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Kabul florists heartbroken over Taliban Valentine’s Day ban

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Kabul florists heartbroken over Taliban Valentine's Day ban

Florists with wilting bouquets of red roses and street vendors clutching unsold balloons were heartbroken in the Afghan capital on Tuesday after the Taliban’s morality police banned Valentine’s Day celebrations.

While Valentine’s Day has never been widely celebrated in Afghanistan, some well-off residents in cities have developed a tradition of marking the lovers’ day in recent years.

In Kabul’s famed Flower Street, shops were full of heart-shaped garlands and red stuffed animals, but hopelessly empty of customers.

In the window of one outlet, a poster signed off by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice warned shoppers: “Avoid celebrating lovers’ day!”

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The poster said Valentine’s Day “is not Islamic and is not part of the Afghan culture but a sloganeering day of the infidels”.

“Celebrating the day of lovers is showing sympathy to the Christian Pope,” it read.

Officers from the ministry patrolled the area in their white uniforms, trailed by an armed escort, an AFP correspondent reported.

Kneeling in front of his shop, Omar — who did not share his surname — pruned thorns and withered petals from his stock of flowers.

A poster on the window of a shop in Kabul warns residents to “Avoid celebrating lovers’ day!”

“[The Taliban authorities] published and distributed their order to every shop,” he told AFP.

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“I don’t think I could sell these flowers today, people aren’t buying,” he said.

“You can see we have no customers — the situation is very bad.”

An AFP reporter saw a young couple furtively buy flowers and quickly leave the scene when they saw the morality police patrol.

“The situation has changed — we can’t celebrate it like other years,” said browsing shopper Zahrah, married for seven years.

“But we do celebrate it. There are some restrictions and the situation is not good, but we celebrate it at home.”

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The vice ministry could not be reached for comment on the exact nature of the ban.

Afghan men are reflected on the glass of a gift shop along Flower Street in Kabul

The Taliban authorities have issued various restrictions on social life in the country since they came to power in August 2021.

Music, social media apps and video games have all come under scrutiny by the ultra-conservative government.

The authorities have particularly cracked down on Afghan women, effectively squeezing them out of public life. 

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India formulate security plan for World Cup 2023

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India formulate security plan for World Cup 2023

 India have chalked out a comprehensive plan for multi-layer security and management of traffic for the upcoming ICC Men’s World Cup 2023. 

A security official told Indian media that arrangements had been made for smooth influx of fans into the stadiums and maintain uninterrupted traffic flow on roads.

He said multi-layer security plan had been designed for the mega event, adding that a communication system would also be established for seamless coordination between security agencies and local cricket association. 

The security teams would ensure the safe movement of teams from hotel to stadium and back by creating secure pathways. 

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As several stadiums, including Pune, are situated at a considerable distance from the city, seamless arrangements have been made to handle the logistical challenge in an effective way.

Commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad police Vinoy Kumar Choubey said told Indian media, “We will be putting in place a multi-layer security cover in and around the stadium. A detailed plan for the same is in the making.

“Each layer will have a specific purpose and a pre-decided number of personnel and officers will be tasked to secure each layer. A communication channel has been established between the MCA office bearers and our team.”

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South Korea opposition leader ends 24-day hunger strike

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South Korea opposition leader ends 24-day hunger strike

 South Korea’s opposition leader ended a 24-day hunger strike on Saturday, a party spokesperson said, two days after parliament voted to let prosecutors serve an arrest warrant against him for alleged bribery.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, will maintain a schedule including court attendance while hospitalised for the time being, the spokesman told reporters.

Prosecutors this month sought the warrant in an investigation into bribery allegations concerning a development project. Prosecutors accuse Lee of asking a company to illegally transfer $8 million to North Korea when he was the governor of Gyeonggi Province.

He is also accused of breaching his duty over losses of 20 billion won ($15 million) by a municipal development corporation when he was mayor of Seongnam city.

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Lee, who lost South Korea’s presidential election to conservative Yoon Suk Yeol last year, has denied wrongdoing, calling the allegations “fiction” and a “political conspiracy”.

He began his protest on Aug. 31, citing the government’s economic mismanagement, threats to media freedom and the failure to oppose Japan’s release of wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, among other reasons.

Thursday’s surprise vote by parliament, controlled by Lee’s party, has caused an uproar among his supporters.

Police on Saturday detained a man in his 40s who had posted the names of more than a dozen lawmakers outside Lee’s party faction, writing “gotta search for the sniper rifle at home”, said an official with the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police. Police will seek an arrest warrant against him for intimidation, the official said.

South Korea is to hold parliamentary elections in April.

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Landslide causes large chunk of Swedish motorway to collapse

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Landslide causes large chunk of Swedish motorway to collapse

 A large chunk of a motorway in southwest Sweden collapsed overnight, causing three people to be taken to hospital with light injuries, police said on Saturday.

The landslide damaged the motorway between Sweden’s second-biggest city Gothenburg and Norway’s capital Oslo, near the small town of Stenungsund, around 50 km north of Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast.

“The landslide has affected an area of around 100 x 150 meters, around ten vehicles, a wooded area, and a business area with a gas station and a fast food restaurant,” the Gothenburg Rescue Services said.

“A number of people have been helped out of vehicles in the slide area with the help of fire personnel and a helicopter,” they said. Several cars and one truck had fallen into holes and cracks caused by the landslide, Swedish news agency TT reported.

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A rescue services spokesperson told public broadcaster SVT all people in the vehicles had been helped out. The rescue services said specially trained staff and search dogs would now search the area, and that further slides could not be ruled out.

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