War-weary Afghanistan faces uphill coronavirus battle

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A Kabul market vendor wears a face mask for protection. (AFP)
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Updated 10 April 2020
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War-weary Afghanistan faces uphill coronavirus battle

  • Coronavirus became big cause for concern when a full-fledged epidemic hit neighbouring Iran
  • Official infection figures may be masking the actual number given the paucity of testing kits

KABUL: Afghanistan, which has long suffered from political dysfunction and conflict, now faces an even more chilling threat from the coronavirus pandemic.

If the country is not put on a war footing, according to a report in The Diplomat quoting the Afghan Public Health Ministry, more than 25.6 million Afghans could become infected by the virus and 110,000 might die.
On Feb. 24, Afghanistan confirmed its first coronavirus case: A 35-year-old man from Herat, the country’s third-largest city, who had recently returned from the city of Qom in neighboring Iran.
As of April 7, there were 423 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Afghanistan, with 14 deaths across 22 provinces. Those figures could be masking the actual number of infections, given the paucity of kits for carrying out tests.

If patients turn up at a hospital in Kabul with just 100 beds and no running water, there would be serious repercussions for the entire staff, according to doctors.
“Hospital staff have been buying water every day from tankers stationed outside,” Dr. Najmusama Shefajo, an obstetrician-gynecologist based in Kabul, told Arab News.

“How can you expect a major hospital in the heart of Kabul to continue handling surgeries and childbirths while handling coronavirus cases? These doctors have no gloves or water to wash their hands.”
When the news of hundreds of deaths caused by the virus first appeared in China late last year, Afghans had mixed views on the issue.
Some considered the new coronavirus to be man-made or an attempt to block China from becoming a global superpower. Others bragged that their Islamic piety gave them immunity against the virus.
It was only last month, after coronavirus cases swelled in neighboring Iran and, more recently, in the birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia, that the contagion became a source of deep concern for the Afghan people.
They realized that coronavirus recognized no border, religion or race, and that any one of them could be struck down by it. “Coronavirus puts us in a dangerous situation,” Torek Farhadi, a former government adviser, told Arab News as governments worldwide began enforcing lockdowns of cities and encouraging social distancing among other precautionary measures.

Wracked by violence and conflict since the Soviet invasion in 1979, Afghanistan lacks the health-care system and public-services infrastructure required to deal with an infection.
Those who can afford the cost usually travel to India, Pakistan or Iran for treatment, spending upward of $350 million annually in those countries.
Failure to contain the coronavirus outbreak in its early stages has led to a situation that many consider a looming public-health disaster.
The city most at risk is arguably Herat, near the border with Iran. Afghans who live there are linked inextricably to Iran through ties of culture, trade and commerce.
Media reports citing Health Ministry officials say more than 90 percent of the country’s coronavirus cases can be traced to Afghans who have recently returned from Iran.
While the exact figure is impossible to ascertain, there is little doubt about the connection between Iran’s epidemic and the outbreaks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There are around 2 million Afghan workers in Iran, and many have recently lost their jobs due to the pandemic. This has caused more than 130,000 Afghans to flee Iran, one of the worst-affected countries, with 62,489 confirmed cases and 3,872 deaths as of Tuesday.
Afghans returning home, in what is likely one of the biggest cross-border movements of the pandemic, are now a threat to their country’s fragile public-health system.
“There are no more than a few ventilators and artificial respirators, so if there’s an outbreak in Afghanistan, as is the case in most least-developed countries, most of the patients would die,” Farhadi said.
“People understand that (the coronavirus outbreak) is something far beyond the control of the government.”
Last month, a coalition of private doctors in Kabul held a meeting to discuss a strategy to address the looming health crisis.
Many who participated in the meeting said the public-health system suffered from a shortage of so many critical items that the full impact of the coronavirus outbreak was impossible to predict.
Farhadi said if the highly contagious disease spreads to Afghanistan’s jails, Taliban prisoners will start to die. There is also the risk of government soldiers getting infected in large numbers on the front lines and becoming further demoralized as a result.

The coronavirus outbreak coincides with a period of renewed political uncertainty in Kabul in addition to an imminent US troop withdrawal.
The festering dispute over the 2019 presidential election has succeeded in deflecting public attention from the deepening coronavirus outbreak.
Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Kabul determined to broker a deal between Afghanistan’s two feuding leaders, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, both of whom claim to be the new legitimate president.
Pompeo’s efforts came to naught, however, and on his return to Washington, he said the US would cut $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan.
It was seen as punishment for Afghan politicians’ inability to form a unity government and negotiate with the Taliban.
Intra-Afghan negotiations were to be the first formal step to politically settling the conflict since a US-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
The US-Taliban agreement cleared the way for those talks, but it has not resolved issues between the Taliban and the Afghan government that are preventing them from making progress.

As things stand, the US will pull its troops out of Afghanistan over a 14-month period, and the aid cutback will be spread out over two years.

Against this backdrop of chaotic developments and declining national morale, an emboldened Taliban has intensified its insurgency.
Afghan government forces have been targeted ever since the signing of the conditional US-Taliban agreement on Feb. 29 in Qatar.
The Taliban says the Doha deal is at breaking point because of US violations, including drone attacks on civilians and a delay in the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government.
The discovery of coronavirus cases within the NATO-led international force might prompt contributing nations to withdraw their troops before the agreed-upon date, said Farhadi.
“Afghanistan is among the countries most vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic,” he added.
In the absence of a proper public-health system, a reduction in violence and effective political leadership, the coronavirus outbreak could end up exacting a very heavy price.


Tourist magnet Barcelona to cut cruise ship capacity

Updated 4 sec ago
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Tourist magnet Barcelona to cut cruise ship capacity

Spain’s second-largest city hosts one of the world’s busiest ports for cruise traffic
Cruise passenger numbers grew by 20 percent between 2018 and 2024

BARCELONA: Barcelona unveiled on Thursday a plan to reduce the number of cruise passengers arriving at its port, part of a wider trend to combat overtourism in Europe’s most popular destinations.

The city of Barcelona and the port authority signed an agreement to reduce the number of cruise ship terminals from seven to five by 2030, cutting traveler capacity from 37,000 to 31,000.

Spain’s second-largest city hosts one of the world’s busiest ports for cruise traffic, having received 3.65 million such passengers in 2024, according to Barcelona’s Tourism Observatory.

Cruise passenger numbers grew by 20 percent between 2018 and 2024, Barcelona’s Socialist mayor Jaume Collboni said in a statement.

“For the first time in history, limits are being set on the growth of cruise ships in the city,” Collboni added.

The demolition of three existing cruise terminals and the construction of a new one will cost 185 million euros ($215 million), adding to previous investments since a first protocol was signed in 2018.

Tourism has helped drive the dynamic Spanish economy, making it the world’s second most-visited country with a record 94 million foreign visitors last year.

But the boom has fueled anger about unaffordable housing and concern that mass visitor numbers are changing the fabric of neighborhoods, sparking protests in tourism hotspots.

With its Mediterranean beaches and world-famous cultural landmarks such as the Sagrada Familia basilica, Barcelona is on the front line of mass tourism, receiving millions of visitors every year.

It announced last year a plan to scrap around 10,000 tourist rental apartments by 2028 in an attempt to ease local discontent.

Elsewhere in Europe, the popular Italian city of Venice introduced a charge for day visitors last year, while Greece is implementing a tax on cruise ships docking at its islands.

Russia says Trump’s new weapons pledge a signal for Ukraine to abandon peace efforts

Updated 41 min 49 sec ago
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Russia says Trump’s new weapons pledge a signal for Ukraine to abandon peace efforts

  • Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, condemned the move
  • “It is obvious that the Kyiv regime consistently perceives such decisions by the collective West as a signal to continue the slaughter and abandon the peace process“

MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump’s decision to ramp up arms shipments to Ukraine is a signal to Kyiv to abandon peace efforts, Russia said on Thursday, vowing it would not accept the “blackmail” of Washington’s new sanctions ultimatum.

Trump announced a toughened stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine on Monday, setting a 50-day deadline for Moscow to reach a ceasefire or face sanctions. The US also promised more missiles and other weaponry for Kyiv.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, condemned the move.

“It is obvious that the Kyiv regime consistently perceives such decisions by the collective West as a signal to continue the slaughter and abandon the peace process,” Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow.

Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine in February, 2022, has led to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two, with the United States estimating that 1.2 million people have been injured or killed.

Moscow says it was forced to launch the war to protect itself from an expanding NATO. Ukraine and most Western governments call Russia’s war a colonial-style land grab.

Russian forces now control around one fifth of Ukrainian territory and are slowly but steadily advancing across a vast frontline, sustaining what the US believes are heavy losses along the way.

Trump, who has made ending the conflict a priority of his administration, is threatening “100 percent tariffs on Russia” and secondary sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire deal by his 50-day deadline.

“An unprecedented number of sanctions and restrictions have been imposed on our country and our international partners. There are so many of them that we view the threat of new sanctions as mundane,” Zakharova said.

“The language of ultimatums, blackmail, and threats is unacceptable to us. We will take all necessary steps to ensure the security and protect the interests of our country.”

’PROXY WAR’
Both Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Trump have repeatedly cautioned over the escalatory risks of the conflict, which they cast as a proxy war between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.

US efforts to broker peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow, however, have faced repeated setbacks.

Russia says it is ready to hold further talks, but has made it clear it wants all of the territory of four Ukrainian regions it has claimed as its own — terms which Ukraine say are unacceptable and would amount to a capitulation.

Moscow is also keen to revive its battered bilateral relationship with the United States if possible, though Trump’s latest moves on Ukraine have soured the atmosphere.

Trump said on Monday that he was “very unhappy” and “disappointed” with Putin and cast his decision to send more arms to Ukraine as intended to jolt Russia toward peace.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Putin intends to keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace, unfazed by threats of tougher sanctions, and that his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance.

Earlier on Thursday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia had no plans to attack NATO or Europe. But he said it should respond and, if necessary, launch preemptive strikes if it believed the West was escalating what he cast as its full-scale war against Russia.

“We need to act accordingly. To respond in full. And if necessary, launch preemptive strikes,” Medvedev was quoted as saying.

The remarks by Medvedev, reported in full by the TASS state news agency, indicate that Moscow sees the confrontation with the West over Ukraine escalating after Trump’s latest decisions.

“What is happening today is a proxy war, but in essence it is a full-scale war (launches of Western missiles, satellite intelligence, etc.), sanctions packages, loud statements about the militarization of Europe,” Medvedev said, according to TASS.


Slovenia bars two far-right Israeli ministers

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (L) and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Updated 50 min 40 sec ago
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Slovenia bars two far-right Israeli ministers

  • Slovenian government accused the ministers of inciting “extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians” with “their genocidal statements”

LJUBLJANA: Slovenia announced on Thursday that it would ban two far-right Israeli ministers from entering in what authorities said was a first in the European Union.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will be declared “persona non grata,” the Slovenian government said in a statement, accusing them of inciting “extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians” with “their genocidal statements.”
In June, Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Norway imposed similar sanctions on Smotrich and Ben Gvir, key coalition partners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich have drawn international criticism for their hard-line stance on the Gaza war and comments about settlements in the occupied West Bank, the other Palestinian territory.
Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has called for the territory’s annexation.
“This is the first measure of this nature in the EU,” Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said of the ban.
On May 21, President Natasa Pirc Musar in an address to the European parliament urged the EU to take stronger action, condemning “the genocide” in Gaza.
Slovenia was in May among six European countries to say that they “firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza” after Israel announced plans to expand its military offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Last year, Slovenia announced it was recognizing a Palestinian state after Ireland, Norway and Spain, in moves partly fueled by condemnation of Israel’s bombing of Gaza after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Nearly 150 countries recognize a Palestinian state.


Russia jails major general for six years over fraud at military theme park

Updated 17 July 2025
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Russia jails major general for six years over fraud at military theme park

  • Major General Vladimir Shesterov was detained last August for his role in the scheme at the Patriot Park
  • The scandal at Patriot Park is one in a slew of criminal cases against former top officials

MOSCOW: A senior Russian Defense Ministry official was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday after being found guilty of fraud and forgery in relation to an embezzlement scheme at a military theme park, the RIA state news agency reported.

Major General Vladimir Shesterov was detained last August for his role in the scheme at the Patriot Park, a war-themed tourist attraction outside Moscow. Two other men, including Pavel Popov, a former deputy defense minister, are also facing prosecution.

RIA, citing the investigation materials, said Shesterov and the ex-director of the park, Vyacheslav Akhmedov, who is also in custody, forged documents related to completed construction work at the park in the amount of some 26 million roubles ($332,000).

The scandal at Patriot Park is one in a slew of criminal cases against former top officials that have engulfed the Russian army in recent months.

Shesterov fully admitted guilt, but insisted he had not received any material benefit from the scheme.

“I am to blame, I don’t whitewash myself, I sincerely repent,” he said in court, according to RIA.

Akhmedov has also entered a guilty plea in his trial.

The case against Popov, the former deputy defense minister, is ongoing. RIA reported that Popov had instructed Shesterov and Akhmedov to build him a two-story house, a guest house with a sauna, and a two-story garage on land Popov owned in the Moscow region — with the Defense Ministry footing the bill.

Popov has previously denied wrongdoing. Reuters was unable to contact his lawyer on Thursday.

Patriot Park displays a vast collection of Russian and Soviet weaponry, and offers visitors the chance to clamber on tanks and take part in combat simulations. On its website, it also features a photo gallery of “heroes of the special military operation” — Russia’s official term for its war in Ukraine.


Saudi Arabia’s NCNP drives non-profit growth, global ties at World Expo

Updated 17 July 2025
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Saudi Arabia’s NCNP drives non-profit growth, global ties at World Expo

  • NCNP hosted the panel session — The Future of Non-Profits — at the Saudi Pavilion
  • The panel demonstrated the NCNP’s goal of activating the Kingdom’s SDGs through innovation, collaboration, and strategic partnerships

OSAKA: Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Non-Profit Sector (NCNP) is expanding at a rapid pace with the number of registered NPOs surpassing 5,700 last year.

In a bid to capitalize on the situation and position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in the sector, the NCNP brought together leading voices from the Kingdom’s non-profit organizations (NPOs) for a high-profile panel discussion and for a separate U-Table meeting at the World Expo in Osaka.

NCNP hosted the panel session — The Future of Non-Profits — at the Saudi Pavilion to highlight how the Kingdom has advanced the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through non-profit entities.

The panel demonstrated the NCNP’s goal of activating the Kingdom’s SDGs through innovation, collaboration, and strategic partnerships.

The panel featured HRH Princess Luluah Bint Nawaf Al Saud, President of the Board at Mawaddah Association for Family Stability (MAFS), Reem Abukhayal, Media and PR Manager of Alwaleed Philanthropies, and Dr. Abdullah AlMuhanna, Vice President of Sector Empowerment at National Developmental Housing Foundation (Sakan).

NCNP’s International Communication lead, Alaa Alghamdi addressed the successful models and initiatives led by Saudi NPOs and the challenges and opportunities in scaling impact through innovation, partnerships, and sustainability.

“We were very excited to highlight how NCNP is building a sustainable future through non-profit innovation during our informative panel discussion,” Mishari Alturaif, GM of Government Outsourcing at NCNP, said.

“The Future of Non-Profits discussion underscores the ambitious efforts that NCNP is putting into supporting innovation across the local and global non-profit sector through constructive dialogue and engagement.”

NCNP also hosted a U-Table meeting with leading Saudi and international NPO’s that introduced NCNP and its international collaboration goals.

Participants from the Saudi nonprofit sector included Bunyan Charity, the National Developmental Housing Foundation (Sakan), Saudi Food Bank, and Alwdad Orphanage Care.

The participants exchanged best practices in non-profit governance and public-civil partnerships and identified areas for future collaboration aligned with national priorities and SDGS.

They also discussed the importance of shifting the mindset in the non-profit sector from one that focuses on charity to one of development, allowing for social innovation and entrepreneurship to support economic growth.

“At the U-Table, we had the opportunity to learn about how NCNP is partnering globally to advance non-profit solutions for a better world, solutions that support economic growth and innovation,” Sadakazu Ikawa, co-founder and Executive Director at the Trust Based Philanthropy Japan and Manager at the AVPN.

“We look forward to working with NCNP to activate solutions that help achieve sustainable development worldwide.”

In Osaka, the NCNP team also met with the Japan Foundation to explore opportunities for collaboration with Japanese entities and to exchange international expertise and best practices in the non-profit sector.

Under NCNP’s leadership, Saudi Arabia’s non-profit ecosystem has expanded rapidly. The number of registered NPOs surpassed 5,700 last year, with over 6,000 fundraising licenses issued and more than 2,000 active civil associations. Volunteerism has surged from just under 23,000 in 2015 to 1.2 million in 2024.

Thirty government entities now contribute to non-profit development, showing their rising national importance. Thus, NCNP continues to serve as the Kingdom’s catalyst for non-profit growth, linking local action with global collaboration to unlock sustainable impact.