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Many of the women of Afghanistan are frightened right now. And those who worked for the foreigners who’ve pulled out of the country, are even more so.

They are some of the top Taliban targets and too many of them are telling us how the Taliban are going from door to door, trying to find those who once worked for the “enemies”.

Officially, there’s an amnesty. Unofficially, there are scores being settled and intimidation is rife.

A Kabul market
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There are many more people out in the market than we’ve seen in the previous few days

“Why did I work for the US?” one 24-year-old woman asks us.

“That [when we are in] such a situation they are not responding us (sic)… not hearing us? It’s a waste of my work experience, all those years. It’s a waste of effort, it’s a waste of struggle, it’s a waste of everything right now. I even carry some kind of hate in my heart for them.”

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She and her sister have travelled with their uncle to where we are staying. They were too scared to talk to us openly.

They saw us filming in a market in the capital and the younger sister (who we will call “Tabasum” for her safety), tells us she watched us for two hours before summoning up the courage to pull Sky producer Chris Cunningham to one side.

“Please, I want you to interview me,” she told him. “I can’t talk here because our lives are in danger.”

Speaking to women at the market
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Speaking to women at the market

It has taken tremendous bravery to speak up at all. We are just a few metres away from an armed Taliban checkpoint. The fighters who are patrolling through the market, with weapons slung over their shoulders, tell us how we are seeing a different, better side of Kabul.

“A few weeks ago you would not have been able to come here because of the security,” the Talib tells us. There appears to be no irony in his voice.

There are many more people out in the market than we’ve seen in the previous few days. And there is a marked increase in the number of women in public.

Initially, the Taliban instructed women to stay indoors “for security reasons”. But while we are here there are many thronging the stalls.

Talibs at the market checkpoint
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Talibs at the market checkpoint

We notice they are all wearing long flowing dresses or coats and headscarves or hijabs – a number are in the all-enveloping burka. Many appear to have a male companion (mahram) shepherding the groups of females around.

We ask the Taliban commander manning the checkpoint what he does to enforce any dress code. He replies that so long as the women adhere to Sharia law, there’s no issue.

Another Talib interrupts. “It’s an Islamic society,” he says. “And there is no need to tell them to wear hijab, we haven’t had to ask them…everyone is obeying that now.”

When you’re the ones holding the guns, perhaps you don’t need to persuade too hard.

Taliban checkpoint
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Initially, the Taliban instructed women to stay indoors ‘for security reasons’

In the room where we are secretly meeting the young women, they spread out their paperwork which shows extensive links with USAID and other foreign aid groups like CARE, which has a base in Britain.

There are 25 members of their extended family with eight of them children. Almost all of the adults used to work for foreign aid groups or they are female teachers, now in danger.

The young women’s mother is a principal at a girls’ high school.

Street children at the Taliban checkpoint
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Street children at the Taliban checkpoint

“Look at this death threat she received from the Taliban,” Murro shows us. She flicks through her phone to find the scrawled letter from the Taliban which was investigated and verified by the previous administration.

The letter says: “Our main aim and work is to kill all students, teachers and the principal.”

They talk about their mother opening the door to their home a few days after Kabul fell to the Islamist group to find a gaggle of armed Taliban outside.

“They just demanded food and came in,” Tabasum says. “I was standing in my bedroom just shaking. I could not believe it.”

Tabasum (not her real name) speaking to Sky's Alex Crawford
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Tabasum (not her real name) speaking to Sky’s Alex Crawford

The Taliban fighters began to regularly march into the house demanding food, or tea and asking questions about who they worked for.

“Did you work for the old government,” one Talib asked them. “There are rumours you worked for the foreigners…”

“We decided we needed to move then,” Tabasum says. They’ve been on the run ever since.

They show us photographs with the former US first lady Laura Bush taken in Washington DC. There are others standing proudly with British soldiers.

“We love our country. We were proud to work for Afghanistan and build a new future,” says 24-year-old Murro. “I empowered 900 women during my career with USAID. Now what am I? I am not empowered. I am told I cannot work and I’m told how to dress.

“I worry about the future, not just my future but my family’s future and the country’s future. Have you ever felt you are living in a country that is not your country anymore? That’s how I feel right now.”

Tabasum ( not her real name) has spoken out about her experiences
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Tabasum (not her real name) has spoken out about her experiences

They tell us of how the friends and partners they worked with for years have now turned their backs on them. How none of their emails and applications for asylum are being answered or even responded to.

WhatsApps go unread, calls are not picked up.

Tabasum was one day away from finishing her business degree. She was due to complete her thesis at one of Kabul’s top universities on Monday.

The airport suicide bombing which killed nearly two hundred including 13 US service personnel happened on the Sunday before.

“In one day, my life changed. All the lecturers left the country. The university is now empty. All four years of my studying is wasted.”

She had a job but her superiors rang her up and told her it wasn’t safe for her to come in as a woman and that she should stay at home. Almost half the staff were women, now all sitting at home.

“They don’t want me because I’m a girl,” Tabasum says. “I don’t have the right to come out of my home now without a male. Why? Because this is an inequality. I don’t have the same rights as a boy. I am nothing for them.”

“I have become invisible. I used to have a job. I am educated. I don’t need any man. But now I am just nothing.”

Taliban checkpoint
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The Taliban has made reassurances that it respects women’s rights

She’s wearing a full-length coat and black hijab. “Before I never wore a hijab,” she says. “I wore T-shirt and jeans. Now I can’t go anywhere without covering my head and wearing these clothes.”

Despite all the reassurances from the Taliban that they respect women’s rights, the women of Afghanistan do not believe them.

And the Taliban are dealing with a tougher, better educated, more liberal Afghan woman now – many of them in their 20s or 30s.

The Taliban checkpoint at night
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The Taliban checkpoint at night

They have aspirations and educated minds which has put fire in their stomachs and sent courage soaring through their veins. We’ve seen them take to the streets to fight for their rights – and not back down even when staring down the barrel of a gun.

The Taliban fighters may be manning the checkpoints and prowling the area with guns but the Afghan women are not prepared to return to the times their mothers endured.

We set out to meet a female activist and mother of three who we interviewed before the Taliban took control. We will call her “Fatima”.

She also worked for a series of foreign NGO’s focused on running female empowerment courses and skill projects for women.

Colourful clothes are on sale at markets
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Colourful clothes are on sale at markets

She too received written death threats from the Taliban as well as threatening texts and frightening phone calls.

She told us weeks before the Taliban marched into the capital that she was in fear of her life and was terrified her three young children were going to be harmed as the Taliban had warned of killing her whole family.

She’d taken refuge in a women’s shelter then. Since then even that’s not safe. The Taliban have moved in and she’s moving constantly now with her family from friends’ home to friends’ home.

She was cleared to be evacuated by the British military and received a confirmation email but hours later got another warning her not to travel to the airport or the Baron Hotel because of a precise security threat which turned out to be the suicide bomber who blew himself up the following day.

Taliban checkpoint
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Taliban checkpoint

Since then she’s been getting increasingly desperate as evacuation flights have been halted.

Those left behind who did so much service for Afghanistan and worked with such faith with the foreign partners, they never expected to leave so hurriedly, are feeling forgotten and in many ways betrayed.

“I prefer to die at sea at the hands of human traffickers trying to escape here than be killed by the Taliban,” Fatima tells us. “But I’m a prisoner here right now.”

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Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant over alleged war crimes

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Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant over alleged war crimes

Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza that Israel launched following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.

The prime minister’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.

Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks.

It is unclear if he is still alive, following an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.

Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.

The court originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and today announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.

The new UK Labour government said in the summer it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters
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Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters

Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant

In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.

These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.

Netanyahu previously spoke of his “disgust” at the suggestion the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.

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File image made by video and released by the militant group Hamas on Aug. 26, 2005,  shows a man, identified as fugitive bombmaker Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP
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A video released by Hamas in 2005 shows a man identified as Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP

Warrant for Hamas leader

The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes including taking hostages.

Discussing the 7 October attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.”

In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was not in a position to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so was issuing the arrest warrant.

The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas who was subsequently killed in July.

This will never leave Netanyahu

Three arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) but the two most significant are those against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

The court in their statement said that they have reasonable grounds to believe that those two men, have been carrying out the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.

Ever since the arrest warrants were first sought there have been a lot of legal challenges. But the court has rejected all that and has now issued these arrest warrants.

So what does it mean? Well, practically, it would mean that Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant couldn’t travel to any state that is a signatory of the ICC – about 120 countries around the world, including the UK and many European countries.

Were Netanyahu to travel to any of those countries, he should be arrested by the police forces of those countries. And it’ll be very interesting to see what Sir Keir Starmer’s reaction is to this.

But the US, Israel’s closest ally, is not a signatory of the ICC. I think Netanyahu will have support on the other side of the Atlantic.

Also, these ICC arrest warrants don’t always get carried out. We saw President Vladimir Putin, who had an arrest warrant issued for him after the invasion of Ukraine, travel to Mongolia a couple of months ago and nothing was done about that.

But in terms of the reputations of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, in terms of that legacy, they are now wanted suspects, wanted to be put on trial for war crimes. And it is a label that will never leave them.

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Four dead and more in hospital with methanol poisoning after drinking ‘free shots’ in Laos

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Four dead and more in hospital with methanol poisoning after drinking 'free shots' in Laos

Four people have died and a number of others are in hospital after allegedly being served drinks laced with methanol.

According to reports, six British travellers are among those being treated in Laos, after falling ill last week.

Two Danish women in their 20s and a 56-year-old US citizen are reported to have died in what authorities fear was a mass poisoning.

On Thursday, it was confirmed an Australian woman – named as Bianca Jones, 19, from Melbourne – had become the fourth person to die.

Holly Bowles Pic: Facebook
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Holly Bowles Pic: Facebook

Her friend Holly Bowles is being treated in hospital after calling for medical help at their accommodation, Nana’s Backpackers Hostel.

In a statement given to the Herald Sun, Ms Jones’s family said: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our beloved daughter and sister, Bianca Jones, has passed away.

“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us.

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“We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.”

Simone White Pic: Squire Patton Boggs
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Simone White Pic: Squire Patton Boggs

One of the British travellers being treated in hospital has been named as Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent.

According to The Times newspaper, she became ill last week in Vang Vieng – a resort popular with backpackers.

Ms White’s friend, Bethany Clarke, a healthcare worker also from Orpington, posted on a Laos Backpacking Facebook group to warn other travellers.

“Urgent – please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars,” she wrote.

“Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”

New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning.

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Ukraine fires UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets inside Russia

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Ukraine fires UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets inside Russia

Ukraine has fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, a source has told Sky News.

The UK and Ukraine have not yet confirmed the use of the long-range weapons in Russia but their deployment has been widely reported in British media.

Footage has been posted on Telegram reportedly showing wreckage from one of the missiles in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

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What are Storm Shadow missiles?

Ukraine war: Follow latest updates

The UK had previously said that British tanks, anti-tank missiles and other military equipment could be used inside Russia as part of Ukraine’s defence – but had kept restrictions on the use of long-range missiles.

It comes just days after US President Joe Biden authorised the same policy shift.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in the Bryansk region.

A Russian state news agency cited the ministry as saying the missiles caused no casualties.

The Storm Shadow cruise missile is on display at the Paris Air Show in, June 2023 Pic: AP
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The missile is also called SCALP by French forces. File pic: AP

Missiles will have a ‘marginal effect’

Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes says Ukraine’s allies have been pursuing a strategy of ambiguity and “it remains to be seen whether we get official confirmation on this from the UK or from Ukraine”.

“There is also the uncomfortable reality that Ukraine’s stockpile of Storm Shadow missiles is severely limited, so their use will only have a marginal effect.”

Meanwhile, Sky’s military analyst Sean Bell says he would be amazed if this attack really marks the first time such a missile has been used by Ukraine to hit inside Russia.

“I would be quite surprised if they haven’t been used for selected targets further on [into Russia] because they are… very, very effective at striking Russian logistics hubs, headquarters, ammunition dumps,” he said.

British forces used Storm Shadows in the Iraq in 2003
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British forces used Storm Shadows in the Iraq war in 2003. File pic: Reuters

The same missiles are also used by French forces, using the alternative name SCALP, and are made by the Anglo-French arms manufacturer, MBDA.

What are storm shadow cruise missiles?

The air-to-air missile has a strike capability of nearly 200 miles (300km) – meaning it would potentially allow Ukraine to hit further into Russian territory.

The missile weighs 1.3 tonnes and is just over 5m long.

It is launched from the air, and in theory can be used from Ukraine’s Soviet-made jets.

UK-owned Storm Shadow missiles are made in Stevenage by MBDA. Each cruise missile costs an estimated £2m.

The Storm Shadow was originally developed as a project between the UK and France in the mid 1990s.

It was used in Iraq in 2003, while France, Italy and the UK used it in Libya in 2011.

The missiles have also been used to bomb Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.

Embassies shut over air attack fears

Earlier, the US and some other Western embassies in Kyiv closed amid fears Russia was preparing a major air attack on the Ukrainian capital.

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been asking Kyiv’s allies to give his troops the capability to strike deeper behind Russian lines for over a year.

Mr Biden’s change of policy is linked to changing tactics by the Russians, which began deploying North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces.

The White House is set to announce more military aid for Ukraine worth up to $275m (£217m), the US defence secretary has said.

Lloyd Austin said the support would “meet critical battlefield needs” and would include munitions for rocket systems, artillery and tank weapons, along with anti-personnel landmines.

Russian politician Maria Butina and Donald Trump Jr, the son of US President-elect Donald Trump, both warned that Mr Biden’s decision over Ukraine’s usage of long-range missiles could spark the start of a third world war.

Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold required for the use of nuclear weapons after the US move, adding to fears the conflict could escalate.

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