On barber’s shops, signs still hang reading "Dear brothers, shaving or trimming the beard is forbidden"."We left the village during the fighting after shells landed in our food store. We lost grain for the sheep, lentils and flour and were left with nothing to eat," she said."For the SDF, the challenge now is to secure the approximately 200 towns and villages, some of them home to no more than a dozen people, that it has captured from IS in recent weeks and set up a new local administration. But it is also a chance for residents to breathe easy again.The YPG dismissed those claims and has pointed to its strong ties with some Arab militias to ridicule allegations of discrimination.

Religious slogans on wallsIn the town, IS’s slogans and strictures can still be seen, particularly those encouraging religious practice and the wearing of the veil.Al-Hol was once a key waystation for IS between Custom Light Box letter Signs wholesale Iraq and Syria Syria: Outside her home in a town of northeast Syria, four-year-old Baydaa scribbles on a leaflet of religious rules left behind by the Islamic State group as they fled earlier this month.When IS seized Al-Hol two years earlier, Ahmed refused to leave his home in the Al-Shallal suburb of the town.The rights group claimed Kurdish forces had carried out a "deliberate, coordinated campaign of collective punishment of civilians in villages previously captured by IS".A Syrian man herds his sheep past Syrian Democratic Forces at the entrance to the Al-Shallal suburb of the northeastern town of Al-Hol in Syria's Hasakeh province after they re-took control of the area from IS jihadists."

"My little daughter Baydaa has put kohl on her eyes and make-up on her face, which was forbidden when the ‘organisation’ was here," said Baydaa’s father, Hamdan Ahmed, referring to IS.And on walls are slogans including: "In the Caliphate, there are no bribes, no corruption and no nepotism.Women were forced to cover up completely, and men to keep their faces unshaved.Parents were ordered to send children under the age of 12 to religious schools run by IS "to avoid punishment or being whipped", the father-of-nine said.The town was once a key waystation for IS between the territory it holds between Iraq and Syria, and its capture was a strategic victory for the new Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition.While the SDF is dominated by Kurdish fighters, the region where the force is advancing is majority-Arab, raising potential sensitivitiesElsewhere, the YPG has faced charges of discrimination against Arab residents, with Amnesty International last month accusing it of "war crimes" in north and northeast Syria.Her face is adorned with make-up of the sort banned by the jihadist group, which was expelled from Al-Hol by a new US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces that overran the area on November 12.As a result, he was forced to abide by the group’s strict rules based on their harsh interpretation of Islam. Al-Hol in particular was considered a strategic win for the group, severing a key route used by IS between its territories in Iraq and Syria."Sister in niqab, how wonderful and beautiful you are in your chastity," reads one."For two years, I couldn’t sow my land because Daesh prevented us from leaving the areas under its control to get what we needed, like seeds and oil" for agricultural machinery, said 44-year-old Hamid Nasser, using the Arabic acronym for IS. "I’m so happy not to see them in our village anymore," the 39-year-old said.With IS gone, local residents who survive mostly on agriculture and livestock, are trickling back to check on their homes and their land.He said his forces are working "on the creation of a political body tied to a military entity that will oversee the liberated areas in the coming period.

The inhabitants returned to their homes after the Syrian Democratic Forces retook control of the area from the Islamic State.She wears a long colourful dress that is traditional in the conservative region, but would not have met the strictures of IS.SDF spokesman Talal Ali Sello told AFP that civilians were being allowed to return to captured areas after they were cleared of explosives, which IS frequently sows in areas before it retreats.Syrian girls pose for a photo near their house in the Al-Shallal suburb of the northeastern town of Al-Hol."When IS was here, any woman who left home without a face veil and black robes would face whipping," she said. (Photo: AFP)Trapped for two yearsElsewhere in the suburb, on the dusty sandy outskirts of the town, 42-year-old Mariam fed a small herd of sheep by a row of mud houses, including her own modest home.The alliance is backed by the US-led coalition fighting IS, and has received air drops of American weapons to support its fight against the jihadists.The capture of Al-Hol and the surrounding villages was the first major victory for the SDF, an alliance of the powerful Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Arab and Christian armed opposition groups.Even though the jihadist group is now far from her home, Mariam is still afraid they may return and covers her face with her headscarf when speaking to strangers

The celebrity couple can expect a warm welcome on their tour, even if polls show half of Australians would like to ditch British monarchs as their countrys head of state. Shortly after the appearance, Gees website was down, apparently due to the volume of traffic RED COPPER LETTER it was receiving. As TV stations in the English-speaking world broke into their regular coverage, Google saw a spike in searches for "when is spring?" -- the answer in Britain is from March until May or June -- and newspapers mused over what the baby, who will become either an earl or lady, will be called. Looking forward to sharing in the joy during your stay down under. It is all but mandatory for a major royal to have a charity project, and Meghans choice addressed the biggest tragedy to befall Britain in the past years."The queen was said to be "delighted", British Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted her "warmest congratulations", and Meghans mother Doria Ragland said she was "very happy about this lovely news".

Her first steps as a British royal have been cautious, immaculately scripted and well received. Britons also swooned after seeing Meghan nonchalantly closing her own car door at her first solo engagement last month in London.SYDNEY: British royals Harry and Meghan received baby gifts, met a koala couple and posed in front of Sydneys dazzling Opera House Tuesday, on their first public outing since announcing they are to become parents. The bookies instant pick was Diana -- the name of the late princess who was mother to both Prince Harry and his older brother Prince William -- along with Arthur and Alice. "What fantastic news!" tweeted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Meghan wrote the foreword to the recipe collection entitled "Together: Our Community Cookbook", produced by women who suffered in the blaze.Meghan made her name in acting as savvy paralegal Rachel Zane in the US television legal drama "Suits", a world far removed from Buckingham Palace.American princessKensington palace said they did not expect any changes to the trip schedule, although Meghan is not expected to join Harry in scaling the Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark the start of the Invictus Games later in the week. The June 2017, the Grenfell Tower fire in London killed 71 people and raised uncomfortable questions about the governments approach to low income families who lived there. "Ive been following them since the wedding," 90-year-old retiree Edward Atkinson told AFP, adding that he would be looking out for any signs of Meghans pregnancy.

The BBCs royal correspondent said scrutiny will only intensify with the announcement Meghan is expecting. "This is now the duchesss pregnancy tour -- every step of the way she will be greeted with a new level of excitement and with some degree of concern," the BBCs Jonny Dymond wrote. The decision came after consultations with doctors, Kensington Palace said. This royal couple are on a 16-day tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga that had already been keenly watched but is now set to be a media frenzy that will test Australias large contingent of royal-sceptic republicans. "I want to see how she interacts with the crowd," added Atkinson, who saw Harrys mother Princess Diana when she visited Australia for the countrys bicentenary celebrations in January 1988. They are still expected to visit Fiji and Tonga despite a notice advising pregnant women to stay away because of the Zika virus.. "Australia is thrilled for you both. Meghan, wearing a tight white dress by Australian designer Karen Gee, showed few signs of having a baby bump, but smiled broadly as she stepped back into the limelight -- posing against the backdrop of the Opera House sails, which gleamed in the spring sunshine. The happy prince and his US-born wife laughed as they were given a pair of Australian baby Ugg boots from the countrys governor general, watched eucalyptus-munching koalas at the zoo and took a boat ride across Sydney Harbour as they began a lengthy tour of the Pacific. At the foot of the Opera House a crowd of hundreds pressed against security fences for a royal outdoor meet-and-greet, waving Australian flags, assorted pictures and carrying human-size koala toys, all under the gaze of police snipers and close protection officers. Shortly after the pair stepped off the plane on Monday, Kensington Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth IIs 34-year-old grandson and the 37-year-old actress are "expecting a baby in the spring of 2019", triggering a chorus of coos and rampant tabloid speculation about baby names

"He would not socialize with anybody. Seddique Mir Mateen lavished praise on current Afghan President Ashraf Ghani when he appeared on the show in January 2014, but he has since denounced the Ghani government, according to the official, who said that on Saturday, Seddique Mateen appeared on the show dressed in military fatigues and used his program to criticize the current Afghan government.Read: US mass shootings: The deadliest rampages since 2012Tarin said Seddique Mir Mateen had a television show on which they discussed issues facing Afghanistan.(This story originally appeared in etched warning coffee sign for hotel restaurant the deccan Chronicle as may the case be).

A! Long live Afghanistan.S.Mateen had no criminal record."Read: Florida nightclub attack 'nothing to do with religion', says Orlando gunman's fatherHe was also bipolar, Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told reporters in Boulder, Colorado. He would be very peaceful."Rahman said he knew Mateen and his family since the shooter was a young boy. In 2014, Hopper said, officials found that Mateen had ties to an American suicide bomber.Read: Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was homophobe, wife beater: reportsAuthorities immediately began investigating whether Sunday's attack was an act of terrorism. He called those interviews inconclusive.Early Sunday, 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, leaving 50 people dead and 53 wounded, police said. Mateen was a security guard at the G4S company, which identifies itself on its website as "the leading global integrated security company.

Mateen purchased at least two firearms legally within the last week or so, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.The "Durand Jirga Show" expresses support for the Taliban, has an anti-Pakistan slant, complains about foreigners in Afghanistan and criticizes U.A. He was not, as far as the imam could see, someone who would ever commit such a gruesome act of mass violence. Playful as a child, he became more serious as an adult, Rahman said."When he finished prayer he would just leave," Rahman told The Associated Press.Yusufiy said she was "devastated, shocked, started shaking and crying" when she heard about the shooting, but she attributed the violence to Mateen's mental illness, not any alliance with terrorist groups.Rahman agreed"My personal opinion is that this has nothing to do with ISIS," he said. He would be quiet. Viewers from Pashtun communities in the United States regularly call in to the channel to espouse support for Pashtun domination of Afghanistan over the nation's minorities, including Hazaras, Tajiks and Uzbeks, the official said. He said he last saw Mateen on Friday. Although records show the couple didn't divorce for two years after the marriage, Yusiufiy said she was actually only with Mateen for four months because he was abusive. A law enforcement official said the gunman made a 911 call from the nightclub professing allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.In 2013, Omar Mateen made inflammatory comments to co-workers, and he was interviewed twice, FBI agent Ronald Hopper said.29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, leaving 50 people dead and 53 wounded.Read: US mass shootings: Kissing men irked suspectHe attended evening prayer services at the city's Islamic Center three to four times a week, most recently with his young son, said Imam Syed Shafeeq Rahman. "It was totally unexpected," Rahman said. "(Omar Mateen's) father loves this country. Yusufiy said he wanted to be a police officer and had applied to the police academy. Although he was not very social, he also showed no signs of violence, Rahman said. The name refers to the Durand line, the long disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.S.

"He was mentally unstable and mentally ill," Yusufiy said. He spoke both English and Farsi, and was into body building."It's shocking," he said about the shooting., according to Qasim Tarin, a businessman from California who was a Durand Jirga board member.He also announced on that show that he would run in the next Afghan presidential election, said the official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be linked to coverage of the shooting.He was a body builder and a security guard, a religious man who attended the local mosque and wanted to become a police officer.Seddique Mir Mateen, the father of the alleged shooter, is a life insurance salesman who started a group in 2010 called Durand Jirga, Inc. During one episode, a sign in the background read: "Long live the U.Read: ISIS claims responsibility for Orlando nightclub shootingMateen was the son of an Afghan immigrant who had a talk show in the United States, the nature of which was not entirely clear: A former Afghan official said the program was pro-Taliban and a former colleague said it was enthusiastically pro-American. actions there, the official said.The law enforcement official is familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. She said he would not let her speak to her family and that family members had to come and literally pull her out of his arms."Some of Seddique Mir Mateen's shows were taped and later posted on YouTube. He described the contact as minimal, saying it did not constitute a threat at the time.S."But a former Afghan official said the "Durand Jirga Show" appears on Payam-e-Afghan, a California-based channel that supports ethnic solidarity with the Afghan Taliban, which are mostly Pashtun. Afghans are the best friends to the U

At the moment it feels like we are in downward phase, but this is a process that will take decades," he said.ISIS jihadists have gained an important foothold in Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte and launched attacks, last week killing more than 50 people in a bombing at a police school in Zliten, the worst incident since the revolution.But he said there was still hope for positive change, if Arab governments focus on more "inclusive" policies to pursue economic growth and good governance."The Arab Spring was a moment in history comparable to the fall of the Berlin Wall, in the sense that there were major shifts in geopolitical maps, like in the 1990s," said Michael Ayari, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

There has been a rise in jihadist violence since Ben Ali’s overthrow, most dramatically in the attacks on the Bardo museum and on a Mediterranean resort that killed 60 people, most of them foreign tourists.Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention in March 2015 to support Hadi’s government but there are few signs, despite UN peace efforts, of a war that has killed more than 6,000 people coming to an end.

Then-Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took over and launched a harsh crackdown on Morsi’s supporters, leaving hundreds dead and thousands in prison.Tunisia was not only the first Arab Spring country but also its only partial success story.In Libya, an uprising against long-time leader Moamer Gaddafi quickly became an armed revolution backed by Nato, and his overthrow and killing in 2011 have been followed by continued strife and political chaos.In Yemen, the stepping down of long-time president Ali Abdullah Saleh after mass protests was followed by deep instability and eventually war after Shia Houthi rebels forced his successor Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the capital."Those were exciting days.The father of a 10-year-old Syrian girl, who was reportedly killed in airstrikes that hit a kindergarten, carries her body before her funeral in the village of Deir al-Asafir in the rebel-held region of eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus.. The democracy fever spread," Hafez Ghanem, the vice president of the World Bank, wrote in a recent book to mark Illuminated sign Manufacturers the start of the Arab Spring.But five years later, the countries that followed Tunisia’s example could hardly be worse off, the hopes of their people dashed by new autocrats, strife, civil war and the rise of the virulent jihadism exemplified by the Islamic State group.Jihadist violence has surged, especially in the restive Sinai Peninsula, and ISIS has claimed a range of deadly attacks, including the downing of a Russian plane in October that killed all 224 people on board."Only weeks before Ben Ali stepped down after 23 years in power, few could have expected the wave of change to come.But nowhere were the aspirations of the Arab Spring more disappointing than in Syria, where peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad evolved into a brutal civil war that has left more than 260,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.After nearly five years of war Syria is in ruins, its people scattered, many of them turned desperate refugees hoping to reach Europe.

"The Arab Spring is not a season," he wrote.Rival parliaments and governments are vying for power and UN efforts to bring about a unity government have so far failed.The revolution shook West Asia, setting off the hopeful uprisings that came to be known as the Arab Spring.Much of the country has been taken over by ISIS, which has declared a "caliphate" in areas under its control in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, committing widespread atrocities as it imposes its harsh interpretation of Islam.". — AFPOn January 14, 2011, Tunisians packed the streets of their capital and shocked the world by overthrowing long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.In Egypt, the ouster of Hosni Mubarak was followed by turbulent unrest and eventually a military overthrow of his Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first civilian — and freely elected — President.From its base there, ISIS has organised or inspired a new wave of attacks on the West, including the November 13 massacres on the streets of Paris and the "Charlie Hebdo killings a year ago."We still don’t have a clear reading.Elsewhere in the region, popular uprisings were less the beginnings of a new spring than preludes of harsh winters.Shia protesters inspired by the Arab Spring also launched demonstrations against their Sunni rulers in Bahrain but were put down a month later. "It is a first and important step on the long road to a new political, social and economic order. Sporadic unrest has continued.But the country has elected a new government and its National Dialogue Quartet — a group of four civil society organisations — was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for helping to save its transition to democracy.A month earlier a street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi had set himself on fire in the town of Sidi Bouzid, triggering the mass protests that eventually brought Ben Ali down."But can a country with no democratic tradition and with weak institutions become a well-functioning democracy and improve the lives of its citizens overnight The answer is obviously no."It is clear that the Arab transition has taken on a violent, and even scary character," wrote Ghanem, whose book The Arab Spring Five Years Later: Toward Greater Inclusiveness was published by the Brookings Institution in December