Over 6 million Afghans live amid explosive risk: HALO Trust
FILE PHOTO: FBI-created replica of improvised explosive device components recovered in Afghanistan in 2005. Every month, around 50 Afghans are killed or injured by explosive devices, and over 80 per cent of them are children. - AFP
KABUL: Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily landmine-contaminated countries in the world, with 6.4 million people still at risk from explosive remnants of war, according to a report released by the HALO Trust on Tuesday (June 10).
The organisation warned that the country faces the danger of becoming "a forgotten humanitarian problem," calling on the international community to sustain support for demining efforts amid growing concerns over declining global attention.
Every month, around 50 Afghans are killed or injured by explosive devices, and over 80 per cent of them are children, "often sent by desperate families to scavenge scrap metal in a bid to ease their economic hardship," the organisation posted on its social media account. - Xinhua
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Borneo Post
an hour ago
- Borneo Post
Rescue teams comb site of Air India crash that killed at least 265
Rescue officials carry a victim's body at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. — AFP photo AHMEDABAD (June 13): Rescue teams with sniffer dogs combed the crash site Friday of a London-bound passenger jet which ploughed into a residential area of India's Ahmedabad city, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground. One man aboard the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — carrying 242 passengers and crew — miraculously survived Thursday's fiery crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital. The nose and front wheel landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch, witnesses said. Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said that 265 bodies had so far been counted — suggesting at least 24 people died on the ground — but the toll may rise as more bodies and body parts are recovered. 'The official number of deceased will be declared only after DNA testing is completed', Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement late Thursday, adding that 'families whose relatives are abroad have already been informed, and their DNA samples will be taken'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the crash of Air India flight 171 as 'heartbreaking beyond words'. The airline said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London's Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members. Air India said the sole survivor from the plane — a British national of Indian origin who local media named as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh — was being treated in hospital. 'He said, 'I have no idea how I exited the plane'', his brother Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, told Britain's Press Association in Leicester. – 'Last call – In Ahmedabad, disconsolate relatives of passengers gathered Friday at an emergency centre to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified. Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been aboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter. They had spoken as his cousin sat in the plane, just before takeoff. 'He called us and he said: 'I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was okay'. That was his last call.' One woman, too grief-stricken to give her name, said her son-in-law had been killed. 'My daughter doesn't know that he's no more', she said, wiping away tears. 'I can't break the news to her, can someone else do that please?' The plane crashed less than a minute after takeoff, around lunchtime Thursday, after lifting barely 100 metres from the ground. The plane issued a mayday call and 'crashed immediately after takeoff', the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. Ahmedabad, the main city in India's Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and its busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas. 'One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,' said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name. US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood 'ready to support them' over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner. The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced they were dispatching teams to support their Indian counterparts. Tata Group, owners of Air India, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees ($117,000) to 'the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy', as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured. – Rapid growth – India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people. In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board. Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused Thursday's crash. 'It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel,' said Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth. 'The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure. The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.' India's airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month calling it 'nothing short of phenomenal'. The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world's fourth-largest air market — domestic and international — with IATA projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade. — AFP Ahmedabad Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
Love scam targets US men
Police have arrested dozens on the popular resort island of Bali for allegedly running a love scam syndicate targeting American men. Police made the arrests after being tipped off about suspicious activity at a rented home in Denpasar, the island's capital. A total of 38 suspects, seven of them women, were arrested. 'The suspects arrested worked as operators whose job is to find the love scam victims, they targeted Americans who have a Telegram account,' said Bali police chief Daniel Adityajaya. 'They pretended to be women by using women's pictures and fake identity to ensnare their victims.' The suspects confessed to working for someone who controlled the business from Cambodia to lure Americans to hand over sensitive information, Daniel said. They chatted up their victims through Telegram and sent them fake links. The suspects were paid US$200 (RM845) each per month to steal the victims' data and information. The suspects, all Indonesians, face up to 12 years in prison if found guilty of violating the country's electronic transaction law. Police had previously said many scammers had moved to Indonesia and other South-East Asian countries after a crackdown in China. In 2019, Indonesian police arrested 85 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians over an online scam that tricked victims out of millions of dollars. In 2023, they arrested 88 Chinese nationals in Batam for running a syndicate that has scammed hundreds of victims in China by luring them into sexual acts and then blackmailing them with video footage. Many of the victims were public officials, police said. — AFP
The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
US senator forcibly removed from Trump official's press conference
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES: A US senator from California was forcibly removed from a news conference being held by Donald Trump's homeland security chief on Thursday, in the latest escalation of tensions over controversial immigration arrests. Senator Alex Padilla was pushed and shoved from the room at a federal building in Los Angeles as he tried to ask Kristi Noem about operations that have rocked America's second largest city. 'I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,' he said as two men grappled with him in front of journalists, including from AFP. Footage filmed by Padilla's staff outside the room showed the senator being pushed to the ground by security agents wearing bulletproof vests with FBI logos, who then handcuffed him. Padilla, one of two Democratic senators representing California in the upper chamber of Congress, did not resist. A voice can be heard telling the Padilla staffer 'There's no recording allowed out here,' as a body moves in front of the camera, before the recording ends. The Department of Homeland Security claimed -- despite video evidence -- that Padilla had 'lunged' at Noem. 'Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,' Assistant Secretary Trisha McLaughlin wrote on social media. '@SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately,' she said, adding that Noem and Padilla met for 15 minutes after the news conference. Noem called Padilla's interruption 'inappropriate' and told reporters at the news conference he had not requested a meeting with her. Democratic response was rapid. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the incident 'outrageous, dictatorial and shameful.' 'Trump and his shock troops are out of control. This must end now,' he wrote on social media. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the episode 'absolutely abhorrent and outrageous.' 'He is a sitting United States Senator. This administration's violent attacks on our city must end.' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for an investigation into the 'despicable' incident. '(It) reeks of totalitarianism. This is not what democracies do. 'Senator Padilla was there legitimately in that building to ask questions of what's going on in California, which everybody wants to know answers to. Noem's press conference came after almost a week of protests in Los Angeles sparked by an immigration crackdown ordered by Trump officials. The mostly peaceful demonstrations have been marred by eye-catching violence, including people torching cars and throwing rocks at police. The White House responded with overwhelming force, sending 4,700 troops to the city, despite objections from local officials and the police, who said they had the manpower and ability to handle unrest that has taken place in a few city blocks.
