It’s almost 12 years to the day that a Taliban gunman shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in the head as she travelled home from an exam on a school bus packed with fellow pupils.

Now one of Pakistan’s best-known public figures, the activist, Oxford graduate and youngest Nobel laureate in history is releasing her first feature.

The 27-year-old tells Sky News: “I’m pretty new to Hollywood, but it’s been an incredible journey for me so far.”

An outspoken critic of Muslim under-representation in Hollywood films, Yousafzai founded her production company Extracurricular in 2021 in partnership with Apple TV + in a bid to “shake things up”.

She says: “There are so many passionate women and artists from different diverse backgrounds, including Muslim communities and people of colour and they have incredible stories.

“I hope to work with more incredible artists and directors out there in the many years ahead to help us bring more perspectives and more voices and reflections from people who don’t often get a chance.”

A 2022 study showed that Muslims are 25% of the population, but only 1% of characters in popular TV series.

As for whether it’s getting better, Yousafzai says: “There are incredible Muslim artists who are really changing the narrative, and I do hope that more of them will get a chance to tell their story and just bring more diversity to how stories are told.”

She says the documentary she’s just released – The Last Of The Sea Women, about a group of female divers in their 60s, 70s and 80s – is “an amazing beginning” to her new adventure as a Hollywood executive.

Extracurricular has previously said it would consider producing a fictionalised account of her attempted assassination but signalled they first need to find a “surprising way in” to the story.

And Yousafzai is full of surprises.

Malala Made Me Do It

Earlier this year, she made her acting debut in the second season of Channel 4’s reverential and hugely popular comedy We Are Lady Parts.

Her episode even featured a spoof song inspired by her activism – Malala Made Me Do It.

Yousafzai’s passionate advocacy for access to education for women and girls in countries where it is restricted is now stepping into a new realm – entertainment.

Her deal with Apple will cover dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation and children’s series.

Future productions include a movie adaptation of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s book Disorientation, and a scripted series based on Asha Lemmie’s coming-of-age novel Fifty Words For Rain, about a woman’s search for acceptance in post-World War Two Japan.

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The Last Of The Sea Women tells the story of the Haenyeo, a “badass girl gang” of grandmothers living on South Korea‘s Jeju Island who dive to the ocean floor without oxygen to gather food for their community.

Earning a reputation as real-life mermaids, despite diving for centuries, their traditions are now under threat.

In a bid to save their way of life, they are now teaching younger women, who being from Generation Z, are sharing their stories on TikTok.

Elderly Asian women ‘as heroes’

The film’s director Sue Kim – who calls working with Malala “the joy and pleasure of my life” – says she was excited to showcase an underrepresented group in her work.

“It’s rare to see women portrayed as the sole heroes in the film. Two Asian women are not often portrayed as the soul heroes in the film. And then elderly Asian women.

“It’s three demographics where I do think there’s a bit of a gap of representation and portrayal in the heroic world. And that was something I was excited to show in the film.”

Yousafzai says of the Haenyeo: “When I look to them, I personally, as a woman, feel that there’s no limit to what I can do.”

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She goes on: “We would be in a very good place if we were under the leadership of the Haenyeo, for sure…

“We need women in leadership. We need a society where women can get equal opportunities. And a woman should never be told that she cannot be in a certain role.”

Previously nominated for an Oscar for the documentary short Stranger At The Gate, Yousafzai is optimistic The Last Of The Sea Women could be part of the next awards conversation too.

“Why not? I think it deserves all the applause and the credit.”

The Last Of The Sea Women is streaming now on Apple TV +

Angela Rayner has defended Taylor Swift being given a blue-light escort through London as they “needed to make sure she was safe”.

The deputy prime minister denied senior Labour figures, including the home secretary and London mayor, were given tickets to Swift’s August shows in the capital in exchange for police protection.

Ms Rayner reiterated what other Labour politicians have said, that the decision to give the megastar a police escort was “an operational decision” by the Met Police.

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“I absolutely dispute that somehow that this was, in any way, connected to whether somebody went to a concert or not,” she said.

She said it was down to the fact Swift’s concerts in Vienna had been cancelled due to a foiled terror attack, which was meant to kill tens of thousands of fans.

“We needed to make sure that that person was safe. And it was a policing matter, not an issue for politicians. It was the police that make the decision,” she said.

“It’s right that they make the decision. And I fully support them in that.”

Ms Rayner added that police provided the security to ensure Swift could continue with the concerts “which brought in huge amounts of investment of money into our economy, including those small businesses that need that support”.

Sky News reported on Wednesday Ms Cooper’s husband, former Labour MP Ed Balls, had been given free tickets by Swift’s label Universal and she went as his guest.

Mr Balls was offered the four tickets on 4 August, before Swift’s shows in Vienna were cancelled, and the couple attended the gig on 16 August after the security discussions.

Ms Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke to the Metropolitan Police to encourage them to give the megastar a “VVIP escort” through London for her Wembley Stadium concerts.

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The Met were reportedly reluctant to sign it off as a blue-light escort is typically reserved for senior members of the Royal Family and high-level politicians, as it comes at huge expense to the taxpayer, The Sun reported.

No information about the tickets appeared in the public domain until Wednesday.

The tickets were understood to be worth £170 – less than the £300 that would make it a declarable expense – but the home secretary made the declaration to the Cabinet Office on Wednesday.

Sky News understands the Home Office department was informed as soon as the tickets were offered and the permanent secretary’s office informed the Cabinet Office on 23 September. At this point there was concern that the Commons Parliamentary commissioner was not willing to make it public.

It also understood the home secretary’s team had been liaising with their permanent secretary’s office about this for the last week or so.

Liam Gallagher has revealed why he and his brother Noel “don’t want” to give interviews ahead of the Oasis reunion tour.

The band announced their reunion in August following a long-standing feud between Liam and Noel after the band split in 2009.

Liam, 52, revealed on X on Thursday that the brothers “don’t want to do interviews coz we’re scared of the media asking us intrusive questions and trying to pick holes in our relationship”.

Oasis‘s split in 2009 was prompted by a backstage brawl between Liam and Noel, 57, at the Rock en Seine festival in France.

They will reunite on stage for their first UK show since at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 4 July.

Their string of 19 UK and Ireland dates have all sold out, including two extra Wembley shows, which sparked a furore over ticket sales and inflated prices.

The release of tickets last month in the UK prompted the government and the UK’s competition watchdog to pledge they would look at the use of dynamic pricing.

Some standard tickets more than doubled from £148 to £355, and the situation was blamed on “unprecedented demand”.

Ticketmaster has previously said it does not set concert prices and its website states this is down to the “event organiser” who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”.

Last month the younger Gallagher attacked critics of his vocals after performing in front of a packed, 96,000-strong Wembley Stadium ahead of the heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois.

Liam walked on to a massive cheer and said “yes Wembley vibes in the air,” before launching into Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, Supersonic and Cigarettes & Alcohol.

But some fans called it “terrible”, prompting Liam to claim he had sung in “angelic tones” and accused critics of being “imposters” rather than fans.

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Since their sellout UK leg, the band has announced their US, Canada, Mexico and Australia Oasis Live 25 tour shows