Former President Donald Trump’s tax returns have been released, ending a bitter six-year long battle to gain greater insights into his finances. The returns stretch from 2015 through 2020, covering Mr Trump’s candidacy and time in the White House. They give details of various entities through which he would have paid tax, including holdings companies and personal income. The BBC is reviewing the documents. Responding to Friday’s release of hundreds of pages of tax returns, Mr Trump’s camp warned that the disclosure will lead to the US political divide becoming “far worse”. “The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people,” his statement said.(BBC)…[+]

“I did not feel any fear because I believed that my demand is just,” said a defiant 18-year-old Afghan woman whose ambition to get a university degree has been frustrated by the Taliban’s ban on women in higher education. Angered at the prospect of seeing her future disappear, the woman (whose name we have changed for her safety) staged an extraordinary solo protest in front of Kabul University, invoking words from the Quran. On Sunday 25 December, Adela stood in front of the entrance holding up a board with a particularly powerful word written on it in Arabic – iqra, or ‘read’. Muslims believe this was the first word revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by God. “God has given us the right to education. We need to be afraid of God, not the Taliban who want to take away our rights,” she told the BBC Afghan service. “I knew that they treat the protesters very badly. They beat them, hit them, use weapons – they used Tasers and water cannon on them. But still I stood in front of them.(BBC)…[+]

Controversial online influencer Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania as part of a human trafficking and rape investigation. Tate – who was detained alongside his brother Tristan – had his house raided in the capital, Bucharest. A police spokesperson confirmed the arrests to the BBC. The former kickboxer rose to fame in 2016 when he was removed from British TV show Big Brother over a video which appeared to show him attacking a woman. He went on to gain notoriety online, with Twitter banning him for saying women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. He has since been reinstated. Despite social media bans he gained popularity, particularly among young men, by promoting an ultra-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle. He regularly appeared in videos with a fleet of expensive sports cars, on private jets, and enjoying expensive holidays.(BBC)…[+]