The Taliban morality police in Afghanistan have detained men and their barbers over hairstyles and others for missing prayers at mosques during the holy month of Ramadan, a UN report said Thursday, six months after laws regulating people’s conduct came into effect.
The Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws last August covering many aspects everyday life in Afghanistan, including public transport, music, shaving and celebrations. Most notably, the ministry issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public.
That same month, a top UN official warned the laws provided a “distressing vision” for the country’s future by adding to existing employment, education, and dress code restrictions on women and girls. Taliban officials have rejected UN concerns about the morality laws.
Thursday’s report, from the UN mission in Afghanistan, said in the first 6 months of the laws’ implementation, over half of detentions made under it concerned “either men not having the compliant beard length or hairstyle, or barbers providing non-compliant beard trimming or haircuts.”
The report said that the morality police regularly detained people arbitrarily “without due process and legal protections.”
During the holy fasting month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated congregational prayers was closely monitored, leading at times to arbitrary detention of those who didn’t show up, the report added.
The UN mission said that both sexes were negatively affected, particularly people with small businesses such as private education centers, barbers and hairdressers, tailors, wedding caterers and restaurants, leading to a reduction or total loss of income and employment opportunities.
The direct and indirect socio-economic effects of the laws’ implementation were likely to compound Afghanistan’s dire economic situation, it said. A World Bank study has assessed that authorities’ ban on women from education and work could cost the country over $1.4 billion per year.
But the Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has emphasized the primacy of Islamic law and the role of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue in reforming Afghan society and its people.
In a message issued ahead of the religious Eid Al-Fitr festival that marks the end of Ramadan, Akhundzada said it was necessary “to establish a society free from corruption and trials, and to prevent future generations from becoming victims of misguided beliefs, harmful practices and bad morals.”
More than 3,300 mostly male inspectors are tasked with informing people about the law and enforcing it, according to the report.
The ministry has resolved thousands of people’s complaints and defended the rights of Afghan women, according to its spokesman Saif ur Rahman Khyber.
This was in addition to “implementing divine decrees in the fields of promoting virtue, preventing vice, establishing affirmations, preventing bad deeds, and eliminating bad customs.”
The ministry was committed to all Islamic and human rights and had proven this in practice, he said Thursday, rejecting attempts to “sabotage or spread rumors” about its activities.
Taliban morality enforcers arrest men for having the wrong hairstyle or skipping mosque
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Taliban morality enforcers arrest men for having the wrong hairstyle or skipping mosque
- UN report says the morality police regularly detained people arbitrarily “without due process and legal protections”
- During month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated congregational prayers was closely monitored
India and US at odds on Kashmir truce with Pakistan — analysts
- Trump announced the truce after four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks from both sides, killing about 70 people
- President Trump’s rhetoric about the ceasefire is ‘irritating’ for India, an important ally for the US, an analyst says
NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump’s claim to have helped end fighting between arch-rivals India and Pakistan has driven a wedge between him and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, analysts say.
A week since Trump announced a surprise truce between India and Pakistan to end a brief but intense conflict, New Delhi and Washington differ about the way it was achieved.
The US administration thought “an intervention at this stage might give them some basic benefit in terms of highlighting Trump’s role,” Indian foreign policy expert Harsh V. Pant told AFP.
“That... became the driver and in a sense the hurry which with Trump announced the ceasefire,” said Pant from the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation (ORF) think tank.
Fighting began when India launched strikes on May 7 against what it called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan following an April militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the militants it claimed were behind the attack, which Pakistan denies.
Trump announced the truce after four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks from both sides, killing about 70 people, including dozens of civilians, and sent thousands fleeing.
He later boasted about bringing India and Pakistan “back from the brink,” telling Fox News on Friday it was “a bigger success than I’ll ever be given credit for.”
New Delhi however shrugs off these claims, which go against decades-long Indian policy that opposes foreign mediation in conflicts with Islamabad.
India and Pakistan claim the currently divided Kashmir in full. New Delhi considers the Himalayan region an internal matter, with politicians long viewing external mediation as a sign of weakness.
Modi’s first speech since the ceasefire did not mention US involvement and his government has since insisted that talks with Pakistan are “strictly bilateral.”
India was also quick to dismiss Trump’s suggestion that trade pressures hastened a truce.
“The issue of trade did not come up” in discussions with US officials, the Indian foreign ministry said this week.
According to ORF fellow Manoj Joshi, Trump’s rhetoric is “irritating” for India — whose strategic location and massive market size have made the country an important ally for the United States.
But India is being “very cautious” because it is in negotiations for a trade deal with Washington to avoid steep tarriffs, he said.
“We (India) would like the agenda to go in a different direction,” said Joshi.
It is also a thorny matter domestically.
Main opposition Congress party said Trump’s announcement had “upstaged” the Hindu nationalist leader’s “much-delayed address.”
It also demanded an all-party meeting to ask whether India is changing its policy on “third-party mediation” for Kashmir, disputed between Pakistan and India.
The two South Asian rivals had in the 1970s agreed to settle “differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations.”
Modi has previously poked fun at former Congress governments for “weak” responses against Pakistan in various skirmishes.
“So India would obviously respond to that and deny that... about as politely as they feel they can get away with,” said South Asia researcher Pramit Pal Chaudhuri of political consultancy Eurasia Group.
Trump’s claimed mediation was welcomed by Islamabad, which “needed an American intervention to give them the off-ramp they needed to get out of a conflict,” Chaudhuri added.
On Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar reaffirmed that “where Pakistan is concerned, our relations, our dealings with them will be bilateral, and strictly bilateral.”
But the same day, speaking from Qatar, Trump repeated claims of brokering a ceasefire and using trade as a tool.
“(I said) let’s do trade instead of war. And Pakistan was very happy with that, and India was very happy with that,” Trump said in his speech.
It has been a decade since Modi last met a Pakistani leader. Since then, relations have deteriorated, coming to a head when India unilaterally revoked in 2019 limited autonomy of the part of Kashmir it administers.
According to Joshi, “the hyphenation of India and Pakistan” is also “irritating” for New Delhi, which has tried to carve out a separate identity on the global stage.
“The optics of Trump hammering it day after day... is politically damaging for Modi,” Sushant Singh, a former Indian soldier and South Asian studies lecturer at Yale University, wrote on X.
“[Modi] can’t personally counter Trump, and despite attempts by India’s big media to play it down, social media amplifies Trump,” Singh said.
Guerlain names Mohammed Hindash first Middle East makeup ambassador
DUBAI: French beauty house Guerlain this week appointed Dubai-based celebrity makeup artist and entrepreneur Mohammed Hindash as its first-ever regional makeup ambassador for the Middle East.
Hindash, founder of the makeup brand Hindash Cosmetics, has worked with a roster of international and regional celebrities. His clientele includes Naomi Campbell, Lindsay Lohan, Chanel Iman, Natalia Vodianova, Rahma Riadh, Yusra Mardini, Nancy Ajram, Mona Zaki, Dana Hourani and Mona Kattan. He also did Queen Rania of Jordan’s makeup for the royal wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa in 2023.
He took to Instagram to write: “My chapter with @guerlain represents more than just beauty, it embodies timeless innovation rooted in heritage.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be announced as their first makeup ambassador in the Middle East as I showcase Guerlain through my lens and artistry,” he added. “I have immersed myself in the rich history of the Maison, and I can’t wait to narrate the story on my models’ faces.”
Musician charged with Chris Brown in alleged London nightclub assault
LONDON: A fellow musician and friend of Chris Brown has been charged alongside the Grammy-winning singer on allegations they beat and seriously injured a music producer at a London nightclub in 2023, police said Saturday.
Omolulu Akinlolu, 38, who performs under the name “Hoody Baby,” was due to appear in Manchester Magistrates’ Court on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Brown, 36, was jailed without bail on the same charge Friday, throwing his upcoming tour into question. He is scheduled to appear at Southwark Crown Court in London on June 13, which is the third day of his world tour.
Akinlolu is a rapper from Dallas, Texas, who has collaborated with Brown and Lil Wayne. He also goes by the names “Fat Leopard” and “Super Hood.”
Police gave no details on what role Akinlolu played in the alleged assault but said he was charged in connection with the same incident as Brown.
Brown was on tour in the UK in February 2023 when he launched an unprovoked attack on producer Abe Diaw, striking him several times with a bottle at the Tape nightclub in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in London, prosecutor Hannah Nicholls said in court Friday.
Brown then chased Diaw and punched and kicked him in an attack caught on surveillance camera in front of a club full of people, she said.
Brown did not enter a plea and only spoke to confirm his name, birth date and gave his address as the Lowry Hotel, where he was arrested in Manchester early Thursday and taken into custody.
Brown’s representative has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Brown, often called by his nickname Breezy, burst onto the music scene as a teen in 2005 and has become a major hitmaker over the years with notable songs such as “Run It,” “Kiss Kiss” and “Without You.”
He won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for “F.A.M.E.” and then earned his second gold trophy in the same category for “11:11 (Deluxe)” earlier this year.
He is scheduled to launch an international tour next month with artists Jhene Aiko, Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller, opening with a European leg on June 8 in Amsterdam before starting North America shows in July.
Pakistani animated film ‘The Glassworker’ heads to US theaters with Watermelon Pictures
- The Pakistani animated film revolves around two people from disparate backgrounds, a glassblower and a violinist
- The movie, selected as Pakistan’s submission to the 2025 Academy Awards, took the animation world by storm in 2024
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s first hand-drawn animated film “The Glassworker” is set to screen in the United States (US) after Watermelon Pictures acquired its distribution rights, the US-based film production and distribution company said this week.
The Glassworker, released in Pakistan in July last year, was storyboarded by young Pakistani animator, Usman Riaz, who also directed the movie that comprised 1,477 cuts and 2,500 individual drawings, bringing to life the coming-of-age tale of two people from disparate backgrounds: young Vincent who is an apprentice at his father’s glass workshop, and the talented violinist Alliz, the daughter of a military colonel.
Around them, a war threatens to upend their lives and the relationships between the children and parents are tested. A total of 250 people worked on the film including national and international cast and crew.
In a post on Instagram, Watermelon Pictures said they were proud to announce that their very first animated feature, The Glassworker, would soon be coming to US theaters.
“After being selected as Pakistan’s submission to the 2025 Academy Awards, #TheGlassworker took the animation world by storm as Pakistan’s first ever hand-drawn animated feature,” the distribution company said.
“An ode to Hayo Miyazaki’s dedication to telling beautiful stories frame by frame, The Glassworker is truly a work of art.”
The deal was closed during Cannes and negotiated by Hamza Ali for Watermelon Pictures and Hélène Espeisse on behalf of Charades, which is representing the film at this year’s Marché Du Film, US entertainment website DEADLINE reported.
“The Glassworker is a breathtaking, emotional story that will resonate deeply with audiences of all ages. We are honored to bring this cinematic gem to US theaters,” Watermelon Pictures co-founder Hamza Ali was quoted as saying.
Ali launched the film production and distribution company in April, 2024 along with his brother, Badie Ali, with Alana Hadid as creative director. The firm aims to amplify the voices of underrepresented filmmakers across the globe.
“We are thrilled that The Glassworker will be released theatrically in the United States by Watermelon Pictures. Their rapid growth and recent string of successful, meaningful films make them the perfect partner to bring our work to American audiences,” Khizer Riaz, the film’s producer, was quoted as saying.
“We couldn’t be more excited.”
Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest
ISTANBUL: Turkiye evacuated 82 of its nationals from the Libyan capital Tripoli after several days of fatal clashes between armed groups, foreign ministry sources said late Friday.
“Eighty-two citizens who wanted to return to Turkiye were assisted in their departure from Libya and allowed to return home,” the source said, referring to “the conflict and insecurity” that has gripped the North African nation in recent days.
The move came a day after the Turkish embassy said in a post on Facebook that it was preparing to evacuate its nationals via a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul from the Libyan port city of Misrata, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tripoli. It said it would organize bus transport from the capital.
The ministry did not give details about those who returned home and didn’t say whether more flights were planned.
Violence flared in the Libyan capital late on Monday between loyalist forces and powerful armed groups that the government is trying to dismantle.
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Friday said “at least eight civilians” were killed in heavy clashes, which took place over the following days, bringing air traffic to an almost total standstill.
Although relative calm returned to Tripoli earlier on Friday, the situation remained highly volatile.
Turkiye, which backs the UN-recognized government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, called on Wednesday for a truce and said it was “closely monitoring” the situation.
Libya has struggled to recover from years of unrest since the NATO-backed 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi, with the country split between Dbeibah’s government in the west and a rival authority backed by strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east.
