Afghan cops arrest 34,000 beggars to end begging culture
Kabul, Feb 9: Police in Afghanistan have arrested more than 34,000 beggars from across the country over the past year to give an end to the culture of begging in society, a deputy on counter-narcotics of the Ministry of Interior Affairs said.
“We have arrested 34,377 beggars over the past year,” the National Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA) quoted Mullah Abdul Haq Akhund Hamkar on Sunday as saying.
Major parts of the collected beggars were fake and professional, the official told the state-owned media outlet, saying the police after investigation have allocated a monthly allowance to the needy one and referred the professional beggars to the concerned entities for further investigation.
A commission was established to register beggars and categorise them as “professional”, “destitute” or “organised”, which involves taking their biometric data and fingerprints.
According to Taliban officials, nearly 60,000 beggars have already been “rounded up” in Kabul alone.
The death of detainees rounded up under anti-begging laws is factored into the wording of the Taliban’s new law, in which Article 25 states: “If a beggar dies while in custody and has no relatives or if the family refuses to collect the body, the municipal officials will handle the burial.”
Under the new laws, those classed as “destitute” are legally entitled to financial assistance after their release, but none of the women said they had received any help.
Officials in Balkh said that they have begun a campaign to round up beggars in Mazar-e-Sharif city and other parts of the northern province.
The officials said that the beggars will be provided with 2,000 Afs per month after the completion of the process. (IANS)
Fitness club in cemetery
Harare, Feb 9: At dawn, 65-year-old Nelly Mutandwa swapped her pajamas for leggings, a T-shirt and sneakers. She grabbed a bottle of water before heading to an unconventional workout spot: a cemetery in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.
Surrounded by rows of graves, she joined other members of the Commandos Fitness Club in an hour-long session of squats, lunges and stretches as upbeat music blared. For Mutandwa, the daily routine is more than exercise. It’s her lifeline in managing diabetes.
“They are resting,” she said, pointing to the graves. “I just don’t want to join them yet. That means I have to do the hard work here.” With limited fitness facilities such as gyms in their neighbourhoods, older Zimbabweans are exercising wherever they can to combat Africa’s growing problem of non-communicable diseases like heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes. Other groups exercise along highways or disused railway lines.
Globally, non-communicable diseases, which are conditions that cannot be directly passed from person to person, are the leading cause of death, responsible for 41 million, or 74 per cent, of annual fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation.
Non-communicable diseases currently account for about 40 per cent of deaths annually in Zimbabwe, according to its ministry of health and child care.
In Zimbabwe and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, non-communicable diseases are set to overtake communicable diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and cholera as the leading cause of death or illness by 2030, according to WHO. (AP)
Monkey causes power cut in Sri Lanka
Colombo, Feb 9: Sri Lanka suffered a power outage when a monkey came in contact with the power grid at a Colombo suburb on Sunday, a power official said.
The entire grid failed around 11:30 am (local time) and the power was restored after several hours, the official said. Some areas were without for more than five hours, the official said.
The state power entity restored power at the national hospital and other key installations after an hour of the outage, the minister said.
The official said people were warned that drinking water supplies could be badly affected. (PTI)
Egg shortage cracks wallets, scrambles food businesses
Sacramento, Feb 9: A severe egg shortage is gripping California and the western United States as a deadly avian flu outbreak continues to decimate poultry flocks, driving egg prices to record highs and forcing food businesses to adapt their operations.
The price for cage-free large white eggs reached 8.65 US dollars per dozen in California when delivered wholesale, while organic brown eggs were sold at 9.39 dollars per dozen, said the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Daily National Shell Egg Index Report on Friday. The report shows that egg prices in California have more than doubled since 2024. Beth, a Bay Area resident who gave only her first name, shared her recent struggles with egg shopping. “I checked several grocery stores in my neighbourhood, but eggs were either sold out or too expensive,” she said. A trip to a Costco store proved fruitless, with empty shelves greeting her as well. Store staff advised her to return early in the morning to improve her chances. (IANS)