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Hero's burial for former Philippine leader Ramos
Hero's burial for former Philippine leader Ramos

Former Philippine president Fidel Ramos, a soldier regarded as one of the country's most effective leaders ever, was interred at the National Heroes Cemetery on Tuesday in a sombre state burial. The last former president to be buried at the National Heroes Cemetery was Marcos Sr in 2016, courtesy of Duterte who brushed off popular outrage at his plan.

The women desperate to work in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan
The women desperate to work in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

Since their takeover a year ago, the Taliban have squeezed Afghan women out of public life, imposing suffocating restrictions on where they can work, how they can travel, and what they can wear. Earlier this year, the religious police ordered women to cover themselves completely in public, preferably including their faces. qb/lis/ecl-fox/ser

'Happy that infidels are out': Afghan Taliban fighters
'Happy that infidels are out': Afghan Taliban fighters

The Taliban are a hardline Islamist movement that originated in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar in the 1990s. AFP took a series of portraits of Taliban fighters in Kandahar, the movement's power centre, and also in the capital, Kabul.

A year on, Afghan feminists in exile mourn lost ambitions
A year on, Afghan feminists in exile mourn lost ambitions

When she touched down in Paris on a flight from Kabul in the summer of 2021, Farzana Farazo vowed never to give up her feminist struggle for Afghanistan, even from exile. Farazo, who now lives in the home of a charity worker near Paris, said she has lost the energy she felt when she first arrived in France.

Kurdish Iraqi farmer sprouts online advice, green awareness
Kurdish Iraqi farmer sprouts online advice, green awareness

Kurdish Iraqi farmer Azad Muhamad has become a social media star by sharing tips on growing fresh fruit and vegetables in the sun-parched country that is highly vulnerable to climate change. He also has a message for authorities in Iraq, which the UN classifies as the world's fifth most vulnerable country to climate change and where many are mired in poverty despite Iraq's oil wealth.

Asian markets mixed as focus turns to inflation data
Asian markets mixed as focus turns to inflation data

Asian equities were mixed Tuesday as investors await US inflation data later in the week, after a jobs report suggested the Federal Reserve would likely need to continue its sharp interest rate hikes to tame runaway prices.

Inside Afghanistan's secret schools, where girls defy the Taliban
Inside Afghanistan's secret schools, where girls defy the Taliban

Nafeesa has discovered a great place to hide her schoolbooks from the prying eyes of her disapproving Taliban brother -- the kitchen, where Afghan men rarely venture. If a Taliban fighter asks, the girls say they are enrolled in a tailoring workshop, and hide their schoolbooks in shopping bags or under their abaya and burqa overgarments.