Afghan activist: Either we let them kill us or keep working

Mixed-reality platform, Microsoft Mesh, will allow people to join and share the same virtual experience wherever they are in the world. The system was announced at the company’s Ignite digital conference, earlier this month. While augmented reality overlays virtual objects in front of you, mixed reality allows the user to interact with what they can…

Pakistan’s national security adviser has said Western governments’ failure to heed his country’s advice has left Afghanistan in crisis. Moeed Yusuf told BBC News’s Hardtalk programme’s Stephen Sackur about the impact the war in Afghanistan has had on Pakistan and warned the cycle of war would repeat itself without introspection by Western governments. Watch the…

The Taliban say they will not extend the deadline for Western forces to leave Afghanistan. A spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, told the BBC’s Yalda Hakim that the 31 August was a red line and that any extension would be a “clear violation” of the Doha agreement between the United States and the Taliban. He said that…

States tend to have a predictable response to gun laws after mass shootings, a law professor says.

The 2021 Oscar nominations are the most diverse Oscars ever, with nine of the 20 acting nominees from non-white backgrounds. And two women were nominated for best director – the first time more than one woman has been shortlisted for that prize in the awards’ 93-year history. Anna Smith, a film critic and host of…

Mahbouba Seraj is a prominent Afghan women’s rights activist and journalist. When the Taliban came back to power in August 2021, she stayed in the country and continues to voice the concerns of Afghan women. From Kabul, she tells Yalda Hakim for BBC 100 Women about her fears for her nation, and has a personal…