Evening sports banned

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement on Tuesday ordered a ban on all sports played in late afternoon and early evening because they could disturb Muslim prayers, according to a Reuters report. According to the ‘Voice of Shariat’ radio, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued an order that no sports should be held from the time of the muezzin’s call for Asar prayers until the end of Maghreb prayers. The Taliban, which controls about 95 percent of the war-torn country, has banned music and television, barred women from schools and from leaving home without wearing an all-enveloping Burqa veil, and ordered men to grow long beards, the Reuters report said.