Sadaf Rahimi is the most accomplished female boxer in Afghanistan and well known within her community in Kabul, though her talent attracts social ridicule as well as fame. With the encouragement of her school teacher, Sadaf joined the newly-created women’s boxing team at the age of 13 once her family had returned to their country after being refugees in Iran.

One in a group of 30 girls coached by Saber Sharifi, Sadaf trains in Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium – the same stadium used as a venue for public executions under the Taliban government in the late 1990s. Granted permission by their parents to participate in the boxing team, Sadaf and her teammates represent changing perspectives towards women’s roles in Afghan society. Qualifying for some of the most prestigious competitions in the world, the girls’ outlook towards tradition is influenced by their experiences abroad. At the same time, many of the girls are criticised by their classmates and neighbours for having left Afghanistan.

Sadaf’s boxing and academic achievements have led her into public visibility and turned her into a role model for many Afghan young women – although her athletic career has been jeopardised by death threats and interference from the Afghan Boxing Association, which barred her from travelling to compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

Allowing Sadaf to speak for herself, filmmakers Silvia Venegas and Antonio Amador create an inspiring portrait of a confident and ambitious Afghan woman who is fully supported by her family, yet caught in a changing society where government institutions continue to impose strict social restrictions.

Directed by: Silvia Venegas and Antonio Amador
Country: Spain
Year: 2015
Runtime: 75’

By Allan Williams

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has until Monday to appeal against his extradition to Panama. The 77-year-old is currently serving a prison sentence in France after being convicted of money laundering in July 2010.

On Tuesday attention turns to Japan when the Parliament elects its sixth Prime Minister in five years. Incumbent Naoto Kan announced he was stepping down over plummeting approval ratings, following the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

Wednesday sees Canada release its second quarter GDP figures. Fears of the economy contracting grew following an announcement earlier this month that manufacturing sales declined 1.5per cent in June, to their lowest level since November 2010.

Also on Wednesday South African President Jacob Zuma makes a state visit to Norway at the invitation of King Harald V. The two-day trip includes a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Monument and a meeting with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

In the UK, on Thursday, repatriations of deceased British troops move from RAF Lyneham to RAF Brize Norton. RAF Lyneham and the parade through the nearby town of Wootton Bassett have made the headlines with the dignified way locals have mourned the fallen.

In Thailand that same day, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, editor of the liberal news website Prachatai, has her trial for lese majeste offences recommence. It is alleged that Premchaiporn failed to screen comments on her website that were critical of the Thai royal family, and if convicted faces up to 20 years in prison.

Attention turns stateside on Friday, when a US district court decides whether to order a retrial of former baseball star Roger Clemens, who was accused of lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using anabolic steroids. The original trial was declared a mistrial on 14 July.

In London on Saturday the far-right English Defence League are expected to demonstrate in the borough of Tower Hamlets, against what it sees as militant Islam. The march is expected to be banned by the Home Secretary, but the action group Unite Against Fascism has arranged a counter-protest against the EDL.

On Sunday the UN Special Representative on Somalia Augustine Mahiga convenes a conference in the east African nation to provide clear timelines and benchmarks for the Transitional Federal Institutions.

And in Germany there’s a test for Chancellor Merkel’s coalition when state elections take place in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with local elections coming under increasing scrutiny as a gauge of popularity for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.