3/09/2025

WEDNESDAY | SEP 3, 2025

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

8

Scramble for survivors after quake kills more than 900

teen ban – have described the laws as “vague”, “problematic” and “rushed”. It is unclear how people will verify their ages to sign up to social media. The law comes into force by the end of this year. An independent study ordered by the government found this week that age checking can be done “privately, efficiently and effectively”. Age assurance is possible through a range of technologies but “no single solution fits all contexts”, the study’s final report said. – AFP Putin, Kim join Xi in show of solidarity BEIJING: President Xi Jinping convened his Russian and North Korean counterparts together for the first time yesterday, a show of solidarity with countries shunned by the West over their role in Europe’s worst war in 80 years. Vladimir Putin hailed “unprecedentedly high relations” with China and thanked his “dear friend” Xi for the warm welcome during talks at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, while Kim Jong Un’s armoured special train snaked towards the Chinese capital. With Iran’s leader also due to attend China’s massive military parade today, Xi’s diplomatic clout with a group of authoritarian regimes dubbed the “Axis of Upheaval” by some western analysts, comes at a time President Donald Trump’s isolationist policies strain Washington’s alliances. Beyond the pomp, analysts are watching whether the trio may signal closer defence relations following a pact signed by Russia and North Korea in June last year, and a similar alliance between Beijing and Pyongyang, an outcome that may alter the military calculus in the Asia-Pacific region. It would also be a blow for Trump, who has talked up his close relations with Putin, Xi and Kim and touted his peacemaking credentials as Russia’s three-and-a-half-year war with Ukraine has raged on. Xi told a gathering of more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries on Monday: “We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics.” Xi also held talks on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, which alongside China has been targeted by Trump over its purchases of Russian oil seen as helping finance Russia’s war effort. Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday called the summit “performative” and accused China and India of being “bad actors” by fuelling Russia’s war. As Putin and Xi met yesterday, Russia’s Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation signed a deal to increase gas supplies and penned an agreement on a new pipeline that could supply China for 30 years. The leaders later retired to the Xi’s personal residence to continue unspecified negotiations with their delegations. – Reuters

o UN mobilises emergency relief

JALALABAD: Rescuers desperately searched yesterday for survivors in the rubble of homes flattened by an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan, killing more than 900 people. The 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan around midnight Sunday, followed by at least five aftershocks. Emergency “operations continued throughout the night”, said the head of the Kunar Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Ehsanullah Ehsan. He said there were “still injured people left in the distant villages” in need of evacuation to hospitals. Villagers joined the rescue efforts, using their bare hands to clear debris from mud and stone homes built into steep valleys. Obaidullah Stoman, 26, who travelled to the village of Wadir to search for a friend, was overwhelmed by the level of destruction. “I’m searching here, but I didn’t see him. It was very difficult for me to see the conditions here,” he said. “There is only rubble left.” The dead, including children, were wrapped in white shrouds by villagers who prayed over their bodies before burying them. Some of the hardest-hit villages remain inaccessible due to blocked roads, the UN migration agency said. The earthquake epicentre was about 27km from Jalalabad, according to the USGS, which said it struck just 8km below the Earth’s surface. Such relatively shallow quakes can cause more damage, especially since the majority of Afghans live in low rise, mud-brick homes vulnerable to collapse. After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, facing a protracted humanitarian crisis and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back to the country by neighbours Pakistan and Iran in recent years. Since the change of government in

A military helicopter airlifts injured Afghans from Mazar Dara village in Nurgal district, Kunar province, on Monday. – AFPPIC

nudes, with those images shared online without their consent. Australia has been at the forefront of global efforts to curb internet harm, especially that targeted at children. The country passed landmark laws in November restricting under-16s from social media – one of the world’s toughest crackdowns on popular sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X. Social media giants, which face fines of up to A$49.5 million (RM137 million) if they fail to comply with the announced an initial US$5 million (RM21 million). In a provisional toll, the authorities reported between 900 and 950 killed and 3,000 injured in Kunar province, as well as 12 dead and 255 injured in Nangarhar. Laghman province also has dozens of injured, according to government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Many of those living in the quake hit villages were among the more than four million Afghans who have returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan in recent years. Helicopters shuttled the injured from the remote village of Wadir in Nurgal district to hospitals in the nearest city, Jalalabad. Fourteen-year-old Akhlaq was injured and evacuated to the hospital, but five members of his family were killed in Nurgal. “Our whole house collapsed, my brothers and father were all buried. Only I survived and made it out,” Akhlaq said. “Then I heard my father’s voice and I managed to rescue him.” “There are victims who are still under the rubble, but there is nobody to help them and pull them out.” – AFP

Villagers walk past damaged houses in Mazar Dara village. – AFPPIC 2021, foreign aid to the country has been slashed, undermining the already impoverished nation’s ability to respond to disasters.

laws and our world-leading online safety reforms, it will make a real difference in protecting Australians,” she added. The proliferation of AI tools has led to new forms of abuse impacting children, including pornography scandals at universities and schools worldwide, where teenagers create sexualised images of their own classmates. A recent Save the Children survey found that one in five young people in Spain have been victims of deepfake was drastically scaling back its global humanitarian aid plans due to the “deepest funding cuts ever”. On Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement the organisation was working with authorities to “swiftly assess needs, provide emergency assistance and stand ready to mobilise additional support”, and

The United States was the largest aid donor until early this year, when all but a sliver of funds were cancelled after President Donald Trump took office. In June, the United Nations said it

Australia to tackle deepfake nudes SYDNEY: Australia said yesterday it will oblige tech giants to prevent online tools being used to create deepfake nudes or stalk people without detection. “nudification” and online stalking, without providing a timeline. “There is no place for apps and technologies that are used to abuse, humiliate and harm people, especially our children,” Communications Minister Anika Wells said.

“Nudify” apps – AI tools that digitally strip off clothing or generate sexualised imagery – have exploded online, sparking warnings that so-called sextortion scams targeting children are surging. The government said it would work with industry on developing new legislation against AI-driven

The government would use “every lever” to restrict access to stalking apps, placing the onus on tech companies to block them, Wells said. “While this move won’t eliminate the problem of abusive technology in one fell swoop, alongside existing