Women prevented from going to work told the BBC of their fear and helplessness.
One said she was the main earner in her household, and asked: "If I cannot go to my job, who can support my family?"
Another breadwinner insisted that she had complied with the Taliban's strict female dress code. "This news is shocking," she said. "I am confused what will happen to my life."
A third woman questioned the Taliban's "Islamic morals", saying she would now struggle to pay her bills and feed her children.
"The world is watching us and doing nothing," said another female interviewee. The BBC is not publishing the women's names in order to protect them.
Saturday's edict was announced in a letter from the Ministry of Economy to both national and international NGOs. A Taliban spokesman confirmed that the ruling applied until further notice.
However, it was not immediately clear whether this would affect UN bodies, which have a large presence carrying out relief and development work in the country.
The letter threatened to cancel the license of any organisation that did not swiftly comply.
If NGOs are now only allowed the employ men, it appears Afghan women will be unable to receive aid directly. Separate rules prevent men from working with women.
It is feared this could worsen widespread issues such as infant mortality in a country where foreign funding for healthcare has now dried up.
The South Asian branch of Amnesty International described the ban as "yet another deplorable attempt to erase women from the political, social and economic spaces" of Afghanistan.
One imam - whose identity is again being protected by the BBC - said the Taliban was "not committed to any Islamic value".
He explained: "Islam has not said that men can educate and women cannot. Or men can work and women cannot. We are confused about this decision."
A ban on women attending Afghan universities earlier this week met similar condemnation. It triggered protests - including in Herat on Saturday - which have been rapidly suppressed.
Since seizing back control of the country last year, the Taliban has steadily restricted women's rights - despite promising its rule would be softer than the regime seen in the 1990s.
Secondary schools for girls remain closed in most provinces. Women have also been prevented from entering parks and gyms, among other public places.
Additional reporting by Aalia Farzan.
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A gunman has opened fire in central Paris, killing three people and wounding three others.
The attacker targeted a Kurdish cultural centre and shot members of the local community. A possible racist motive is being investigated.
A suspect, aged 69, was quickly arrested and it soon emerged he had been freed from prison recently.
Clashes later broke out between police and a group who had gathered at the scene in the aftermath of the attack.
Footage showed people starting fires in the middle of the street and smashing car windows, with officers in riot gear responding by throwing tear gas.
The unrest came after a man, described by witnesses as tall, white and elderly, shot dead two men and a woman on Rue d'Enghien in the 10th district of Paris.
Of the three people injured, one was said to be in a critical condition and the others were receiving treatment for serious injuries.
There is no confirmed motive for the shooting, but Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the suspect had previously been charged with racist violence.
That incident - in which he attacked tents at a migrant camp in Paris with a sword - took place at Bercy on 8 December 2021. It was not clear why he had recently been released.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who earlier travelled to the scene, said there was currently no known link between the suspect and "ultra-right" groups.
Local Mayor Alexandra Cordebard said the gunman was also wounded in the shooting and that three places had come under fire: the Kurdish community centre, a restaurant and a hairdresser.
"We were walking in the street and heard gunshots," a witness, Ali Dalek, told the BBC. "We turned around and saw people running left and right.
"And then, five or six minutes later, because we know people who work at the hair salon, we went in and we saw that they had arrested a guy."
Another witness, a shopkeeper, told AFP she had locked herself in. She said she had heard seven or eight bursts of gunfire.
Police eventually detained the suspect without resistance and reportedly recovered the weapon used in the attack. Prosecutors said they had opened a murder investigation.
The Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDF-K), which runs the Ahmet-Kaya Kurdish centre that was hit, condemned the attack in a short statement.
Le Monde newspaper quoted Agit Polat, a spokesperson for the centre, as saying French authorities had "once more" failed to protect Kurds living in Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the capital's Kurdish community had been the "target of a heinous attack" and praised police for their "courage".
A Turkish man was charged with the killings but he died in 2016 before being tried.
The CDF-K referred to the historic case in its statement, saying the attack on Friday occurred "shortly before the 10th anniversary of the the triple assassination of Kurdish activists in Paris on 9 January 2013". No official link between the two incidents has so far been identified.
A meeting is due to take place on Saturday morning between Laurent Nunez, head of the Parisian police, and leaders of the Kurdish community, the force said in a statement.
Though it might not sound like it, a "bomb cyclone" is a legitimate scientific term, so named because the rapid formation of the storm is like a bomb going off.
Millions of Americans have been warned to brace for a bomb cyclonewith blizzard conditions, wind chills and temperatures plunging as low as -45.6C (-50.1F) - cold enough to get frostbite in less than five minutes.
A bomb cycloneor "weather bomb" is a term used to describe a rapidly deepening area of low pressure.
"More correctly, it should be called explosive cyclogenesis, which is when the central pressure of a low pressure system falls dramatically - by 24 millibars in 24 hours," Sky News weather presenter Kirsty McCabe said.
"These intense storms bring heavy precipitation and very strong winds. In the US right now, very cold Arctic air is being pulled in, with the freezing weather causing further complications."
How does a bomb cyclone form?
The sudden change in pressure is due to interactions with a powerful jet stream, McCabe said.
"This is the fast-moving ribbon of air high in the atmosphere that steers our surface low pressure systems around.
"The contrast between cold, Arctic air in the north and warm, tropical air in the south has strengthened the jet stream, which in turn deepened the area of low pressure."
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Image:Overnight lows from Friday night into Saturday morning (temperatures in Celsius)
Why is it called a bomb cyclone?
Meteorologists have likened the sudden drop in pressure to a bomb going off, using words such as "explosive cyclogenesis" and "bombogenesis" to describe the storm's formation process.
The term specifically refers to the speed at which a storm forms, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, said.
"It doesn't necessarily refer to the absolute strength of the storm system," he said.
Does the UK get bomb cyclones?
The UK has experienced weather bombs, most famously the Great Storm of 1987.
Image:Wrapping up as snow begins to fall in St Louis, Missouri. Pic: AP
How does a bomb cyclone differ from a hurricane?
"All bomb cyclones are not hurricanes," Mr Swain said. "But sometimes, they can take on characteristics that make them look an awful lot like hurricanes, with very strong winds, heavy precipitation and well-defined eye-like features in the middle."
Hurricanes tend to form in tropical areas and are powered by warm seas. For this reason, they're most common in the US in summer or early autumn, when seawater is warmest.
In contrast, bomb cyclones don't need balmy ocean waters to form.
They can appear over land as well as the sea and are most common between late autumn and early spring, when warm tropical air bumps up against frigid Arctic air.
"They have to occur at a time of year when there is some possibility of both warm and cool air at the same time," Mr Swain said. It's the difference in temperature that fuels the drop in pressure.
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1:54
US set to suffer its coldest Christmas in more than 40 years
Are bomb cyclones dangerous?
It depends. Sometimes, bomb cyclones behave like conventional winter storms.
But sometimes they produce heavy flooding, blizzard conditions and wind speeds comparable to a Category 1 hurricane.
"Fundamentally, the impacts of a bomb cyclone are not necessarily different from other strong storm systems, except that the fast strengthening is usually a signature of a very powerful storm system," Mr Swain said.
Much of the danger lies in the fact that bomb cyclones can take people by surprise, he added.
Three people have been killed and three others injured after a gunman opened fire in Paris.
A man, 69, has been arrested in connection with the shooting at a local Kurdish cultural centre, the prosecutor's department in the French capital said.
The French government asked police to reinforce the protection of Kurdish community sites in the country following the deadly attack.
Also this afternoon, protesters clashed with French police on Friday afternoon during a demonstration near the shooting scene in the Rue d'Enghien.
The prosecutor's office said the suspect had a prior police record, including an arrest for attacking migrants living in tents a year ago, before adding investigators would examine a "possible racist element" behind the attack.
The man was also wounded "in the face" during in the incident and is being treated in hospital, according to district mayor Alexandra Cordebard.
A lawyer for the Kurdish Community Centre said all three people killed in the shooting were members of the Kurdish community.
Image:Police and firefighters secure a street after gunshots were fired in the French capital
Image:Several people were injured during the incident
Suspect is French national and 'acted alone'
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspect is a French national and known by authorities, but not in the context of political extremism, and was not known to the secret service.
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He added the "exact motives" of the attacker are so far unknown, and "as things stand" he acted alone.
The shooting took place at midday local time at a Kurdish cultural centre and a restaurant and hairdresser nearby, district mayor Ms Cordebard said.
Suspect wounded in the face, officers cordon off area
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said three victims of the shooting had died, while one is in critical condition and two others are in hospital with less serious injuries.
Police officers cordoned off the area on a busy street with shops and restaurants near the Gare de l'Est train station, and urged people to stay away.
Antiterrorism prosecutors said they are investigating the shooting but have not indicated any sign of a terrorist motive.
Image:Police said they were dealing with an incident on the Rue d'Enghien
Investigation into gunman's motives continues
One witness told French news agency AFP that seven or eight shots had been fired, sparking chaos in the street.
Shortly after the incident, Mr Darmanin said he would travel to Paris and visit the scene of the "dramatic" shooting, and also confirmed the suspect had been arrested by police.
An investigation into the motives of the gunman continues, Ms Cordebard said, who also told reporters the incident was a "terrible drama".
Image:French police talk to people as they secure a street after gunshots were fired
France endured a series of deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in 2015 and 2016 and remains on alert for terror-related violence.
The Paris prosecutor's office said an investigation has been opened into murder, manslaughter and aggravated violence.
It said the suspected attacker had been detained a year ago for an attack with a sabre on a migrant camp in Paris and investigated for a racially motivated crime.
The UK's Foreign Secretary Jason Cleverly tweeted about the "tragic news" in Paris, and said the UK "is ready to support in whatever way we can".
In a bunker below the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut, a jihadi commander with a half a million-dollar Russian bounty on his head, joins his men in prayer.
Of the allies Ukraine has gathered in its war with Russia, among the most shadowy and deadly are the Chechens.
They are some of Vladimir Putin's oldest enemies and among the hardest to film up close.
They are all marked men, wanted by Russia. Their movements are shrouded in secrecy. But Sky News gained access to their secret base near the frontline in one of Ukraine's most savage battles.
During the time we spent filming them they shared insights into their foes that are worth listening to in the West.
We drove in fast on back roads to evade Russian spotters calling in artillery strikes. As we entered Bakhmut we passed gutted buildings and gaping craters, the sound of shelling was close and regular.
More on Chechnya
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Inside the bunker we met some of the longest serving veterans of this war. The Chechen Sheikh Mansour Battalion has been fighting Russia in Ukraine since 2014. Their enemy's tactics haven't changed since this war began, they say.
"They're sending forward troops like cattle for slaughter," Chechen fighter Idris told us. "Leaving the ground covered with corpses. They do it every day they have no pity for their own people."
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It is the same kind of fighting Russia used in their homelandin the 1990s. From safe cover, commanders send conscripts in waves hoping to grind down their enemy with little care for their men.
Image:A sabotage unit in the city of Bakhmut, fighting the Russians, sometimes with improvised weapons
Chechens have been fighting for an independent country since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
After victory in the first Chechen war they were defeated by Russia, and Vladimir Putin installed a puppet leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, propping him up with billions of dollars in support.
He combines brutal repression with self-promotion on social media that veers from the sinister to the preposterous.
His Chechen forces fight on the side of Russia in this war. His Chechen enemies on the other. The conflict has given Chechen separatists a new arena for their struggle against their enemy.
Image:Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov (С)
Commander Muslim Cheberloyevskii leads the Sheikh Mansour battalion, one of their most active fighting units. He gives very few interviews but made an exception for Sky News. Before joining his men in Bakhmut we spoke to him on a video link to his secret location elsewhere in Ukraine.
"There can be no options here," he said. "Russia must lose, and it must end there. If we do not defend Ukraine today, everyone will lose."
The man who has fought Putin's forces longer possibly than any other commander, used the interview to warn policy makers in the West they are not doing enough to defeat him.
Image:The fighters are some of Vladimir Putin’s oldest enemies
"I think more support is necessary. The West provides support by portions, they are limited. Munitions are quickly used, they are not enough on the battlefield. If we had more, we could win quicker."
In the bunker under Bakhmut there was the same message. Base commander Mansour has spent two decades fighting the Russians, eight of them spent in jail where he was tortured.
"I have no pity for them at all," he said of his enemy. "Because God gave everyone a brain for thinking. If he's not thinking he shouldn't walk on the earth, he belongs below the ground."
The history behind Chechnya's battle with Russia
The Chechens have been fighting the Russians in their mountainous Caucasian homeland on and off since the days of Peter the Great in the eighteenth century. They pride themselves on their fighting spirit and warlike ability. As Muslims many of them regard their struggle with Moscow to be a jihad, or holy war.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, they fought in the mid-1990s to try and win independence and defeated Russian forces despite their enemy’s superior numbers and weapons.
Under Vladimir Putin, Russian forces retook control of Chechnya in the second Chechen war. The Russians used a pulverise and conquer strategy reducing most of the capital Grozny to rubble. They have applied the same tactics in Ukraine in cities like Mariupol.
Chechnya is now ruled by Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechen separatist turned Russian puppet, and his clan. He has used billions of dollars in Russian aid to fund a security state noted for brutal repression and over the top social media propaganda.
After years spread far and wide, Chechen freedom fighters are regrouping in Ukraine drawing in supporters from across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. When the war ends there, they hope to take their fight to Russia back home and win back their homeland.
And he warned Western leaders not to fall for Putin's enticements to negotiate an end to this war.
"Even when they agree to negotiate and sign some documents, they do not follow them, they act treacherously."
They are a sabotage unit, using weapons, some improvised, to strike the enemy in their trenches. Commander Mansour showed us a homemade rocket propelled grenade fashioned from a fire extinguisher packed with plastic explosives.
Image:They say their enemy’s tactics haven’t changed since the war began
On a work bench nearby a suicide vest was being constructed. They wear them should Russians take them prisoner. The base is mined, they said, to blow up if the enemy should overrun it.
In an outbuilding, Deputy Commander Mansour showed off what he called his "Devil's machine", a rocket launcher improvised to fire converted mine clearance shells.
On his phone he shared video of the device in action at night. A fiery launch followed by a pause then a huge explosion in the distance lighting up the sky with a mushroom cloud of fire. The fighters shout Allahu Akbar: God is great.
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0:56
Commander Muslim Cheberloyevskii leads one of Ukraine's most active Chechen fighting units
They fight here hoping one day to take their holy war back to their homeland. Kadyrov is unpopular but well-funded and protected by thousands of well-armed security forces. When the war is over though they say they will continue fighting Russia, hoping to topple him.
Asadullah, a Ukrainian who converted to Islam and joined the battalion speaks for many of them.
"If today the war ends in Ukraine, and we win, for us it will not end," he said.
"We will fight till that time when we destroy that empire of evil totally."
For now though, that is a very long way off. We left their bunker and drove again at speed out of Bakhmut to a backdrop of artillery fire. Their enemy is destroying another Ukrainian city block by block in a grinding war of attrition no one looks close to winning.
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By Phelan Chatterjee
BBC News
Russia has strongly criticised the visit to Washington by Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing the US of fighting an indirect war against it.
President Joe Biden has pledged $1.85bn (£1.45bn) of military aid for Ukraine - including an advanced missile system to help guard against Russian attacks.
In a defiant address to US lawmakers, Mr Zelensky welcomed the assistance.
But Russia's US ambassador said these "provocative actions" would lead to an escalation with severe consequences.
Anatoly Antonov told Russian state media that Moscow was "trying to appeal to common sense at all levels", but talk of delivering the Patriot missile system to Kyiv was "deeply disturbing".
Patriot missiles are capable, effective and expensive. The White House says they will help defend Ukrainians against "Russia's barbaric attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure".
Moscow has complained that no calls for peace were heard during President Zelensky's trip to Washington - with spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing this as proof that the US was fighting a proxy war with Russia.
Mr Peskov added that delivering Patriot missiles would not prevent Russia from "achieving its goals during the special military operation".
"The talks in Washington have shown that neither Ukraine nor the United States is seeking peace. They are simply intent on continuing the fighting," said Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
Russian commentators have echoed this - repeatedly accusing the US of "pumping Ukraine full of weapons".
Some media reports from Moscow ridiculed the Ukrainian leader - with state TV's Channel One comparing him to a stripper begging for money. On Wednesday, he was likened to a toilet brush.
Marking his first foreign trip since the start of the invasion, Mr Zelensky told Congress his country was "alive and kicking" and would never surrender to Moscow.
As well as the $1.85bn package that has already been announced, another $45bn of US emergency assistance is currently before the Senate.
Mr Zelensky expressed hope this extra funding would be approved, to "help us to defend our values and independence".
But there are signs that US support is likely to face greater political scrutiny. Republican support for continued assistance has been eroding.
In a survey conducted in November, just over half of Republican voters supported aid to Ukraine - down from 80% in March.
The party, which will take control of the House of Representatives in January, has warned it will not write a "blank cheque" for Ukraine.
But President Biden has vowed to stick by Ukraine "for as long as it takes".
Mr Zelensky, who travelled on a US Air Force jet from the Polish city of Rzeszow, said that "regardless of changes in the Congress", he believed there would be bipartisan support for his country.
He made his plea in emotive terms before a joint session of Congress - a speech that was interrupted 18 times with standing ovations by nearly all members of Congress, with the exception of some Republican lawmakers who did not clap.
Speaking in English, he told them his country was still standing "against all odds" and predicted "a turning point" in the conflict next year.
To illustrate the brutality of the war, Mr Zelensky evoked US troops fighting the Nazis during World War Two.
"The Russians' tactic is primitive. They burn down and destroy everything they see. They sent convicts to the front lines, to the war. They threw everything against us, similar to the other tyranny, which in the Battle of the Bulge threw everything it had against the free world.
"Just like the brave American soldiers who held their lines and fought back Hitler's forces during the Christmas of 1944, brave Ukrainian soldiers are doing the same to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's forces this Christmas," he said. "Ukraine holds its lines and will never surrender."
Concluding his speech, Mr Zelensky presented Congress with a battle flag signed by the defenders of Bakhmut, a frontline city in the east of Ukraine that he visited on the eve of his Washington trip.
EPA
At a joint news conference, Mr Biden told reporters he was "not at all worried" about holding the international coalition together.
Despite concerns some allies may be feeling the strain of the conflict's cost and disruption to global food and energy supplies, the US president said he felt "very good" about the solidarity of support for Ukraine.
As Ukraine's most important ally, the US has already committed $50bn (£41bn) of humanitarian, financial and security assistance - far more than any other country.
On his way home from Washington, Volodymyr Zelensky stopped in Poland where he met Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of his strongest allies.
The two discussed the US visit as well as their "strategic plans for the future", Mr Zelensky said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the US military estimates that at least 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured, along with some 40,000 civilian deaths.
The UN has recorded 7.8 million people as refugees from Ukraine across Europe, including Russia. However, the figure does not include those who have been forced to flee their homes but remain in Ukraine.
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By Nadine Yousif
BBC News
A powerful Arctic winter storm is making its way through the US and parts of Canada, bringing with it frigid temperatures and flight delays ahead of the busiest travel days of the year.
More than 100 million people across the US are under winter weather alerts, and snowy conditions are expected to wreak travel chaos this weekend.
Major airports have already cancelled flights in anticipation of the storm.
The cold snap could bring the coldest Christmas in decades, say forecasters.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said bone-chilling temperatures of -50F (-45C) and -70F were possible by the end of this week in some parts of the country.
Meteorologists say the winter storm could become a "bomb cyclone" - an unofficial term for a certain type of powerful, rapidly strengthening storm - by Friday.
The Arctic air mass is projected to travel as low as the US-Mexico border, where strong wind gusts will dip the temperature to 15F (-9.4C) in El Paso, Texas.
Even Florida, the Sunshine State, is projected to see its coldest Christmas in 30 years.
The NWS has called it a "once-in-a-generation" winter weather event, especially as the storm reaches the Great Lakes region, where its pressure is expected to reach the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.
The storm is also bringing with it snowfall and powerful winds, which are expected to cause damage and power outages in the Midwest and Canada.
Getty Images
Where has the storm and severe cold hit?
Frigid temperatures are already being felt by millions as the storm and bitter cold moves eastward:
Temperatures have plunged in several US states, including Texas, Kansas and Missouri.
In Colorado, temperatures dipped to a record-breaking low of -9F from 42F on Thursday. Meanwhile, temperatures in Wyoming have dropped as low as -35F
Later on Thursday, forecasters expect heavy snowfall will begin to hit Chicago, whipped around by gusts topping 50mph (80km/h).
In Canada, much of Ontario and parts of Quebec are also bracing for a major winter storm on Thursday that is expected to last through the Christmas weekend, bringing with it "strong and potentially damaging winds," Canada's National Weather Service said.
Winter storm has disrupted travel
The storm has come during the busiest travel days of the year. The Transportation Security Administration said it expects holiday travel volume to be close to pre-pandemic levels, with the busiest day on Thursday.
More than 2,200 flights in the US have already been cancelled on Thursday and Friday, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.
This includes cancellations out of Chicago's airport - one of the busiest in the country.
In anticipation of travel disruptions, major airlines including United, Delta and American have offered to waive fees for travellers who wish to reschedule their flights.
Snowy conditions and freezing roadways are also expected to wreak havoc on road travel this weekend.
Roads along the Colorado-Wyoming border were closed on Wednesday due to nearly zero visibility.
In South Dakota, more than 100 cars were stranded on snow-covered roads on Wednesday, prompting emergency rescue operations. The airport in the state's capital city has also closed.
The American Automobile Association estimated that more than 112 million people will travel 50 miles (80 km) or more from home between Friday and January 2, the vast majority -102 million - by car.
"We had a great Thanksgiving week with minimal disruption," US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told cable channel MSNBC on Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, it's not going to be that way going into Christmas."
Getty Images
States of emergency declared
The governors of Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia and Oklahoma have declared states of emergency.
Other states, like Maryland, have activated emergency response operations ahead of the storm, while others have opened warming shelters.
In Colorado, the Denver Coliseum, an indoor arena, has been converted into a warming centre.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden said his administration has contacted the governors of 26 affected states and that the federal government is prepared to offer help where needed.
He also encouraged people to avoid travelling as the conditions worsen. "Please take this storm extremely seriously," Mr Biden said.
What is a bomb cyclone?
The term "bomb cyclone" has been used to describe this storm as it develops over the Great Lakes region. But what exactly is that?
Bomb cyclone is a term given to a storm that intensifies rapidly, with its central air pressure dropping by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.
They are referred to as bomb cyclones due to the explosive power caused by the rapid fall in pressure.
Such storms bring weather ranging from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
Bomb cyclones are most common on the east coast of the US and Canada, where the cool land and warm Gulf Stream current provide optimal conditions.
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