UPDATE

Ford to cut one in nine jobs in Europe in electric revamp

Variety
2023-02-14 

Ford (F.N) plans to cut one in nine jobs in product development and administration across Europe as part of a global drive to cut costs and be competitive in the electric vehicle market, the US automaker said on Tuesday.

Around 3,800 jobs will be cut in total, including 2,300 at the carmaker's Cologne and Aachen sites in Germany, 1,300 in the UK and 200 in the rest of Europe, the company said, adding it intended to achieve the reductions through voluntary programs.

The news comes as a blow to unions who said in late January the worst-case scenario was 2,500 job cuts in Europe in product development and a further 700 in administration.

The cuts were needed to "revitalize business in Europe", Ford said in a statement.

Ford is spending $50 billion on electrifying its product range, pivoting to a slimmer lineup with higher prices to compensate for rising costs of producing electric cars.

Chief Financial Officer John Lawler warned in early February that the American carmaker faced $5 billion in higher costs this year and said the company would be "very aggressive" in reducing expenses in its manufacturing and supply chain operations.

Lawler also said at the time that productivity of engineers in Europe was 25-30 percent lower than it should be.

The US group will retain around 3,400 engineers in the region who will build on core technology provided by their US counterparts and adapt it to European customers, European passenger electric vehicle (EV) chief and head of Ford Germany Martin Sander said on a press call.

Cuts in the UK, which amount to one in five of the workforce there, will be mostly at the carmaker's research center in Dunton, southeast England.

"There is significantly less work to be done on drivetrains moving out of combustion engines. We are moving into a world with less global platforms where less engineering work is necessary. This is why we have to make the adjustments," Sander said.

Nothing has changed in the carmaker's electrification strategy, Sander added, with the goal of offering an all-electric passenger car lineup by 2030 and an all-electric fleet in Europe by 2035 still in place.

Ford is due to launch its first EV in Europe built on Volkswagen's MEB platform in Cologne later this year and is considering bringing a Ford platform to Europe, possibly to its plant in Valencia, Sander said.

Still, the Dearborn, Michigan-based company also said last March that its EV business would not be profitable until the next-generation models begin production in 2025.

Ford's European staff last saw a wave of job cuts in 2019 and 2020 as the carmaker pursued a 6 percent operating margin in the region, a goal thrown off course by the pandemic, with pretax profit margins in Europe in the first nine months of 2022 at just 2.2 percent of sales.

COMMON SENSE ECONOMICS

Survey Says Americans Prepare for A Recession by Paying Off Debt


TEHRAN (FNA)- While 81% of middle-income survey respondents said they expected a recession this year, 62% said they are planning to or have already taken measures to face these challenging economic times, according to a recent survey.

For many that has meant taking control of their debt, Primerica’s fourth quarter 2022 Middle-Income Financial Security Monitor said. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said their top goal for this year was to pay off debt and 37% said they wanted to keep debt manageable, Fox News reported.

Despite concerns over inflation and a pending recession, 53% of respondents said they felt optimistic about their finances heading into 2023. Only 15% said they expected their finances or the US economy to improve by next year.

"As middle-income families prepare for a possible recession this year, it’s more vital than ever that they take control of their personal finances by addressing debt, setting a budget and keeping spending in check," Glenn J. Williams, CEO of Primerica, said in a statement.

If you are struggling to pay off debt, you could consider using a personal loan to consolidate your payments at a lower interest rate, saving you money each month. You can visit Credible to find your personalized interest rate without affecting your credit score.

Inflation and rising costs have made it more challenging for Americans to cut back on debt, the survey said.

Inflation dropped 0.1% in December to register a 6.5% increase, the first outright monthly decline since May 2020. The positive inflation data is expected to ease the pace of interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve is expected to undertake this year, which has helped soften mortgage rates.

However, there are signs that consumers, struggling with rising costs, have increasingly relied on debt to make ends meet.

Thirty-six percent of survey respondents said they used their credit cards more often in the past year, up from 27% saying the same a year ago. Further, 37% said their credit card debt has increased in the past three months, up eight percentage points from December 2021.

"Credit card debt is at the highest point in Monitor history as it continues to increase quarter to quarter," the survey said.

Additionally, of the 59% who said they had an emergency fund to cover an expense of $1,000 or more, half (51%) said they had to use it in the past 12 months.

"Three-quarters (74%) of middle-income families report not being able to save for their future, up from 66% a year ago," Amy Crews Cutts, Ph.D., an economic consultant to Primerica, said in a statement, adding, "Inflation over the past year, especially in non-discretionary items like food and gasoline, has hurt the financial security of families as it was impossible to avoid."

Brazil Police Carry Out New Raids as Part of Jan. 8 Riots Probe
February 14, 2023 
Reuters

Protesters, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, clash with police 

during a protest outside the Planalto Palace building in Brasilia, Brazil, Jan. 8, 2023.

SAO PAULO —

Brazil's federal police said on Tuesday they were carrying out new raids as part of a probe into the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia, in which supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings.

They were serving eight preventive arrest warrants and 13 search and seizure warrants ordered by the Supreme Court in five states, a statement said.

The raids represent the sixth phase of an operation launched last month aimed at identifying people who participated in, funded or fostered the riots, in which a mob invaded and ransacked the Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.

In the previous phase, carried out last week, they arrested the military police officer who led security operations in the capital on Jan. 8 on suspicion of omissions in security planning, according to sources.

Police did not disclose the names of those targeted in Tuesday's raids, but said they were being investigated for crimes of "violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d'état, qualified damage, criminal association, incitement, destruction and deterioration of specially protected property."

Fear of witchcraft and bacterium collide in case of deaths in Ivory Coast

By Rédaction Africanews
and AFP 

IVORY COAST

Residents of the Ivorian village of Kpo-Kahankro are in shock. In the past two months, over 15 mysterious deaths have plunged the entire community into despair.

Dorothée Ahou Kouamé has lost her 3-year-old granddaughter. Authorities say they have found traces of a deadly bacterium on the deceased.

"At present, the body is still in the morgue. The burial has not yet taken place. I haven't seen her since that day. We were forbidden to see them," Mrs Ahou Kouamé laments.

Some are blaming witchcraft and accusing a prominent villager of installing a fetish.

Clostridium, a common but deadly bacterium was found both on the so-called object of witchcraft and on corpses that authorities tested. Still many grey areas remain.

"We're still afraid... we're still afraid, because the first blow (of the series of deaths, editor's note), was on 2 December when it killed six people, it let up for, let's say, a month and then it started again. So this is our concern," Paul Kouassi,a village youth leader details.
Expedited court hearing

The man accused of installing the object and the owner of the land where the fetish was set were condemned to 5 years in prison on February 9 for disorderly conduct and charlatanism.

The fetish was moved out of the village. The local chief is not completely reassured though.

"It's a mystical thing. It's a wind-driven thing. When it's wind-driven, you can't see it. So it's a mystical thing. So it surrounded the whole village," Nanan Patrice Koffi says.

According to the health authorities 16 died but villagers say 21suffered untimely deaths including 18 children.

Symptoms prompted by botulism that is caused by the deadly bacterium include vomiting and muscle paralysis.

Review of "The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to The Present," by Ronald Hutton

Chas Clifton

2019, The Pomegranate: The Internationla Journal of Pagan Studies

Pagan Studies,

Religion and nature

https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.39881

Publication Date:  2019

Publication Name:  The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies

Pomegranate readers who are familiar with Ronald Hutton’s The Tri- umph of the Moon: A History of Modern Witchcraft—whose twentieth anniversary was just celebrated by the publication of a tribute volume, Magic and Witchery in the Modern West (2019)—as well as essays and books touching on the development of modern Pagan traditions of Wicca and Druidry, might be expecting more of the same. But The Witch is not that book. Propelled partially by Hutton’s own concerns about the persistence of witch-hunting and witchcraft executions in parts of Africa and Asia, it begins in a more contemporary framework with a chapter titled “The Global Context” but ultimately circles back to the problems of studying the European and witch trials, specifically those of the British Isles.

https://www.academia.edu/41364349/Review_of_The_Witch_A_History_of_Fear_from_Ancient_Times_to_The_Present_by_Ronald_Hutton

UK defence sector turns up in force at India’s premier air show, Aero India

The British companies at Aero India are: Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, MBDA UK, Thales UK, Leonardo, Smiths Detection, Strongfield Technologies, ASL, Reliance Precision and Ricardo, added the release.

• 14 February, 2023

(Photo credit: @AeroIndiashow/Twitter)

By: Melvin Samuel

The UK defence sector has turned up in force at India’s premier air show, Aero India, in a demonstration of the strong intent to accelerate collaboration with India across research, development and training.

UK delegation supports ‘Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliant) at Aero India and over the course of the week, the delegation will engage a range of Indian stakeholders to reiterate the UK’s ambition to not only make in India but also to ‘Create in India’, read British High Commission press release. The UK delegation will take discussions forward on key offers that are being explored for collaboration, such as a strategic partnership for a jet engine development programme and maritime electric propulsion technology.

The British companies at Aero India are: Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, MBDA UK, Thales UK, Leonardo, Smiths Detection, Strongfield Technologies, ASL, Reliance Precision and Ricardo, added the release.

The UK delegation, which is led by Minister for Defence Procurement Alex Chalk, comprises representatives from Government, military, and the defence industry.

This includes Air Vice-Marshal Richard Maddison of the Royal Air Force and British manufacturing giants such as Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, MBDA UK, Thales UK, Collins Aerospace and Leonardo.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) looks forward to welcoming the Indian Air Force (IAF) to the UK for exercise Cobra Warrior next month. This will be the first time that the IAF would be participating in the multilateral air combat exercise, which will see the participation of air forces from 17 nations, added the release.

The delegation travelled to Bengaluru following their participation at the UP Global Investors Summit, of which the UK was a country partner, to unlock investment potential in India’s northern defence corridor.

“As we continue to build the UK-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, I’m hugely excited to attend Aero India – another key opportunity to demonstrate the UK’s commitment to developing strong bilateral relations and deliver on the 2030 Roadmap,” said Alex Chalk, Minister for Defence Procurement.

The UK-India Defence Industry Joint Working Group, which held its inaugural meeting at Defence Expo in Gandhinagar last year, is helping accelerate collaboration between the countries, including through the integration of Indian defence suppliers by UK industry into their global supply chain.

“Recent collaborations on exercise with the Indian Navy, Army and Air Force underpin the strength of our two nations’ commitment to working together to promote a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region,” added Chalk.

“I heard today Prime Minister Modi’s vision to build India’s indigenous defence capabilities; the UK is the right partner to realise that ambition – through sharing knowledge, increasing interoperability, more training and exercising – and through increased industrial collaboration, including through design and make in India,” said Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India.

“The UK is committed to partner with India in its journey towards becoming atmanirbhar in its defence and security needs,” he added.

The 14th edition of the Aero India airshow is being held at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru.

(ANI)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

UN Experts: Israel Must Be Held Accountable for Systematic Demolition of Palestinian Homes


TEHRAN (FNA)- A panel of United Nations experts called on the international community to take action to stop systematic housing demolition, arbitrary displacement and forced evictions of Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank.

Palestine's official WAFA news agency cited the experts as making the plea in a statement on Monday, after media reports said the Israeli regime demolished 132 Palestinian structures across 38 communities in the occupied West Bank in January 2023, a 135-percent increase compared to the same period in 2022.

“The systematic demolition of Palestinian homes, erection of illegal Israeli settlements and systematic denial of building permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank amounts to ‘domicide’,” the statement said.

The experts reiterated their concern over the situation in Masafer Yatta area, where over 1,100 Palestinian residents remain at imminent risk of forced eviction, arbitrary displacement and demolitions of their homes, livelihood, water and sanitation structures.

“Direct attacks on the Palestinian people’s homes, schools, livelihoods and water sources are nothing but Israel’s attempts to curtail the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and to threaten their very existence,” the experts said.

“Israel’s tactics of forcibly displacing and evicting the Palestinian population appear to have no limits. In occupied East Al-Quds, tens of Palestinian families also face imminent risks of forced evictions and displacement, due to discriminatory zoning and planning regimes that favor Israeli settlement expansion – the act that is illegal under international law and amounts to a war crime,” they said.

The experts also warned about the Israeli regime's endorsement and escalated practice of punitive evictions and demolitions over alleged attacks by Palestinians against Israeli settlers, such as revoking identity documents, citizenship and residency rights and social security benefits.

“The rule of law must prevail in any action against acts of violence. The sealing of family homes of suspected offenders and the subsequent demolition of their homes is in fundamental disrespect of international human rights norms and the rule of law. Such acts amount to collective punishment which is strictly prohibited under international law,” the experts said.

“We regret that impunity prevails, in particular for human rights violations and potential war crimes committed by the occupying power. It is high time for international adjudication bodies to determine the nature of the Israeli occupation and seek justice and accountability for all crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory,” they added.

The Israeli regime occupied the West Bank, including East Al-Quds, in a Western-backed war in 1967. Ever since, it has been dotting the territory with hundreds of settlements that house thousands of settlers. All the settlements are illegal under international law. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Millions of Americans to Face 'Hunger Cliff' as Emergency SNAP Benefits Come to An End

TEHRAN (FNA)- Millions of Americans who rely on federal assistance to buy food are facing a "hunger cliff," as 32 states prepare to phase out emergency food stamp benefits in March, according to a report.

Over 30 million people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will be affected by the upcoming cuts, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture, Insider reported.

The reductions are due to the end of emergency allotments which increased SNAP benefits at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The omnibus spending bill passed in December included a provision to end the pandemic-era emergency allotments.

Eighteen states have already phased out the emergency food benefit allotments, citing the strengthening economy, CBS News says. But while the economy has improved as of late, many households still face a cost of living crisis driven by high grocery costs, rental prices, and utility fees.

Grocery prices were 10 percent higher in December than they were the year prior, per CBS, "making the timing of the SNAP cuts particularly challenging, experts say".

For example, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the price for a dozen large eggs "saw a massive uptick from November to December", Insider summarizes.

"This hunger cliff is coming to the vast majority of states," Ellen Vollinger, the SNAP director at the Food Research & Action Center, tells CBS. On average, individuals will lose "about $82 of SNAP benefits a month", which Vollinger calls "a stunning number".

The cost of living crisis is a global concern, driven by rising food prices and high energy costs in the wake of Russian military operation in Ukraine. In the United Kingdom, the rising cost of living has led to months of strikes "by nurses, ambulance workers, train drivers, and other public-sector employees seeking higher pay", The Washington Post writes.

Kenya's desperate quest for rain: Divine intervention needed amidst devastating drought



Young boys pull containers of water as they return to their huts from a well

By Rédaction Africanews
with AP

KENYA

With the prospect of a sixth consecutive failed rainy season in the east and the Horn of Africa, Kenya's president is hoping the heavens will finally open with the help of a national day of mass prayer on Tuesday.


William Ruto announced the plans for the country's first-ever day of prayer on Sunday at a service in the drought-stricken city of Nakuru, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the capital Nairobi. It follows a joint call by the country's spiritual leaders to dedicate an entire day to prayer to ease drought conditions in the nation.

Ruto's own ambitious economic revival strategy for the country is also dependent on a successful rainy season.

"As a government, we have set out elaborate plans for food security, we have seeds, ample fertilizer, and water harvesting strategies including dams. We now need God to send us the rain," Ruto said. "I urge all people from all faiths ... to pray for our country."

Kenya and other east African nations have been experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in decades, causing crop failure, loss of livestock, wildlife, and biodiversity, and malnutrition. Domestic agriculture is a large part of Kenya's economy.

The U.N. humanitarian agency has termed the ongoing drought in the region a "rapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe."


Meteorologists say human-caused climate change has been exacerbating the extreme conditions.

"It is time we started including climate change as a factor in our development plans," Evans Mukolwe, former director of the Kenyan and U.N. weather agencies, told The Associated Press. "The current drought which we warned about some years ago has wider ramifications on the social economic conditions of the region including peace, security, and political stability."

Mukolwe added that climate change has contributed to below-average rainy seasons in the region for about three decades.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development's climate center said that since 2020, five rainy seasons have failed, affecting over 50 million people. The center will release its projections for the long rains season, typically from March to May, later in February. Early projections from other meteorological groups are not optimistic.


Around the world, people from different faiths have often sought divine intervention for rain or other favorable weather. Last summer Milan's Archbishop made a pilgrimage to three churches in hopes of ending the country's dry spell and Utah's governor called for citizens to pray for rain ahead of a weekend of extreme heat.

Some Kenyans intend to heed the president's call.

Nairobi business owner Millicent Nyambura said she supported the idea, "even though it will affect my colleagues in the flower business who expect to boost sales on Valentine's Day."

Survey: Only 35% of US Catholic parents highly value passing on faith


J-P Mauro

Aleteia - published on 02/14/23

With only about a third of Catholic parents placing high value on their kids' faith, the future of Mass attendance may be bleak.

The rise of the “nones” — those who claim no religious affiliation — may have longer reaching ramifications than previously considered. A recent poll from Pew Research Center found that only about a third (35%) of US Catholic parents consider it extremely or very important to raise their children to their faith. The report paints a bleak picture for the future of Catholic Mass attendance, which has already fallen significantly since the pandemic began.

The 35% of parents who place high value on passing on their faith is mirrored exactly by the portion of parents who said they place little value on raising their kids Catholic (35%). In the middle ground, 30% of Catholic parents said it is somewhat important. White non-Hispanic Catholics were 10% more likely (39%) than Hispanic Catholics (29%) to place great importance on the issue.

Most Protestant denominations had higher rates of responding that passing down their faith was extremely important. White Evangelicals were the most likely to place a high value (70%) on their children’s faith, followed by Black Protestants at 53%. Only White non-Evangelical Protestants cited lower levels of importance on passing on their faith than Catholics, with just 29% answering in the affirmative.

When examining respondents by rate of Mass attendance, it was found that the religious tendencies of parents corresponded with the value they place on the faith of their children. Those who attend religious services weekly were three times as likely to want their children to have a strong faith (76% vs 21%).

Catholics once again mirrored the total of American responses on the topic of raising their kids to help those in need (81%), as well as on the topic of accepting people who are different than themselves (80%).

Overall, Americans are more likely to say they want their children to be raised in the same faith than to be raised in the same political party (35% vs 16%).

When asked if parents were raising their kids as they themselves were raised, there was an even split of 43% raising their kids similarly, and 44% raising their kids differently. Sixty-three percent of parents who are raising their kids similarly to their own upbringing cited religion as very important, while only 13% of parents raising their kids differently cited religion as an important factor. Very few parents who are raising their kids differently said they were incorporating religion into their children’s lives.

Read the full survey results at Pew Research Center.

In Pictures
Photos: Valentine’s Day celebrations around the world
The February 14 occasion is marked in many countries but traditions are often very different.

A Palestinian man balances a giant teddy as he rides a motorcycle on Valentine's Day in Gaza City. 

[Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

AL JAZEERA
Published On 14 Feb 2023

Valentine’s Day, named after a Christian saint, may now be marked in countries around the world but traditions are often very different – and sometimes have nothing at all to do with romance.

While in Europe it is all about couples celebrating their relationship, in the United States it is as much about schoolchildren marking friendships, while in Japan women give chocolates to their bosses.

The origins of the annual February 14 occasion are shrouded in mystery but the day is, of course, associated with the cult of Roman Christian martyr Saint Valentine, who lived in the third century AD.

He literally lost his head over love – decapitated on the orders of Emperor Claudius II, they say, for secretly performing weddings. According to the legend, Valentine cured his jailer’s blind daughter and the day before his death slipped her a note signed “Your Valentine”.

In England, the exchange of messages known as “Valentines” on February 14 developed with the rise of the postal service in the 19th century, with the sender often signing off “Your Valentine”.

The celebration took a commercial turn in the mid-19th century in the US, with the invention of mass-produced greeting cards. Promoters quickly got the idea to extend the “tradition” beyond lovers, with schoolchildren often expected to bring a Valentine card for every one of their classmates.

Today it has become a $20bn business.

The Japanese Valentine tradition began after World War II when confectionery makers came up with the idea of having women offer chocolates to their bosses and boyfriends on February 14.

A half-century later, the practice has become an annual ritual, with millions of Japanese women giving pralines or ganaches to show affection, friendship or professional respect.

But elsewhere, the holiday – a relatively recent import from the West – often clashes with conservative cultural forces as well as anti-capitalist sentiment in parts of society.

A bouquet made of onions, tomatoes and garlic is displayed at a flower market in Manila, the Philippines. The bouquet is part of a Valentine's Day gimmick by a flower store owner who says it is more practical than giving flowers because you can cook it afterwards. [Aaron Favila/AP Photo]

People walk past a heart-shaped balloon displayed in a shop window in Krakow, Poland. [Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

A man walks past a mural with swans in Dublin, Ireland. 

[Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

A worker in Sesquile, Colombia, collects carnations to be trimmed and packaged for shipment to the US and different Asian and European countries for Valentine's Day. [Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images]

Trimmings and flowers are seen near the feet of floral designers working to arrange bouquets for customers on the eve of Valentine's Day at a florist in Louisville, Kentucky, US.

 [Jon Cherry/Reuters]

A newlywed couple poses for pictures on Valentine's Day at a marriage registration office in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China. 

[China Daily via Reuters]

A girl burns incense at Ha Pagoda (Chua Ha) on Valentine's Day in Hanoi, Vietnam. Ha Pagoda is known as the pagoda to pray for love in Hanoi, where many young people go to pray for luck in their love lives, especially on Valentine's Day.

 [Luong Thai Linh/EPA]

A couple on elephants receive their marriage licence during a ceremony at the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Chonburi, Thailand. 

[Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]

Kabul florists heartbroken over Taliban Valentine's Day ban

Tue, Feb 14, 2023, 

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!"

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.

A poster on the window of a shop in Kabul warns residents to "Avoid celebrating lovers' day!" © Wakil KOHSAR / AFP

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

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

"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."

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

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.

Afghan men are reflected on the glass of a gift shop along Flower Street in Kabul © Wakil KOHSAR / AFP