Canadians are the second-biggest smugglers of cocaine into Australia

Australian Federal Police officers handle cocaine at their headquarters in Melbourne on September 16, 2011. The Australian Crime Commission reports that most of the cocaine brought into the country comes from Chile, with Canada second, climbing three spots since 2010. Photo: JULIAN SMITH/AFP/Getty Images

By Ethan Lou

There is an increasing Canadian presence in the Australian drug scene, where traffickers brave harsh enforcement for large profits in a “high-risk, high-reward” market, authorities say.

The Australian Crime Commission reports that most of the cocaine brought into the country comes from Chile, with Canada second, climbing three spots since 2010.

The numbers accompany a spate of Canadian-linked drug incidents during the past year, including the conviction in June of a Canadian man who tricked an elderly Australian couple into becoming drug mules.

“Even though it may be logistically complex to get illicit drugs to Australia, (traffickers) feel the expense is worth it because of the high prices they can obtain if successful,” Australian Federal Police said in a statement.

Estimates of the street value of the drug vary between police jurisdictions within Canada, but Australian authorities say a kilogram of cocaine there can fetch up to $250,000, which could be up to five times higher than the price in Canada.

A handout photo taken 08 September 2006 shows Australian Customs officers inspecting a 135 kilogram (297 pound) cache of cocaine — one of the biggest ever seized in Australia — that was hidden inside a shipment of 420 computer monitors intercepted by customs officials in the east coast city of Brisbane. Six men linked to an international drug syndicate have been arrested for trying to smuggle cocaine worth 35 million dollars (26 million US) from Canada to Australia and the container selected for x-ray, also held 120,000 ecstasy tablets worth an estimated 3.5 million dollars, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said. (HO/AFP/Getty Images)

A spokesman for a British Columbia multi-agency initiative said Canadian criminals do not produce cocaine, much of which comes from South America.

“They’ll try to buy or barter for a kilo or however many kilos of cocaine, and then, because it’s all about making money, they look to see where they can make the most,” said Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of the Combined Special Forces Enforcement Unit.

“Smuggle it into Australia… they can get three, four, five times the price.”

He said drug supply is short in Australia because of strong enforcement and the country’s location — it is far from where cocaine is predominantly produced.

“The Australian police have been really successful in disrupting, suppressing criminal groups,” Houghton said.

Canadian traffickers affiliate themselves with local gangs, but sometimes rope in Canadian expatriates, Houghton said. Canadian drug runners have “significant connections” with Australian outlaw biker gangs and other criminal organizations, the Australian Crime Commission said.

This Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012 photo supplied by the Australian Federal Police shows small portion of a US$246 million drug haul seized in Sydney. The Australian Federal Police said that they arrested a Canadian man and a U.S. man after officers had seized 350kg (770 pound) of cocaine and methamphetamine hidden inside a steamroller shipped from China. (AP Photo/Australia Federal Police)

To combat their operations, the RCMP said it holds joint investigations with Asian and Australian police. The Mounties also have a liaison based in Australia’s capital of Canberra and an intelligence analyst “out-posted” to Australian Federal Police, the Australian agency said.

Houghton’s unit, which comprises RCMP and provincial and municipal police, was involved last year in dismantling what they called a major Canada-Australia drug network.

Dan Werb, director of the B.C.-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, said legalization of marijuana in some American states last year could have sparked an increase in Canadian drug activity elsewhere. Canadian-produced illegal marijuana is now facing intense competition from legal marijuana in those states, so dealers in Canada may be looking toward harsher drugs and other export markets, Werb said.

“What is happening to all those people who are involved in the illegal drug trade?” he said.

“People simply exiting the illegal drug trade? That’s probably unlikely. Are they potentially moving to other trafficking routes? Australia may be an attractive place.”

Regina woman to launch human rights complaint against barbershop that only serves men

Regina's Ragged Ass Barbers, seen here in a photo uploaded to the barbershop's Facebook page, is being criticized for only cutting men's hair.

A Regina woman who was denied a haircut at a barbershop for men says she is launching a complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission for discrimination.

Evie Ruddy asked for a short men’s cut at Ragged Ass Barbers, located in the city’s downtown, but the owner refused to comply due to a longstanding policy of only accepting male clients.

“If they said we only give men’s haircuts, that’s one thing – and I would say, ‘Well I do want a men’s hair cut. I have very short hair and I wanted a hard part, which is a traditional men’s haircut’, but it’s another to say we only give men’s haircuts to men,” Evie Ruddy told Global News.

The barbershop’s owner, Craig Zamonsky, has defended the men-only policy on the grounds that other businesses like women-only gyms also evaluate clients based on gender.

The controversy has led to an outpouring of denunciation and support for the barbershop, and on Saturday the business thanked those who stood by Ragged Ass Barbers.

“We appreciate everyone, both men AND WOMEN who have taken the time to reach out to us,” the barbershop wrote on Facebook. “It has really reminded us that we’re not doing something wrong, we’re doing something great. So to all of you, THANK YOU!”

The Regina barbershop is not the first to come under scrutiny for gender-specific policies. In 2012 a Toronto woman filed a human rights complaint against the Terminal Barbershop after the Muslim barbers said they could not touch her due to their faith, which prohibited contact with women who were not family members. Faith McGregor and barbershop owner Omar Mahrouk ultimately came to an agreement through mediation, although the details were not made public.

Canadians among 10 killed in Bolivia bus crash

10 people are dead following a bus crash in La Paz, Bolivia. Canadian tourists are believed to be among those killed.

LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivian police say eight foreign tourists are among the 10 people killed when a bus returning to La Paz from the Salar de Uyuni salt flats ran off the highway and crashed.

Police Capt. Gonzalo Carrasco said that another 24 people, most of them foreigners, were injured and being treated in hospitals in Oruro, the closest big city.

Carrasco said the accident occurred Saturday about 180 miles (290 kilometres) south of the capital. He said the foreigners included an Australian, two Swiss, two Italians and a Peruvian and that two of the foreigners could not immediately be identified.

The fatal Bolivian victims included the bus driver.

Carrasco said the injured included Germans, Italians, Swiss, Canadians, Chileans, Peruvians and an Indian.

He said the cause of the accident was under investigation.

Mediator walks away, ending hopes teachers’ strike will end before school starts

Mediator Vince Ready arrives to meet with B.C. Teachers' Federation president Jim Iker and B.C. Public School Employers' Association negotiator Peter Cameron. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

RICHMOND, B.C. — Veteran mediator Vince Ready has walked away from talks between British Columbia teachers and their employer, smothering hopes of parents that the school year would start on time.

Government negotiator Peter Cameron says Ready walked away because both sides were too far apart for mediation to begin, which means school will not start as usual on Tuesday.

Cameron says the current round of talks is now over and both sides will be waiting for Ready to determine when they are close enough to begin discussions again.

Mediator Vince Ready speaks to the media. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The development comes after Jim Iker of the teachers’ union and Cameron held several days of talks with Ready in a Metro Vancouver hotel.

Both sides were engaging in talks that were exploring the chance mediation, which many parents hoped would prevent the start of the school year from being derailed.

Prior to those discussions, Iker and Cameron met with Education Minister Peter Fassbender, who proposed that both parties put aside the most contentious issues and start mediation.

In this file photo, hundreds of B.C. teachers, parents and other union supporters rallied on the lawn of the B.C. Legislature. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Public school teachers across the province went on strike two weeks before the start of summer vacation, booting half a million students out of class.

There was little progress during the summer regarding the main issues, which were class size, pay and the amount of support staff in each class.

The government has said it will not legislate teachers back to work.

Patient in isolation in Quebec hospital tests negative for Ebola

Breaking News: Check back here for continuing developments Photo: breaking

GATINEAU, Que. — A girl who was put in isolation at a hospital in Gatineau, Que., as a precautionary measure has tested negative for Ebola.

Karelle Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Outaouais region public health, says the girl, who had come down with a fever following a recent trip to West Africa, is in stable condition and under observation.

Fever is a common symptom of the often deadly virus which has killed more than 1,500 people in the largest Ebola outbreak on record.

Transmission of Ebola from person to person is made through direct contact with blood and body fluids of a sick person.

Last week, a patient at a Montreal hospital tested negative for the virus, and earlier this month testing confirmed a patient in Brampton, Ont., did not have Ebola.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has advised against all non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and for travellers to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo to take special precautions.

E-cigarettes sales will suffer if regulated like tobacco

In this photo illustration, a woman smokes an E-Cigarette at the V-Revolution E-Cigarette shop in Covent Garden on August 27, 2014 in London, England. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Alexandra Bosanac

Designed to simulate smoking, electronic cigarettes continue to grow in popularity but uncertainty over possible Health Canada regulations and restrictions by other regulators are raising concerns for the industry in Canada.

Phillip Gorham, a tobacco analyst for the U.S. investment research and management firm Morningstar, says further growth of the e-cigarette industry will be dampened if regulatory bodies decide to impose controls similar to those on tobacco products. Among them, he cites increases in prices and taxes and legislation restricting advertising, store displays and rules on who can sell them.

The growth in the e-cigarette category has been driven by novelty, Gorham said, adding that if the devices are kept out of view and under lock and key it will difficult to capture new sales.

“E-cigarettes depend on marketing for growth and cigarette companies can’t generate consumer interest without that,” says Gorham. “It’s very much on trial.”

In this photo illustration, a woman smokes an E-Cigarette at the V-Revolution E-Cigarette shop in Covent Garden on August 27, 2014 in London, England. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The UN health agency this week called for member countries to prohibit e-cigarette sales to minors and ban their use indoors until more evidence can be gathered about the risks, adding that the product’s expanding popularity presents a public health dilemma.

“E-cigarettes are a story of both risks and promises. In a sense they are a double-edged sword,” Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of the WHO’s Department for Prevention of Non-communicable Diseases, told reporters. “The tobacco industry is taking greater share — as public health partners, pretending to be part of the solution to the health disaster they have created.”

Tommaso Di Giovanni, head of reduced-risk product communications at Philip Morris, criticized the WHO for calling for a “de facto exclusion of tobacco companies in the democratic process.”

“This view ignores the fact that product innovation to develop and assess truly reduced risk alternatives to combustible cigarettes can play an important role for public health,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “Companies like ours are not only driving this innovation, but have the necessary knowledge and resources to contribute to achieving that goal.”

E-cigarettes appear on display at Vape store in Chicago, Wednesday, April 23, 2014. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

According to the Electronic Cigarette Trade Association of Canada (ECTA), member retailers report between $10,000 and $20,000 a month in sales.

The battery-operated devices do not contain tobacco but can be used to heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating a vapour that users inhale. Smokers like them because the vapour looks like smoke but doesn’t contain the thousands of chemicals, tar or odour of regular cigarettes.

E-cigarettes that are sold without nicotine, or which don’t make health claims, can be sold legally in Canada, according to Health Canada.

However, if they are sold with nicotine and or in packaging that makes a health claim, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drugs Act. Under that act, a manufacturer must apply to Health Canada for authorization to bring a new product to market.

To date, Health Canada has not approved any e-cigarettes under the Food and Drug Act.

Some proponents of e-cigarettes dispute Health Canada’s position and suggest e-cigarette juice containing nicotine is governed by the Consumer Chemicals and Containers Regulations of 2001.

Some airport officials worry that e-cigarettes could be a source of fire in aircraft if they are left in checked luggage. Frank Franklin II/The Associated Press

Addiction experts and public health officials are divided over e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid. Some say if e-cigarettes are safer than regular cigarettes then the e-cigarettes could help save lives. But that opinion is challenged by those who argue that e-cigarettes may lead to smokers cutting back on regular smoking but remaining addicted.

Chief medical officers in Toronto and Edmonton have called on local governments to ban the use of e-cigarettes anywhere smoking is prohibited, while Nova Scotia’s health minister has pledged to introduce legislation in 2014.

The municipality of York in Ontario and the city of Red Deer in Alberta have imposed outright bans in public places.

Kate Ackerman, owner of Alberta-based Electro Vapors, is concerned that small businesses like hers will pushed out of the market — or worse, forced underground if regulations become too onerous.

It’s already happening in Europe, the biggest market for e-cigarettes apart from North America. Sales are banned in 13 of the 59 countries that regulate the devices, according to the WHO, but most of those 13 countries say they are still available because of illicit trade and cross-border Internet sales.

“The demand is not going away. This horse is not going back into the gate,” said Ackerman, who also sits on the ECTA board.

“There are people who have been smoking for 50 years . . . and they’ve picked up an electronic cigarette and were finally able to permanently put away tobacco. These people are not going back to tobacco. The worst thing I can see is for this market to go underground, to become even a black market and it’s totally unnecessary.”

Rechargable kits imported from China retail for between $80 and $100. E-liquid cartridges containing nicotine are purchased separately.

A month’s worth of e-liquid can be bought online for about $20 while a pack of twenty cigarettes varies from $10 to $15 if bought separately.

Canadian scientists cure monkeys infected with Ebola using experimental drug

In this undated file photo provided by Kentucky BioProcessing, tobacco plants are grown in a controlled environment at the Kentucky BioProcessing facility in Owensboro, Ky. An experimental Ebola drug, generated in tobacco plants genetically modified to produce specific antibodies, healed all 18 monkeys infected with the deadly virus in a study released Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. Photo: AP Photo/Kentucky BioProcessing, File

Canadian scientists have rescued from death monkeys infected with a lethal dose of Ebola in the latest study of an experimental drug that has been used on a handful of Ebola victims in West Africa.

The anti-body based compound known as ZMapp rescued 100 per cent of 18 Ebola infected rhesus macaques, even when the drug was administered up to five days after infection with the virus.

All treated monkeys recovered fully and show no side-effects, said Dr. Gary Kobinger, chief of special pathogens at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Three Ebola infected macaques that didn’t receive ZMapp died.

It is the first study reported in monkeys of the version of ZMapp now being administered in the West African outbreak.

The unlicensed cocktail, produced in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada, still requires testing in humans and is unlikely to ever be produced in sufficient enough batches to make an impact on the current Ebola outbreak ravaging parts of West Africa. A notice on the website of ZMapp’s San Diego-based developer, Mapp Biopharmaceuticals Inc, said the available supply has been exhausted.

Gary Kobinger works in a mobile laboratory installed by specialists of the National Public Health Agency of Canada, in Mweka, Congo, Friday, Sept. 28, 2007. The experimental Ebola drug ZMapp was able to save infected monkeys even when treatment was only begun five days after the animals were infected, a new study shows. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, WHO, Christopher Black, HO)

The drug is generated in tobacco plants genetically modified to produce the antibodies and Kobinger said that, from what he understands, it takes one month to produce 20 to 40 doses.
It’s not clear how the experiments in monkeys would translate into humans.

But Kobinger said the results are a promising signal the experimental compound might be the long sought therapy against one of the most deadly pathogens known.

“What’s quite remarkable is that we could rescue some of the animals that had advanced disease. For us, advanced disease is an animal that is just a few days from the end, if not only a few hours,” Kobinger told reporters Friday.

A study published last November testing an earlier version of the drug found Ebola-infected macaques survived after given the mixture within 24 hours of infection.

In the new study, Kobinger expected to see an improvement when the animals were treated further out after infection, which would be more like the case with Ebola infected humans, but it was beyond what he expected.

“I was quite surprised …. that we would be going as far and this time rescue animals up to day five — and all of them — which was fantastic news.”

A security agent controls the temperature of a woman at the entrance of the port of Monrovia on August 29, 2014. (DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

The Canadian-led study was published online Friday in the journal Nature.

Ebola is often fatal in humans. The current outbreak has a case fatality rate of up to 90 per cent, and there is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine available for use in people.

ZMapp, produced in collaboration with Canada’s federal public health agency, is composed of three “humanized” monoclonal antibodies that bind to the protein of the Ebola virus.

The drug has been given to seven patients infected in the West African outbreak, two of whom — a Spanish priest and a Liberian doctor — died despite treatment.

Kobinger suggested that age as well as other underlying health issues or the timing of the dose might have been factors. There also may have already been too much damage to major body organs.

“We know there is a point of no return when there is too much damage to major organs, so there’s a limit,” he said.

But it’s also possible the other health-care workers who recovered after receiving ZMapp might have done so without treatment.

A woman walks past a banner informing about the Ebola virus near the entrance of the port of Monrovia on August 29, 2014.(DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

In humans, Ebola has an incubation period of three to 21 days after exposure to the virus. The first symptom is often a flu-like illness that can rapidly progress to hemorrhage, multiple organ failure and a shock-like syndrome.

In the latest ZMapp experiment, the researchers administered a lethal dose of Ebola to three groups of six animals, and then treated them with three doses of ZMapp spaced three days apart.

All the animals survived and were found to have undetectable viral loads by 21 days after infection.

An accompanying article in Nature called the experiment a “monumental achievement” while others said it provides the most compelling evidence to date that ZMapp may be an effective treatment against Ebola in humans.

“I never thought that 40 years after I encountered the first Ebola outbreak, this disease would still be taking lives on such a devastating scale,” Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said a statement.

“It is now critical that human trials start as soon as possible.”

Others urged caution.

“The gap between animal studies and first time, in-human studies even in the top institutions in the world is enormous,” said Dr. Jim Lavery, managing director of the Ethical, Social & Cultural Program for Global Health at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

The body of a man found in the street, suspected of dying from the ebola virus is sprayed with disinfectant, in the capital city of Monrovia, Liberia. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)

“It’s not ethically neutral to raise hopes in this way,” he said.

“Everyone is on the same page — no one wants everyone to be dying. Everyone wants the game-changer,” Lavery said.

“But I don’t think that it’s responsible or even respectful of the populations that are affected right now to be even reporting these things in ways that suggest it might be simpler than it really is.

“There’s nothing simple about this.”

The monkeys were infected with a strain different to the one behind the current West African outbreak, but Kobinger said that, when tested in cell cultures, ZMapp stopped the new strain from replicating.

The West African Ebola outbreak, the worst on record, has so far claimed at least 1,552 lives, according to figures released this week by the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, Canada’s public health agency said three mobile lab team members, who were supporting the Ebola outbreak response efforts in Sierra Leone, arrived safely in Canada Friday evening.

The three were pulled back early as a precautionary measure after three people in their hotel complex were confirmed to be infected with Ebola.

The team members arrived on a private charter plane Friday night and travelled to private residences once they were deemed healthy by a Quarantine Officer.

All three will be voluntarily self-isolating for the remainder of the incubation period and their health will be monitored. The agency said the risk to Canadians remains “very low.”

skirkey@postmedia.com

Lost Winnipeg man survives 72 hours on all-dressed chips and rain water

A man lost for 72 hours survived on a bag of potato chips. Photo: Fotolia

WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg man who was lost in the wild for three days says he survived on rain water and all-dressed chips.

Christopher Cloutier was camping with friends in Nopiming Provincial Park in southeastern Manitoba when they got separated.

He decided to try to walk to their launching point, but got turned around.

I really like the show Survivor Man and I actually got a lot of tips off that

Cloutier’s friends reported him missing on Sunday when they returned to their campsite and couldn’t find him.

Search and rescue crews searched for him on foot, by boat and by air, but didn’t find him.

On Tuesday, he found his way to a road and flagged down a passing vehicle; he says the relief he felt was overwhelming.

“I had in my backpack just two pairs of jeans, a sweater and a T-shirt, a bottle of water and a bag of chips and some socks. That’s all I had,” Cloutier said Thursday.

The 24-year-old was able to start fires with a lighter and birch tree bark and branches.

“I really like the show Survivor Man and I actually got a lot of tips off that, like smoke signals and stuff.”

Cloutier says he was afraid at times, particularly at night. His worst fear was running into a wolf.

“The worst I think it got was when I would try to sleep, off in the distance you would hear branches getting broken down by I guess bears or moose because there are lots of moose out there. But I didn’t see any,” he said.

It’s just overwhelming a little bit, eh?

Hours before he was rescued, Cloutier was injured.

“I was trying to climb up this steep rock, except it’s so wet. Especially with the shoes I was wearing — they were just little skateboarding shoes so they don’t have much grip on them.

So I just slipped and I tried catching my balance except just the momentum of my leg going and the weight of me, it just buckled underneath me and I thought my leg was broken for sure,” he said.

He said he couldn’t believe it when he saw a vehicle on the third day.

“I said, ‘Can you take me to a store? I need to get food, I need to get water and I need to grab some smokes. I didn’t see anybody for three days and just seeing somebody — when you’re walking down that trail and seeing somebody coming around that corner in a vehicle, you know it’s over at that point. It’s just overwhelming a little bit, eh? “

Photos August 29: Top images from around the world

North Korean children grimace as they challenge pro wrestlers in a tug of war game Friday, Aug. 29, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. Former NFL player Bob "The Beast" Sapp and a group of brawny pro wrestlers led by a Japanese politician took their oddball attempt at sports diplomacy to the streets of Pyongyang on Friday, staging a tug-war and arm wrestling competition with local children before a large and somewhat bewildered crowd of spectators. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

A North Korean boy arm wrestles with former NFL player Bob “The Beast” Sapp Friday, Aug. 29, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. Former NFL player Sapp and a group of brawny pro wrestlers led by a Japanese politician took their oddball attempt at sports diplomacy to the streets of Pyongyang on Friday, staging a tug-war and arm wrestling competition with local children before a large and somewhat bewildered crowd of spectators. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Indians cover themselves with gunny bags to shelter themselves from the rain, as they sit on the back of an open truck in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. The annual monsoon rains which usually hit India from June to September are crucial for farmers whose crops feed hundreds of millions of people. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Livestock laze around as Indian girl Praveen, 6, finishes her homework while sitting on the boundary wall of her house in Hirmathala village in Mewat district of Haryana state, on the outskirts of New Delhi, on August 29, 2014. Girls are often viewed as a burden in traditional Indian families as they require hefty dowries to be married off. In the past few decades, successive governments have launched an array of schemes to alter the social bias against girls, including offering cash incentives to expectant parents, but they have had little impact. (PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)

A Chinese construction worker paints the exterior of a new apartment complex on August 29, 2014 in Beijing, China. Rapid construction and widespread over-investment in Chinese property created a bubble that continues to deflate. Prices are down, the economy has cooled and newly-constructed projects in many parts of the country remain unoccupied. The housing market accounts for more than 15% of China’s annual economic output and so the softening of the market is having a broader economic impact. Analysts believe that a property collapse is unlikely though as local governments are shoring up the sector. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A Haitian youth cleans himself after helping his cousin to make bread at a small bakery in the Jalousie neighborhood of the Petion Ville commune in Port-au-Prince, August 28, 2014. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images)

A photo taken on August 29, 2014, shows Mount Tavurvur erupting in eastern Papua New Guinea, spewing rocks and ash into the air, forcing the evacuation of local communities and international flights to be re-routed. Mount Tavurvur, which destroyed the town of Rabaul when it erupted simultaneously with nearby Mount Vulcan in 1994, rumbled to life early in the morning on the tip of the remote island of New Britain. (OLIVER BLUETT/AFP/Getty Images)

A jogger runs along the Sanibel Island, Fla. beach at daybreak in the waning days of summer Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Riot policemen take part in a crowd and riot control exercise near the town of Ferizaj on August 29, 2014. Despite the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, NATO does not plan to reduce the number of its peacekeeping troops in Kosovo. (ARMEND NIMANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Sheep graze by solar panels on August 28, in a photo released on August 29, 2014 in Hildesheim, Germany. (JULIAN STRATENSCHULTE/AFP/Getty Images)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014 and released on August 29, 2014, Matt Holowicki, of Plymouth, eyes his next coney in the final minutes while competing in the fourth annual American Coney Island Coney Dog Eating Challenge at the American Coney Island in downtown Detroit. Holowicki ate 17 full Coney Dogs in 10 minutes to be crowned the 2014 champion. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Ryan Garza)

Iguanas for sale are seen inside a basket at the Oriental Market in Managua, on August 27, 2014, in a photo released on August 29, 2014. The Nicaraguan Government recommended earlier this month the breeding of iguanas to face food shortages caused by a drought affecting the region, instead of hunting them in the forests. (Inti Ocon/AFP/Getty Images)

A zookeeper holds three baby caimans at the Planet of Crocodiles in Civaux near Poitiers, western France, on August 28, 2014 in a photo released on August 29, 2014. Around 200 crocodiles from various species live in the zoo, whose pools use a system that recovers the heat produced by the water from the neighbouring nuclear power plant. (GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP/Getty Images)

People use spades and metal detectors as they search a beach in Folkestone, southeast England, on August 29, 2014 for gold bullion buried there by German artist Michael Sailstorfer as part of the Folkestone Triennial. Thirty gold bars have been buried on a beach in Britain by a German artist, prompting a flood of bounty hunters with metal detectors to seek their fortune on August 29. The gold bars, worth a total of 10,000 GBP (13,000 euros, 17,000 USD), were buried in Folkestone, by Berlin-based Michael Sailstorfer as part of an arts festival. The bars, worth around 300GBP each, are a few centimetres long. Members of the public will be allowed to keep any of the 24-carat bullion which they find. (JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images)

In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo that was released on August 29, 2014, Homeless woman Jeanne Strickler, left, hugs her friends outside a laundromat before doing their laundry for free during a Laundry Love event on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014, in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Members of the International space crew, US astronaut Barry Wilmore (L) and Russia’s cosmonauts Alexandr Samokutyaev (C) and Elena Serova attend a training session at the Gagarin Cosmonauts’ Training Centre in Star City, outside Moscow on August 29, 2014. The crew is to take off from Russian-leased Kazakh Baikonur cosmodrome to the ISS on September 26. (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

This handout picture taken on August 4, 2014 and released on August 29, 2014 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), shows Aysha, 5, standing outside the unfinished, abandoned building in Istanbul that has been her home for half a year. She lives here with her mother and 10 siblings. The majority of Syrian refugees live in urban settings, often sharing overcrowded apartments or abandoned buildings. (Shawn BALDWIN/AFP/Getty Images)

This handout picture taken on June 27, 2014 in Lebanon and released on August 29, 2014 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), shows Syrian refugee, Dayane, 24, holding her daughter Yemen, 5, who was severely burned in an accident with scalding water during a bombing raid in Yarbroud, Syria. The family fled to northern Lebanon six days after the accident but they could never afford treatment for Yemen. Six months on, the little girl is still in great physical pain, with some of her wounds unhealed, and she is still clearly traumatized. (Andrew McConnell/AFP/Getty Images)

A Syrian woman sits next to her children sleeping on the street in Hamra Street in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on August 29, 2014. The number of refugees from the conflict in Syria now tops three million, the UN said, as US President Barack Obama admitted he has no strategy to tackle advancing jihadists.(ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkish police holds protestors as they clash with leftist protestors on August 28, 2014 in a photo released on August 29, 2014, in Istanbul. Leftsist groups gathered to protest against new Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Istiklal avenue in Istanbul. (OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

A soldier sets defence wire as Ukrainian troops organise their defence on the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on August 29, 2014. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia on August 29 to halt its “illegal” military actions in Ukraine, accusing it of a “dangerous” attempt to destabilise its western neighbour. The conflict raging in eastern Ukraine has killed nearly 2,600 people, the United Nations said on August 29, voicing concern about atrocities committed by armed groups and the increasing involvement of foreign fighters. (ANATOLII BOIKO/AFP/Getty Images)

An Ukrainian soldier digs a trench on the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on August 29, 2014. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia on August 29 to halt its “illegal” military actions in Ukraine, accusing it of a “dangerous” attempt to destabilise its western neighbour. The conflict raging in eastern Ukraine has killed nearly 2,600 people, the United Nations said on August 29, voicing concern about atrocities committed by armed groups and the increasing involvement of foreign fighters. (Alexander KHUDOTEPLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Musicians of Thessaloniki’s State Symphony Orchestra perform during a concert at a metro station construction site in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. (AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)

Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen, 16, drives an F1 car on the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on August 29, 2014, to promote the upcoming Formula 1 VKV City Racing event that will be held in Rotterdam on August 31. (Sander KONING/AFP/Getty Images)

A new born little western black-and-white colobus cuddles with it’s mother at the zoo in Duisburg, Germany, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. The little ape from western Africa is one of only 30 rare animals in Europe. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Indian and Japanese students play at Global Indian International School in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. Japan and India both have much to gain from a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and more than a dozen Indian steel, energy and IT tycoons that begins Saturday in the ancient capital of Kyoto. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A Georgian Orthodox priest and a young mother pray on August 28, 2014 in a photo released on August 29, 2014, during a religious service marking the Day of the Virgin Mary at the Cathedral in Tbilisi. On August 28, Orthodox believers celebrate the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. A(VANO SHLAMOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Immigration officials remove Central American migrants from a northbound freight train during a raid by federal police in San Ramon, Mexico, just after midnight on the morning of Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. The largest crackdown by Mexican authorities on illegal migration in decades has decreased the flow of Central American migrants trying to reach the United States, and has dramatically cut the number of child migrants and families, according to officials and eyewitness accounts along the perilous route.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Metal boards in the shape of gunmen sit on an old bunker at an observation point on Mt. Bental in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights, overlooking the border with Syria near the Quneitra province, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. An armed group detained more than 40 U.N. peacekeepers during fighting in Syria early Thursday and over 80 peacekeepers are trapped, the United Nations said. The peacekeepers were detained on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights during a “period of increased fighting between armed elements and the Syrian Arab Armed Forces,” the office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement. ( AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

U.N. peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, also known as UNDOF, observe Syria’s Quneitra province at an observation point on Mt. Bental in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, overlooking the border with Syria, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. An armed group detained more than 40 U.N. peacekeepers during fighting in Syria early Thursday and over 80 peacekeepers are trapped, the United Nations said. The peacekeepers were detained on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights during a “period of increased fighting between armed elements and the Syrian Arab Armed Forces,” the office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement. ( AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A picture taken from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights shows armed men, reportedly rebel fighters, standing in the Syrian side of the Golan, at the Quneitra border crossing, on August 29, 2014. Israel closed off the area around Quneitra on the occupied Golan Heights after an officer was wounded by stray fire as Syrian rebels seized control of the crossing. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

In country long awash with weapons of war, paintball takes a hold in Afghanistan

A man holds up his gas-powered gun while playing paintball in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL, Afghanistan — The hidden gunman, dressed in long green coveralls and a SWAT-team-style vest and helmet, looks ominous as he takes aim and fires off a short burst.

But this isn’t a Taliban attack in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital — it’s just a friendly game of paintball.

The arrival of recreational paintball to Afghanistan may seem peculiar to outsiders, especially in a country that’s known decades of war, faces constant bombings and attacks by Taliban insurgents and is preparing its own security forces for the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of the year.

However, it shows both the rise of a nascent upper and middle class looking for a diversion with the time to spare, as well as the way American culture has seeped into the country since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban.

Men put on their uniforms before paintball in Kabul, Afghanistan. The appearance of the sport shows both the rise of a nascent upper- and middle-class looking for a diversion with the time to spare, as well as the way American culture has seeped into the country since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

“These people deserve to have more fun,” said Abbas Rizaiy, the owner of the Eagle paintball club in central Kabul.

Rizaiy brought the game to Afghanistan just a few weeks ago. He’s a longtime fan of the first-person shooter video game Call of Duty and stepped up to the next level by playing paintball in neighbouring Iran where he was born.

He moved to Afghanistan 10 years ago and eventually decided to open the club this year in Kabul, a city more associated with real bullets than ones that splatter paint.

For those who have never suffered a welt from the game, paintball involves participants geared up in helmets, goggles and protective clothing firing at each other using gas-powered guns that shoot paint pellets. The games can be complicated affairs that last for hours or as simple as a capture-the-flag contest that lasts only a few minutes.

Afghan Eagle paintball club staff members load paintball bullets into a gas-powered gun in Kabul, Afghanistan. The arrival of recreational paintball to Afghanistan may seem peculiar to outsiders, especially in a country that’s known decades of war, faces constant bombings and attacks by Taliban insurgents and is preparing its own security forces for the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of the year. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Naqibullah Jafari, a marketing officer in Kabul who came with his friends one day, acknowledged that they didn’t have much of a strategy when he took to the field — other than to shoot each other.

“It is my first time that I came here, and I don’t have any special tactics in this game,” he said, with his goggles pushed up to his forehead and his weapon at his side.

Rizaiy said he hasn’t had many issues with the neighbours, though he turned down the speed at which the weapons fire to reduce the noise. Instead, he said the biggest challenge was to get the paintball guns — the ones he imported from India got stuck for six months in Afghanistan’s bureaucracy-laden customs department.

In this Friday, Aug. 22, 2014 photo, a man puts on his glove before playing paintball in Kabul, Afghanistan. Paintball involves participants geared up in helmets, goggles and protective clothing, firing at each other using gas-powered guns that shoot paint pellets. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Paintball is one a small number of leisure activities that have sprung up in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban. A bowling alley called The Strikers opened up a few years ago and a number of pools around the city provide a place for residents to splash around in the summer months. There’s also a nine-hole golf course a short drive outside of Kabul.

But most of these activities are geared toward the city’s small, upper- and middle-class elite who can afford the admission. And customers are overwhelming male because of Afghanistan’s conservative society, which deems it generally not acceptable for women to go to activities involving men who aren’t relatives.

Rizaiy said he’d like women customers, but said women don’t want to be stared at while wearing all the warrior gear.

This year is one of many transitions for Afghanistan, with a presidential election that is still undecided and foreign troops scheduled to leave the country. Rizaiy said he thinks at least some U.S. troops likely will stay, providing stability for Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, his customers seem to appreciate the irony of firing toy guns in a country flooded with the real thing.

“We can use guns for positive things and also for negative things,” customer Ali Noori said. “These guns are for entertainment.”