body has said it will launch disciplinary action over Turkey's repeated refusal to comply with a 2019 ruling to release jailed activist Osman Kavala by the European Court of Human Rights.

He's a relative political novice, but Péter Márki-Zay believes he can unseat one of Europe's longest-serving leaders: Viktor Orban. For the first time ever, all of Hungary's opposition parties have united to choose one candidate for the spring 2022 election via a primary. Márki-Zay, the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely (population 44,000), emerged as the winner in the second round run-off. He tells FRANCE 24 why he is standing and how he would lead Hungary.