Afghan authorities have blamed Taliban militants for spreading a rumor that a deadly virus is being transmitted via cell phones.
The rumor, which raced like wildfire among the country's estimated two million cellphone users, said that anyone answering calls from certain numbers or codes would contract a fatal disease.
"I find it necessary to assure the people that the rumor spreading around the city is absolute nonsense — it's baseless," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told a news conference.
PHOTO: AFP
"It's the work of the enemy," said Bashary, using the government's usual term for Islamist insurgents led by the Taliban, adding that they were trying to cause panic in the war-weary nation.
"There are some numbers which contain the virus. As soon as you answer your phone blood comes out of your mouth, nose and ears and you die," said Kabul resident Mohammad Akter, who said he was told about the virus by a friend.
With more than 70 percent of Afghanistan's people receiving little or no education, rumors and superstitions have been used previously as political and military tools.
False claims that the Taliban were equipped with special weapons which made their opponents start laughing and drop their weapons spread fast in the early 1990s.
The interior ministry said it was investigating the source of the latest story.
Officials in neighboring Pakistan moved to calm similar fears in their own country the week before the scare in Afghanistan.
State media quoted the head of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority as saying that it was "scientifically and technically" not possible to transmit a virus to humans from a cellphone. (AFP
阿富汗當局已對塔利班激進分子散播謠言的行為提出譴責。謠傳某種致命病毒正透過手機四處傳播。
用戶只要接聽某些門號或代碼的來電就會感染致命疾病,這個謠言如野火燎原般迅速在阿富汗約兩百萬名手機用戶間傳開。
內政部發言人則瑪賴?巴沙里在一場記者會上表示:「我發現有必要向民眾保證,這項傳遍喀布爾市的謠言根本就是胡說八道。」
巴沙里說:「那是敵人的傑作。」阿國政府慣稱塔利班領導的伊斯蘭叛軍為敵人。巴沙里還表示,他們試圖在厭戰的阿富汗境內引起恐慌。
從一位朋友那裡聽說病毒謠言的喀布爾居民穆罕默德?亞科特說:「部份門號含有這種病毒。只要你一接聽手機,口、鼻和耳朵馬上就會流血,然後死亡。」
七成以上的阿富汗民眾不是教育程度不高就是沒受過教育,因此各種謠言及迷信都曾淪為政治及軍事利用的工具。
一九九0年代初期,有關塔利班配擁某些特殊武器,能讓對手開始大笑並放下手中武器的不實傳言,也曾滿天亂飛。
內政部表示,已著手追查這個手機謠言的來源。
手機病毒恐慌籠罩阿富汗的前一週,鄰國巴基斯坦的官員也曾採取措施平息該國類似的憂慮。
國營媒體引述巴基斯坦電信管理局局長的話說,就「科學及技術面」來看,從手機散播病毒到人體根本就是天方夜譚。(法新社/翻譯:林倩如)
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It’s meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event and the ancient Greek original on which it was initially modelled. Once
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services. The drive-through concept originated with the drive-in restaurant, the first of which was established in the US in 1921. Patrons would order and eat the food that was delivered to their cars by workers called “carhops.” Ten years later, a drive-through service was introduced, but it was not until 1947 that the first exclusively drive-through restaurant opened its