GHAZNI: Taliban fighters launched a three-pronged attack on parts of the central-eastern Afghan city of Ghazni overnight, driving a Humvee packed with explosives into the entrance of a district governor’s compound during the assault, police said on Saturday.
The assault on Ghazni, on the highway linking the capital Kabul with the southern city of Kandahar, ramps up the Taliban’s spring offensive.
In the north of the country, the Taliban has stepped up its operations and targeted Kunduz, a city that they have twice managed to seize for brief periods in the past.
The Taliban have had a strong presence in the province of Ghazni for years, but provincial police chief Aminullah Amerkhil said the overnight attack from three directions was the fiercest launched by the insurgents. However, he said his men had held out.
Hashim Zwak, the police chief of Waghaz district, was wounded in the hand during the fighting. He described how the militants drove a Humvee packed with explosives into the entrance of the district governor’s compound and blew it up before other fighters tried to overrun the police defenders.
“They put all their effort into it but they could not defeat us,” Zwak told Reuters from a hospital in Ghazni city.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, however, that the fighters had gained control of Waghaz district, straddling the highway to the south of the city and fighting was continuing in other areas.
Separately, sources said Afghanistan’s embattled Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum has left for Turkey, in what could be another long exile for the former warlord following allegations that he raped and tortured a political rival.
Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek warlord linked to a catalogue of war crimes, departed late Friday in the middle of a criminal investigation that has drawn attention to the culture of impunity that is hobbling Western-backed efforts to instil the rule of law in Afghanistan.
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Afghan Taliban launch three-pronged assault on Ghazni city
Afghan Taliban launch three-pronged assault on Ghazni city
Modi ally proposes social media ban for India’s teens as global debate grows
- India is the world’s second-biggest smartphone market with 750 million devices and a billion Internet users
- South Asian nation is a key growth market for social media apps and does not set a minimum age for access
NEW DELHI: An ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed a bill to ban social media for children, as the world’s biggest market for Meta and YouTube joins a global debate on the impact of social media on young people’s health and safety.
“Not only are our children becoming addicted to social media, but India is also one of the world’s largest producers of data for foreign platforms,” lawmaker L.S.K. Devarayalu said on Friday.
“Based on this data, these companies are creating advanced AI systems, effectively turning Indian users into unpaid data providers, while the strategic and economic benefits are reaped elsewhere,” he said.
Australia last month became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking access in a move welcomed by many parents and child advocates but criticized by major technology companies and free-speech advocates. France’s National Assembly this week backed legislation to ban children under 15 from social media, while Britain, Denmark and Greece are studying the issue.
Facebook operator Meta, YouTube-parent Alphabet and X did not respond on Saturday to emails seeking comment on the Indian legislation. Meta has said it backs laws for parental oversight but that “governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites.”
India’s IT ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market with 750 million devices and a billion Internet users, is a key growth market for social media apps and does not set a minimum age for access.
Devarayalu’s 15-page Social Media (Age Restrictions and Online Safety) Bill, which is not public but was seen by Reuters, says no one under 16 “shall be permitted to create, maintain, or hold” a social media account and those found to have one should have them disabled.
“We are asking that the entire onus of ensuring users’ age be placed on the social media platforms,” Devarayalu said.
The government’s chief economic adviser attracted attention on Thursday by saying India should draft policies on age-based access limits to tackle “digital addiction.”
Devarayalu’s legislation is a private member’s bill — not proposed to parliament by a federal minister — but such bills often trigger debates in parliament and influence lawmaking.
He is from the Telugu Desam Party, which governs the southern state Andhra Pradesh and is vital to Modi’s coalition government.
“Not only are our children becoming addicted to social media, but India is also one of the world’s largest producers of data for foreign platforms,” lawmaker L.S.K. Devarayalu said on Friday.
“Based on this data, these companies are creating advanced AI systems, effectively turning Indian users into unpaid data providers, while the strategic and economic benefits are reaped elsewhere,” he said.
Australia last month became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking access in a move welcomed by many parents and child advocates but criticized by major technology companies and free-speech advocates. France’s National Assembly this week backed legislation to ban children under 15 from social media, while Britain, Denmark and Greece are studying the issue.
Facebook operator Meta, YouTube-parent Alphabet and X did not respond on Saturday to emails seeking comment on the Indian legislation. Meta has said it backs laws for parental oversight but that “governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites.”
India’s IT ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market with 750 million devices and a billion Internet users, is a key growth market for social media apps and does not set a minimum age for access.
Devarayalu’s 15-page Social Media (Age Restrictions and Online Safety) Bill, which is not public but was seen by Reuters, says no one under 16 “shall be permitted to create, maintain, or hold” a social media account and those found to have one should have them disabled.
“We are asking that the entire onus of ensuring users’ age be placed on the social media platforms,” Devarayalu said.
The government’s chief economic adviser attracted attention on Thursday by saying India should draft policies on age-based access limits to tackle “digital addiction.”
Devarayalu’s legislation is a private member’s bill — not proposed to parliament by a federal minister — but such bills often trigger debates in parliament and influence lawmaking.
He is from the Telugu Desam Party, which governs the southern state Andhra Pradesh and is vital to Modi’s coalition government.
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