An escalating dispute over the closure of cosmetic shops in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan Province took a deadly turn this month when a local mayor was shot dead while attempting to shut down the businesses. The killing comes after hard-line Islamic clerics in the province ordered the shops closed on the basis that they are "un-Islamic."
An Afghan inmate stands accused of killing his wife during a prison visit in the northern Samangan Province. Police say the man, who is serving a 20-year sentence for murdering members of his wife's family, strangled his young bride because he believed she was being unfaithful.
