Man’s best friend: The dogs who sniff out explosives in Kabul

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In this photo taken on April 7, 2019, an Afghan dog handler trains an explosive detection dog with a ball during a practice session at the Mine Detection Centre (MDC) in Kabul. (AFP)
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In this photo taken on April 7, 2019, an Afghan dog handler trains an explosive detection dog with a ball during a practice session at the Mine Detection Centre (MDC) in Kabul. (AFP)
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In this photo taken on April 7, 2019, Afghan dog handlers stand as explosive detection dogs sit next to them during a practice session at the Mine Detection Centre (MDC) in Kabul. (AFP)
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In this photo taken on April 7, 2019, Afghan dog handlers walk along with explosive detection dogs on leash during a practice session at the Mine Detection Centre (MDC) in Kabul. (AFP)
Updated 16 July 2019
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Man’s best friend: The dogs who sniff out explosives in Kabul

  • The canines’ initial mission was to hunt for land mines, a vital task in a country left strewn with the devastating weapons during the war with the Soviet Union in the 1980s

KABUL: Naya, a three-year-old Belgian Malinois, focuses intently as she leaps over hurdles and zooms through tunnels on an obstacle course at a training center on a hill overlooking Kabul.
She seems to be having fun, but is in fact being trained for a life-or-death mission: finding explosives in a country where hidden mines, bombs and weapons routinely kill.
Naya is one of about 200 dogs at the Afghan capital’s Mine Detection Center (MDC), a non-governmental group raising the animals from rambunctious pups into a disciplined force, and teaching handlers how to work with the canines.
A common sight around the Afghan capital, explosives-sniffing dogs are deployed at checkpoints and government facilities, where they are an important tool in combatting the flow of homemade bombs being smuggled into Kabul.
“The dogs are very useful — they are very fast, they do their jobs with great speed,” Taj Mohammad, a long-time trainer at the center, told AFP on a recent visit.
Handlers demonstrated how they train dogs to hone in on particular scents — explosives mainly, but also narcotics — by using a special carousel of identical metal cannisters that conceal different smells.
Each time a dog correctly identifies a target smell, the handler gives it a rubber chewy ball to chomp on as a reward.
“The relationship with the handler must be perfect. If it does not work, there will be casualties,” Mohammad said.
It takes about two years to train an explosives dog, and the process is intense for both the handler and the canine. The animals at the MDC are all German Shepherds or Belgian Malinois.
“It’s as if you are building a house or bringing up a child,” Mohammad said.
Handlers get about $500 a month for their dangerous work — not a bad wage in Afghanistan — as well as life insurance and retirement benefits.
Explosives are “a hidden enemy, so all the time I have a little fear in my heart,” dog handler Zabihullah Amin said.

After the MDC was established in 1989, the dogs mainly came from the Netherlands, but now most are local after breeding started here in 1994. More than 1,100 dogs have completed the training.
The canines’ initial mission was to hunt for land mines, a vital task in a country left strewn with the devastating weapons during the war with the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
But the dogs’ use tapered off in recent years following a series of incidents where they missed explosives, sometimes causing casualties as people returned to areas thought to be cleared.
According to Abdul Qudos Ziaee, head of operations at Afghanistan’s Directorate of Mine Action Coordination, dogs can be a useful mine-detection tool if properly managed.
But in several areas contaminated with anti-vehicle mines, some agencies failed to use the canines correctly or handlers were improperly trained, leading to sloppy practice and areas of terrain left dangerous.
“Whether it was fault of the dog handler or the dog was not properly trained ... the mine will be missed and the negative consequence will be borne by civilians,” Qudos Ziaee told AFP.
Dogs can still be used to sweep large areas deemed “low threat,” he said, noting that procedures are currently being revised and new standards will be introduced in about a year.
At the MDC, handlers insist dogs are a better tool for finding mines than mechanical detectors, as they can sniff the explosives in non-metallic devices.
According to Ziaee, at least 1,432 people were killed or wounded in Afghanistan by mines and so-called explosive remnants of war in 2018.
Mohammad Wirwais, who works at the Mine Detection Center, was blinded by a mine while clearing terrain in 2008.
“I am fortunate and lucky, I have friends ... who lost their lives to mine explosions,” he said.
“I am good, thank God, I can solve my problems on my own, and I can work here too.”


Man charged in Tupac Shakur killing files motion to dismiss the case

Updated 07 January 2025
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Man charged in Tupac Shakur killing files motion to dismiss the case

LAS VEGAS: An ex-gang leader is seeking to have all the charges against him dismissed in the 1990s killing of rap music icon Tupac Shakur.
Attorney Carl Arnold filed the motion on Monday in the District Court of Nevada to dismiss charges against Duane Davis in the 1996 shooting of Shakur. The motion alleges “egregious” constitutional violations because of a 27-year delay in prosecution. The motion also asserts a lack of corroborating evidence and failure to honor immunity agreements granted to Davis by federal and local authorities.
“The prosecution has failed to justify a decades-long delay that has irreversibly prejudiced my client,” Arnold said in a news release. “Moreover, the failure to honor immunity agreements undermines the criminal justice system’s integrity and seriously questions this prosecution.”
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the filing. He has said evidence against Davis is strong and it will be up to a jury to decide the credibility of Davis’ accounts of the shooting including those in a 2019 memoir.
Davis is originally from Compton, California. He was arrested in the case in September 2023 near Las Vegas. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and has sought to be released since shortly after his arrest.
Davis is accused of orchestrating and enabling the shooting that killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight after a brawl at a Las Vegas Strip casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.
Authorities have said that the gunfire stemmed from competition between East Coast members of a Bloods gang sect and West Coast groups of a Crips sect, including Davis, for dominance in a genre known at the time as “gangsta rap.”
In interviews and a 2019 tell-all memoir that described his life as a leader of a Crips gang sect in Compton, Davis said he obtained a .40-caliber handgun and handed it to Anderson in the back seat of a car from which he and authorities say shots were fired at Shakur and Knight in another car at an intersection near the Las Vegas Strip. Davis didn’t identify Anderson as the shooter.
Shakur died a week later in a nearby hospital. He was 25. Knight survived and is serving a 28-year prison sentence in connection with the killing of a Compton man in 2015.
Anderson denied involvement in Shakur’s death and died in 1998 at age 23 in a shooting in Compton. The other two men in the car are also dead.
A Las Vegas police detective testified to a grand jury that police do not have the gun that was used to shoot at Shakur and Knight, nor did they find the vehicle from which shots were fired.


Algerians campaign to save treasured songbird from hunters

Updated 06 January 2025
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Algerians campaign to save treasured songbird from hunters

  • Goldfinches are native to Western Europe and North Africa, and raising them is a cherished hobby in Algeria, where they are known locally as “maknin”
  • Caging the wild birds cause them to suffer from serious health problems due to abrupt changes in their diet and environment, say advocates

SETIF, Algeria: With its vivid plumage and sweet trill, the goldfinch has long been revered in Algeria, but the national obsession has also driven illegal hunting, prompting calls to protect the songbird.
Amid a persistent demand for the bird that many choose to keep in their homes, conservation groups in the North African country are now calling for the species to be safeguarded from illegal hunting and trading.
“The moment these wild birds are caged, they often suffer from serious health problems, such as intestinal swelling, due to abrupt changes in their diet and environment,” said Zinelabidine Chibout, a volunteer with the Wild Songbird Protection Association in Setif, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) east of the capital, Algiers.
Goldfinches are native to Western Europe and North Africa, and raising them is a cherished hobby in Algeria, where they are known locally as “maknin.”
The bird is considered a symbol of freedom, and was favored by poets and artists around the time of Algeria’s war for independence in the 1950s and 60s. The country even dedicates an annual day in March to the goldfinch.
Laws enacted in 2012 classified the bird as a protected species and made its capture and sale illegal.
But the practices remain common, as protections are lacking and the bird is frequently sold in pet shops and markets.
A 2021 study by Guelma University estimated that at least six million goldfinches are kept in captivity by enthusiasts and traders.
Researchers visiting markets documented the sale of hundreds of goldfinches in a single day.
At one market in Annaba, in eastern Algeria, they counted around 300 birds offered for sale.

Back to the wild
Chibout’s association has been working to reverse the trend by purchasing injured and neglected goldfinches and treating them.
“We treat them in large cages, and once they recover and can fly again, we release them back into the wild,” he said.
Others have also called on enthusiasts to breed the species in order to offset demand.
Madjid Ben Daoud, a goldfinch aficionado and member of an environmental association in Algiers, said the approach could safeguard the bird’s wild population and reduce demand for it on the market.
“Our goal is to encourage the breeding of goldfinches already in captivity, so people no longer feel the need to capture them from the wild,” he said.
Souhila Larkam, who raises goldfinches at home, said people should only keep a goldfinch “if they ensure its reproduction.”
The Wild Songbird Protection Association also targets the next generation with education campaigns.
Abderrahmane Abed, vice president of the association, recently led a group of children on a trip to the forest to teach them about the bird’s role in the ecosystem.
“We want to instill in them the idea that these are wild birds that deserve our respect,” he said. “They shouldn’t be hunted or harmed.”


World’s oldest person dies at 116 in Japan

Updated 04 January 2025
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World’s oldest person dies at 116 in Japan

  • Tomiko Itooka was born on May 23, 1908 in the commercial hub of Osaka, near Ashiya
  • As of September, Japan counted more than 95,000 people who were 100 or older

TOKYO: The world’s oldest person, Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, has died aged 116, the city where she lived, Ashiya, announced on Saturday.
Itooka, who had four children and five grandchildren, died on December 29 at a nursing home where she resided since 2019, the southern city’s mayor said in a statement.
She was born on May 23, 1908 in the commercial hub of Osaka, near Ashiya – four months before the Ford Model T was launched in the United States.
Itooka was recognized as the oldest person in the world after the August 2024 death of Spain’s Maria Branyas Morera at age 117.
“Ms Itooka gave us courage and hope through her long life,” Ashiya’s 27-year-old mayor Ryosuke Takashima said in the statement.
“We thank her for it.”
Itooka, who was one of three siblings, lived through world wars and pandemics as well as technological breakthroughs.
As a student, she played volleyball.
In her older age, Itooka enjoyed bananas and Calpis, a milky soft drink popular in Japan, according to the mayor’s statement.
Women typically enjoy longevity in Japan, but the country is facing a worsening demographic crisis as its expanding elderly population leads to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labor force to pay for it.
As of September, Japan counted more than 95,000 people who were 100 or older – 88 percent of whom were women.
Of the country’s 124 million people, nearly a third are 65 or older.


Former UK home secretary mocked for claiming she visited ‘land border’ between Italy and Turkiye

Updated 03 January 2025
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Former UK home secretary mocked for claiming she visited ‘land border’ between Italy and Turkiye

  • Suella Braverman was criticized for her ignorance by social media users, public figures
  • Italy and Turkiye are separated by hundreds of kilometers and share no border

LONDON: Former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman faced widespread ridicule after claiming in a radio interview that she visited a land border between Italy and Turkiye — two countries separated by hundreds of kilometers.

Speaking on LBC Radio on Thursday morning, Braverman, known for her hardline anti-immigration stance, described visiting what she said was a wall built by Italy to stem migration.

“Italy have reinforced their borders. They built a wall. I went to see that wall,” she said.

“They built a wall on the land border between Italy and Turkey. They’ve got drones. They’ve got armored vehicles. They’ve got soldiers. The numbers crossing that border have plummeted.”

The statement quickly went viral, with social media users and public figures mocking the former Home Secretary for referencing a non-existent border.

Italy and Turkiye, located in southern Europe and western Asia respectively, share no land border.

Former Conservative MP Sir Michael Take responded sarcastically, suggesting that people were overreacting and quipping that Braverman should have claimed that “Italy had built (a wall) on its border with Syria.”

Food critic Jay Rayner also shared the clip, jokingly asking: “And is this wall ‘on the land border between Italy and Turkey’ with you in the room right now?”

Others criticized the apparent ignorance displayed by a senior politician who once held responsibility for national security and immigration.

Portuguese journalist and political commentator Bruno Macaes commented on X: “How did we get to a point where British politics is a global laughing stock?”

Following the backlash, Braverman attempted to clarify her remarks, admitting on X that she had misspoken.

“And, obviously I meant Greece’s land border with Turkey which I was honoured to visit,” she wrote.


Bereaved orca seen carrying another dead calf in US waters

Updated 03 January 2025
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Bereaved orca seen carrying another dead calf in US waters

  • Scientists say whales are among the world’s most intelligent animals, exhibiting complex social behavior including self-awareness and suffering

Washington, USA: A bereaved female killer whale who carried her dead calf for more than two weeks in 2018 has again lost a newborn and is bearing its body, US marine researchers said.
Scientists say whales are among the world’s most intelligent animals, exhibiting complex social behavior including self-awareness and suffering.
The Washington state-based Center for Whale Research said the endangered orca named Tahlequah, also known as J35, was spotted carrying her deceased calf in Puget Sound off Seattle on New Year’s Day.
“J35 has been seen carrying the body of the deceased calf,” the center said in an Instagram post Thursday.
“This behavior was seen previously by J35 in 2018 when she carried the body of her deceased calf for 17 days,” it said.
When Tahlequah was carrying her previous deceased newborn seven years ago she was seen sometimes nudging its body with her nose and sometimes gripping it with her mouth, US media reported.
“It’s a very tragic tour of grief,” Center for Whale Research founder Ken Balcomb told public broadcaster NPR at the time.
The center said the loss of the latest female newborn was “particularly devastating” because Tahlequah has now lost two of her four documented calves.
“We hope to have more information on the situation through further observation,” the post said.
The center also said Tahlequah’s pod had been joined by another newborn. “The calf’s sex is not yet known but the team reports that the calf appeared physically and behaviorally normal,” the center said.
Tahlequah and her pod mates are Southern Resident Killer Whales, a population listed as endangered in the United States.
There are only three pods in the population, numbering around 70 whales. They spend several weeks of each spring and fall in the waters of Puget Sound.
Their numbers are dwindling owing to a combination of factors, including a reduction in their prey and the noise and disturbance caused by ships and boats, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.