Newcastle demolishes hapless Leicester to move into top five

LEICESTER, England (AP) — Jacob Murphy scored twice in the first 11 minutes and set Newcastle on its way to a 3-0 win over a hapless Leicester in the Premier League on Monday.

Murphy’s goals were the main talking point, along with the second-half appearance of Jeremy Monga, who at 15 years, 271 days, became the second youngest player to appear in the Premier League.

Monga replaced Bilal El Khannouss for Leicester 16 minutes from time wearing a different, logo-less shirt from his teammates because he is too young to advertise the betting firm that sponsors the home side.

Murphy scored the opener after two minutes when he stole in at the back post to convert a low cross from Tino Livramento. Leicester had six men inside the six-yard box but the ball went past them all and Murphy made no mistake.

The well-travelled winger scored a breathtaking second nine minutes later thanks largely to the audacity of Fabian Schär.

Schär’s attempt from inside his own half bounced back off the crossbar with goalkeeper Mads Hermansen well beaten but Murphy followed up to slam home the rebound with the Leicester defence AWOL.

Former Leicester winger Harvey Barnes scored the third after 33 minutes when he poked home a Joelinton shot that the keeper parried.

It was a damage limitation exercise from then on for Leicester, which became the first league team to lose eight consecutive home matches without scoring. It remained second to last, three points behind Ipswich and five behind Wolves.

“It’s hard to describe, to be honest, with how it’s been and it makes us feel awful right at the moment," Leicester defender James Justin said. “You feel disconnection and disappointment when you step off the pitch ... it’s not been good enough for a couple of months now.

“I don’t know how many games it’s been since we last picked up a point. It’s a horrible moment for the club with how we’re playing on the pitch and trying to regain any confidence. There were bright spells from the lads who came off the bench and that’s the one positive to take.

“There is still a chance for us and we have to fight and claw for it but we aren’t showing it on the pitch.”

Newcastle moved into fifth, equal on points with the team above it, Chelsea.

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Leicester City manager Ruud van Nistelrooy during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at the King Power Stadium, Leicester, England, Monday, April 7, 2025. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy, left, celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at the King Power Stadium, Leicester, England, Monday, April 7, 2025. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy, center, celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game with teammate Alexander Isak during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at the King Power Stadium, Leicester, England, Monday, April 7, 2025. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Newcastle United's Harvey Barnes celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game with teammate Dan Burn during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at the King Power Stadium, Leicester, England, Monday, April 7, 2025. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

The Taliban’s morality police have detained men and their barbers over hairstyles, and others for missing prayers at mosques during Ramadan, a U.N. report said Thursday, 6 months after laws regulating people’s conduct came into effect.

The Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws last August covering many aspects everyday life in Afghanistan, including public transport, music, shaving and celebrations. Most notably, the ministry issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public.

That same month, a top U.N. official warned the laws provided a “distressing vision” for the country’s future by adding to existing employment, education, and dress code restrictions on women and girls. Taliban officials have rejected U.N. concerns about the morality laws.

Thursday’s report, from the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said in the first 6 months of the laws’ implementation, over half of detentions made under it concerned “either men not having the compliant beard length or hairstyle, or barbers providing non-compliant beard trimming or haircuts.”

The report said that the morality police regularly detained people arbitrarily "without due process and legal protections.”

During the holy fasting month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated congregational prayers was closely monitored, leading at times to arbitrary detention of those who didn't show up, the report added.

The U.N. mission said that both sexes were negatively affected, particularly people with small businesses such as private education centers, barbers and hairdressers, tailors, wedding caterers and restaurants, leading to a reduction or total loss of income and employment opportunities.

The direct and indirect socio-economic effects of the laws’ implementation were likely to compound Afghanistan’s dire economic situation, it said. A World Bank study has assessed that authorities’ ban on women from education and work could cost the country over $1.4 billion per year.

The Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has emphasized the primacy of Islamic law and the role of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue in reforming Afghan society and its people.

In a message issued ahead of the religious Eid Al-Fitr festival that marks the end of Ramadan, Akhundzada said it was necessary “to establish a society free from corruption and trials, and to prevent future generations from becoming victims of misguided beliefs, harmful practices and bad morals.”

More than 3,300 mostly male inspectors are tasked with informing people about the law and enforcing it, according to the report.

Nobody from the Vice and Virtue Ministry was immediately available for comment about the report.

FILE -An Afghan street barber man, left, trims the mustache of a customer, as snow is seen the back ground in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)