World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Afghanistan live news: country wakes to new era under Taliban after US withdrawal completed
- Hurricane Ida: more than 1m without power as New Orleans assesses damage
- Huge decrease in organ transplants as Covid took hold across world
- Tokyo 2020 Paralympics day 7: road cycling, athletics, basketball and more – live!
- Elizabeth Holmes on trial: jury selection begins Tuesday for Theranos founder
- Trump phone records could be sought by Capitol attack panel, reports say
- Berlin’s university canteens go almost meat-free as students prioritise climate
- Nike gives head office staff a week off for mental health break
- New Zealand flash floods force evacuations in Auckland, motorists rescued by jet ski
- New Zealand minister’s TV interview interrupted by son waving phallic carrot
- Coronavirus live news: New Zealand cases drop for second day, Japan blames vaccine contamination on needles
- What is C.1.2, the new Covid variant in South Africa, and should we be worried?
- Oregon counties request trucks for bodies as Covid overwhelms morgues
- Native American tribes enforce mask mandates regardless of state bans
- Angela Merkel’s 16-year battle with the centrifugal forces of politics
- How the US created a world of endless war
- ‘We were called heretics and ostracised’: the Stranglers on fights, drugs and finally growing up
- Top chumps: who will Succession’s Logan Roy choose as his heir?
- The schoolday I’ll never forget: ‘We were told about periods – and I wanted to disappear’
- Are slogan hats the new slogan T-shirts?
- MPs trying to rescue more than 7,000 people trapped in Afghanistan
- International talks aim for consensus on Taliban government
- Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city
- New Zealand Covid update: cases drop to 49 in ‘reassuring indication’ lockdown is working
- Two anti-lockdown leaders arrested as protests held across Australia and New Zealand
- Racism doesn’t just exist within aid. It’s the structure the sector is built on | Themrise Khan
- I have a 50/50 chance of inheriting Huntington’s disease – should I take a test to find out? | Lillian Hanly
- West may benefit from pragmatic approach after defeat to Taliban
- Final US evacuation flight leaves Afghanistan, ending 20-year military presence – video
- NZ minister's son crashes live Zoom TV interview with deformed vegetable – video
- Celebratory shots ring out above Kabul after US troops leave – video
- NSW Covid-19 update: 1,164 cases as intensive care nurse says patients 'sickest we've seen' – video
- Fifty percent: Short film asks 'Is it better to know your future or live in the moment?' – video
- Pentagon 'not in position to dispute' Kabul drone strike claims – video
- WHO expects 236,000 more Covid deaths in Europe by 1 December – video
| Afghanistan live news: country wakes to new era under Taliban after US withdrawal completed Posted: 31 Aug 2021 01:07 AM PDT Biden confirms end of 20-year military presence; US secretary of state says support for Taliban 'will have to be earned'; Taliban fire guns into the air in Kabul in celebration
As the last US military transport aircraft lifted off from Kabul airport on Monday night, marking the end of two decades of American troops in Afghanistan, celebratory gunfire rang out the capital as Taliban fighters revelled in the end of America's longest war. Just two weeks earlier, Taliban fighters had taken Kabul and toppled the government without force as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. It was a rise to power so swift that it had taken the US and even Taliban leadership by surprise. Related: Gunfire fills the air in Kabul as Taliban celebrate airport takeover
Lord David Richards, former chief of the defence staff, criticised the UK and US response to the situation in Afghanistan. He told BBC Breakfast: A lot of lives have been lost, not just British service lives, also many Afghans, and hundreds of thousands of Afghan lives are now facing ruin when they had some hope. I'm afraid our political leadership, and in particular President Biden over the last six months, have let those people down, us and the Afghans. The fact is, we've been defeated by the Taliban and the Taliban had agreed August 31 with the Americans, and, while I don't for one moment take sides with the Taliban, I can see why they said enough is enough. Continue reading... |
| Hurricane Ida: more than 1m without power as New Orleans assesses damage Posted: 31 Aug 2021 12:52 AM PDT Crews using helicopters and airboats conduct search and rescue missions after at least two people killed More than 1 million homes and businesses remained without power in and around New Orleans on Monday as residents and authorities began to assess "catastrophic" damage from Hurricane Ida, a 150mph monster storm that was the most powerful ever to hit Louisiana. Related: New Orleans battered by Hurricane Ida as storm claims first victim in Louisiana Continue reading... |
| Huge decrease in organ transplants as Covid took hold across world Posted: 30 Aug 2021 03:30 PM PDT UK and international studies show the impact pandemic has had on health services and patients The number of solid organ transplants fell dramatically around the world between 2019 and 2020, researchers have found, highlighting the widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health services and patients. As the pandemic surged, hospitals were forced to delay potentially life-saving organ transplant surgery, because of resources such as intensive care beds being needed for Covid patients and because of concerns including whether it was safe to treat transplant recipients in hospital. Continue reading... |
| Tokyo 2020 Paralympics day 7: road cycling, athletics, basketball and more – live! Posted: 31 Aug 2021 01:44 AM PDT
Swimming: Reece Dunn does it in the 200m individual medley, in 2:08:02. A straightforward swim: hit the front during the butterfly, held the lead through the backstroke, gave away some ground during the breaststroke. All eyes would have been on Gabriel Bandeira coming into the last lap, because the Brazilian has had a brilliant Games and is a powerful freestyle sprinter. But Bandeira was lagging through the breaststroke lap. He turned... I don't know, fifth or sixth it looked like? But powered through the freestyle lap to end up with silver. Dunn needed a world record to hold him off. Bronze, Vasyl Krainyk for Ukraine.
Football: Angel Deldo Garcia has added a second goal for Argentina against Thailand in the 5-a-side. |
| Elizabeth Holmes on trial: jury selection begins Tuesday for Theranos founder Posted: 30 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT The medical startup CEO is charged with six counts of fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison The first phase of the trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will start on Tuesday, with jury selection scheduled in a San Jose, California, courthouse. Holmes is charged with six counts of fraud relating to her now-defunct medical startup. The company, founded in 2003, claimed it would revolutionize the medical testing space with a new blood diagnostic technology that could perform a range of tests on a small dose of blood. The claims were later revealed to be largely fabricated. Continue reading... |
| Trump phone records could be sought by Capitol attack panel, reports say Posted: 30 Aug 2021 01:22 PM PDT
Donald Trump's phone records from the day of the 6 January Capitol insurrection could be among those requested by the congressional committee looking into the deadly attack, it was reported on Monday. Related: Hurricane Ida: up to 2 million without power as New Orleans assesses damage Continue reading... |
| Berlin’s university canteens go almost meat-free as students prioritise climate Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:00 PM PDT The 34 outlets catering to students at four universities will offer only a single meat option four days a week Students at universities in Berlin will from this winter swap currywurst and schnitzel for seeds and pulses, as campus canteens in the German capital make heavy cuts to their meat and fish options. The 34 canteens and cafes catering to Berlin's sizeable student population at four different universities will offer from October a menu that is 68% vegan, 28% vegetarian, and 2% fish-based, with a single meat option offered four days a week. Continue reading... |
| Nike gives head office staff a week off for mental health break Posted: 31 Aug 2021 12:21 AM PDT Sportswear and sneaker brand joins dating app Bumble in offering extra time off in Covid pandemic Nike has given its head office employees in the US a week off to "destress" and recover from the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sportswear and trainers brand said workers at its headquarters in Oregon would be "powering down" until Friday, with senior leaders encouraging staff to ignore all work responsibilities to aid their mental health. Continue reading... |
| New Zealand flash floods force evacuations in Auckland, motorists rescued by jet ski Posted: 30 Aug 2021 06:02 PM PDT Floods came after unexpectedly heavy rains, with as much as 90mm per hour hitting the city through the night Aucklanders have been forced to evacuate their homes in the middle of the night due to flash flooding, after New Zealand's largest city was hit by unexpectedly heavy rainfall. Evacuations were carried out in the suburbs of west Auckland and nearby townships, such as Kumeu and Piha, with firefighters having to use jet skis to reach motorists trapped in their cars, according to the New Zealand Herald. Continue reading... |
| New Zealand minister’s TV interview interrupted by son waving phallic carrot Posted: 30 Aug 2021 06:50 PM PDT Carmel Sepuloni said she would 'never buy the odd shaped carrot pack again' after 'almost wrestling' with son over vegetable A New Zealand cabinet minister has become the latest public figure to be embarrassed by an unfortunate incident involving a video call after her live TV interview was interrupted by her son, who entered the room excitedly brandishing a phallic carrot. Carmel Sepuloni, the minister for social development, was doing a live Zoom interview with Radio Samoa when her grinning son burst through the door behind her, holding an oddly shaped carrot he'd apparently found among the groceries. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2021 01:06 AM PDT Drop in New Zealand cases is 'reassuring indication' lockdown is working, country's director-general of health says, Japan says it's likely that Moderna vaccines were contaminated when needles were stuck into vials
Nike has given its head office employees in the US a week off to "destress" and recover from the pressures of the Covid pandemic. The sportswear and trainers brand said workers at its headquarters in Oregon would be "powering down" until Friday, with senior leaders encouraging staff to ignore all work responsibilities to aid their mental health. Take the time to unwind, destress and spend time with your loved ones. Do not work. In a year (or two) unlike any other, taking time for rest and recovery is key to performing well and staying sane." Related: Nike gives head office staff a week off for mental health break
South Korean officials have expressed "cautious hope" that Covid transmissions are starting to slow, after battling the country's worst wave of infections for weeks. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported the country's lowest daily jump in about two weeks with 1,372 cases on Tuesday. Officials have been enforcing the strongest social distancing restrictions short of a lockdown in the capital of Seoul and other large population centres, including banning private social gatherings of three or more people after 6pm. A senior health ministry official pleaded for citizens to remain vigilant ahead of next month's Chuseok holidays, the Korean version of Thanksgiving, when millions usually travel across the country to meet relatives. Continue reading... |
| What is C.1.2, the new Covid variant in South Africa, and should we be worried? Posted: 30 Aug 2021 10:01 PM PDT The C.1.2 strain has scientists' attention because it possesses mutations within the genome similar to those seen in variants of interest, like Delta A new Covid variant detected in South Africa has made headlines around the world. On Monday the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa issued an alert about the "C.1.2 lineage", saying it had been detected in all provinces in the country, but at a relatively low rate. Continue reading... |
| Oregon counties request trucks for bodies as Covid overwhelms morgues Posted: 30 Aug 2021 02:46 PM PDT Hospitals, funeral homes and crematoriums 'at the edge of crisis capacity' Two Oregon counties hit hard by Covid-19 are running out of space to hold bodies amid an intense surge in cases that is overwhelming the state's healthcare system, forcing authorities to request refrigerated trucks to help handle the overflow. In Josephine county, located in the state's south-west, the local hospital is exceeding its body storage capacity and the area's five funeral homes and three crematoriums are "at the edge of crisis capacity daily", the county emergency manager told the state last week. Meanwhile, Tillamook county, on Oregon's north-west coast, reported that its sole funeral home "is now consistently at or exceeding their capacity" of nine bodies. Continue reading... |
| Native American tribes enforce mask mandates regardless of state bans Posted: 31 Aug 2021 12:40 AM PDT As sovereign nations, Indigenous groups are using their authority to make their own rules to protect students and teachers Native American tribes across the handful of US states with bans on school mask mandates have asserted their powers as sovereign nations to defy the orders, with many also implementing their own testing and vaccine directives for tens of thousands of students and faculty in schools on their reservations as Covid-19 cases surge. "It's not solely a matter of someone's life, which is in it of itself hugely impactful, but also those ways of being, cultural traditions, language and work that also sometimes pass with our Native speakers." |
| Angela Merkel’s 16-year battle with the centrifugal forces of politics Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:00 PM PDT As the German chancellor prepares to leave office, it is clear her long leadership has had one key central theme As Maren Heinzerling crossed hands with the most powerful woman in the world, leaned backwards and started to spin her dance partner in a circle, she began to worry. "What are you doing," the retired railway engineer recalled thinking. "You are spinning around the room with Angela Merkel." Heinzerling had to grip the chancellor's hands tighter as they span faster with each rotation. Continue reading... |
| How the US created a world of endless war Posted: 30 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT In 2008, many of Barack Obama's supporters hoped he would bring the global war on terror to a close. Instead, he expanded it – and his successors have done nothing to change course On 23 May 2013, the peace activist Medea Benjamin attended a speech by President Barack Obama at Fort McNair in Washington DC, where he defended his administration's use of armed drones in counter-terrorism. During his speech, Benjamin interrupted the president to criticise him for not having closed Guantánamo Bay and for pursuing military solutions over diplomatic ones. She was swiftly ejected by military police and the Secret Service. The Washington Post later dismissed her as a "heckler". Obama himself had been more reflective at the event, engaging with her criticisms, which led to even deeper self-criticism of his own. It was the moment of greatest moral clarity about war during a presidency that did more than any other to bring its endless and humane American form fully into being. For all its routine violence, the American way of war is more and more defined by a near complete immunity from harm for the American side and unprecedented care when it comes to killing people on the other. Today, there are more and more legal obligations to make war more humane – meaning, above all, the aim of minimising collateral harm. Countries like the US have agreed to obey those obligations, however permissively they interpret them and inadequately apply them in the field. Absolutely and relatively, fewer captives are mistreated and fewer civilians die than in the past. Yet, at the same time, the US's military operations have become more expansive in scope and perpetual in time by virtue of these very facts. Continue reading... |
| ‘We were called heretics and ostracised’: the Stranglers on fights, drugs and finally growing up Posted: 30 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT They brawled with the Sex Pistols, gaffer-taped a journalist to the Eiffel Tower and got thrown out of Sweden twice. Now, for their 18th album and final tour, the punks seem to be maturing at last As Jean-Jacques Burnel drily admits, the Stranglers had "a bad reputation for quite a while". During the punk years, their many outrages ranged from being escorted out of Sweden by police with machine-guns (twice) to gaffer-taping a music journalist to the Eiffel Tower, 400ft up, upside down, without his trousers. However, the singer and bass player says the biggest outcry actually came when they got themselves a keyboard player. "It was seen as sacrilege," he laughs, recalling this supposed affront to the ramshackle garage punk ethos. "And worse than that – he had a synthesiser. We were called heretics and ostracised. Nobody wanted anything to to do with us. But look what happened a couple of years later: synth pop!" Continue reading... |
| Top chumps: who will Succession’s Logan Roy choose as his heir? Posted: 31 Aug 2021 01:00 AM PDT As the Roy siblings strategise their next moves, get one step ahead with our at-a-glance stats of their potential for success (or, more likely, disaster) Continue reading... |
| The schoolday I’ll never forget: ‘We were told about periods – and I wanted to disappear’ Posted: 30 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT Were any of us really ready for the news that we would bleed each month? Only one reaction made sense. Destroy all the sanitary towels Let me take you back to south-west London circa 1988. Eddi Reader singing, "It's got to be-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee perrrrrrrr-fect" on the radio and Margaret Thatcher in No 10 for all eternity. A time when internalised misogyny is so deeply internalised that no one knows it exists. I'm nine-ish, sporting a dark-blue checked dress and a nonchalant expression – and at school we're learning about periods. By this point, everything I know about menstruation, nay life, probably comes from the author Judy Blume. My best friend Galia and I start writing letters to one another that begin "Are You There God? It's Me, CHITRA!" In a few years copies of Forever will be traded in the playground with a vigour currently only applied to Garbage Pail Kids cards. It's a difficult period (the other kind). I'm one of those children who loves being a child and – spoiler alert – will turn into an adult who, in fundamental ways, remains one. I'm deeply unhappy about the dark hair sprouting in places I don't want to know about and the budding discs of tenderness in my chest. The word puberty makes me dissolve into giggles or pull faces. Time, as far as I'm concerned, can be rewound as easily as a pencil inserted into a C-90 cassette tape. I don't want to grow up. Continue reading... |
| Are slogan hats the new slogan T-shirts? Posted: 30 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT Baseball caps and bucket hats used to be about accessibility. But a new school of wearers are using them to express something about themselves Spotting a man wearing a baseball cap that featured only the name Rachel Cusk, the British author beloved of LRB subscribers, stopped me mid-scroll. A cultural commentator I follow had posted a selfie to his Instagram feed saying: "Copped the hottest hat." Continue reading... |
| MPs trying to rescue more than 7,000 people trapped in Afghanistan Posted: 30 Aug 2021 10:57 AM PDT Figure dwarfs 800 to 1,100 Afghans eligible for resettlement defence secretary said would be left behind MPs are scrambling to rescue more than 7,000 constituents and family members trapped in Afghanistan, according to figures provided to the Guardian, dwarfing the only estimates provided by the government of the number left behind. Scores of Labour MPs have been inundated with pleas for help from thousands of constituents whose relatives have been left stranded since the UK's final emergency airlift left Kabul following the country's rapid fall to the Taliban. Among them are children, disabled relatives and people who face persecution due to their work, all with potential eligibility to be resettled in Britain. Continue reading... |
| International talks aim for consensus on Taliban government Posted: 30 Aug 2021 05:41 AM PDT Western G7 powers are meeting Turkey, Qatar and Nato in Doha to discuss how Kabul airport could be reopened Talks are under way in Doha and New York to try to reach an international consensus on the conditions for recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan. There are signs of tensions between superpowers after Russia called on the US to release Afghan central bank reserves that Washington blocked after the Taliban's takeover of Kabul earlier this month. "If our western colleagues are actually worried about the fate of the Afghan people, then we must not create additional problems for them by freezing gold and foreign exchange reserves," said the Kremlin's envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov. Continue reading... |
| Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city Posted: 30 Aug 2021 07:23 AM PDT At least three people dead and trail of explosive booby traps left across Araçatuba in São Paulo state Bank robbers armed with explosives and high-powered rifles have plunged a Brazilian city into terror early Monday, taking civilians hostage and even putting some on their cars while making their escape. Video shared on social media showed a booming shootout and men dressed in black marching hostages down a street in Araçatuba, 320 miles from São Paulo and home to almost 200,000 people. Continue reading... |
| New Zealand Covid update: cases drop to 49 in ‘reassuring indication’ lockdown is working Posted: 30 Aug 2021 07:37 PM PDT Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said virus' reproduction rate remained under one, meaning cases would continue to drop New cases of Covid-19 have continued to drop in New Zealand, in a promising early indication that the country's strict lockdown is working and its latest outbreak may be coming under control. The country announced 49 new cases on Tuesday – dropping for the second day in a row, down from 53 cases on Monday and 83 on Sunday. It is the lowest number of new cases reported in the country in six days. Continue reading... |
| Two anti-lockdown leaders arrested as protests held across Australia and New Zealand Posted: 31 Aug 2021 01:44 AM PDT Police arrest Australian-born conspiracy theorist Karen Brewer in Kaikohe and and Reignite Democracy Australia leader Monica Smit in Melbourne, in separate incidents
Two leaders of the anti-lockdown movement have been arrested in Australia and New Zealand in separate incidents, on the same day protests were held in defiance of stay-at-home orders in both countries. On Tuesday morning New Zealand police arrested 19 people during what they described as a series of "small" demonstrations outside government and local council buildings. Continue reading... |
| Racism doesn’t just exist within aid. It’s the structure the sector is built on | Themrise Khan Posted: 31 Aug 2021 12:01 AM PDT To disrupt colonial power inequalities, the global south needs to take more control There have been many studies published recently on the prevalence of racism in the international aid sector. They have ranged from definitions of racial equity within global development, to the experiences of black, indigenous and other people of colour working in the sector, to the British government's delayed sub-inquiry into racism as part of a larger inquiry into the culture and philosophy of UK aid. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 30 Aug 2021 01:00 PM PDT A coin toss could give me two completely different lives. But once I know the result there's no going back I've spent most of my life knowing I may have inherited a faulty gene that would cause Huntington's disease, a neurodegenerative disease that can be fatal. My grandad had the disease, my mum has it, and I am yet to take the test to find out if I have it too. It's a 50/50 chance of inheritance. Right now, I am happily ignorant of whether I carry the mutation or not. A coin toss could give me two completely different lives. Once I know the results, there's no going back. So far, everyone who has been tested in my family has tested positive. It seems the odds are against me. I'm 27 years old, and I'm starting to think seriously about my future, whether that is moving overseas or contemplating having children. Whatever big decisions I am facing now, I can't help but wonder, could this disease overshadow them? I explore this tension in a newly released short documentary, Fifty Percent. Related: After the Nobel, what next for Crispr gene-editing therapies? Continue reading... |
| West may benefit from pragmatic approach after defeat to Taliban Posted: 30 Aug 2021 06:36 AM PDT Analysis: forging an acceptable agreement with new Afghan regime will require careful diplomacy The history of war is littered with losing parties struggling to accept the terms or even the fact of their defeat. At the end of the first world war, Germany's then chancellor Philipp Scheidemann announced: "May the hand wither that binds us in such shackles." Some of the demands by the US and its allies on how the Taliban must behave now contain similar self-denial. It is as if the US remains in control of Kabul, as orders are issued on future Taliban actions ranging from the release of refugees to the future makeup of the government, its counter-terrorism policies and the place of women in society. Continue reading... |
| Final US evacuation flight leaves Afghanistan, ending 20-year military presence – video Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:48 PM PDT The 20-year US military presence in Afghanistan is over. The head of US Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie, announced just after midnight Tuesday morning, 31 August, that the last flight out of Kabul was 'now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan'. 'Tonight's withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11 2001,' he said. United States secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a speech a few hours later that a 'new chapter' with America's engagement with Afghanistan had begun. 'It's one in which we will lead with our diplomacy. The military mission is over,' he said. After 20 years, last US flight departs Kabul, leaving Afghanistan to its fate Continue reading... |
| NZ minister's son crashes live Zoom TV interview with deformed vegetable – video Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:35 PM PDT New Zealand's social development minister Carmel Sepuloni said she would 'never buy the odd shaped carrot pack again' after 'almost wrestling' with son over vegetable Continue reading... |
| Celebratory shots ring out above Kabul after US troops leave – video Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:19 PM PDT Celebratory shots rang out in Kabul as the United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban's return to power. Footage from inside the city in the early hours of Tuesday morning showed loud gunfire ringing out, lighting up the skyline as Taliban fighters fired into the sky to mark the end of two decades of US military presence. Video released by the Taliban shows Taliban fighters walking through Kabul airport after the US forces had left. Continue reading... |
| NSW Covid-19 update: 1,164 cases as intensive care nurse says patients 'sickest we've seen' – video Posted: 30 Aug 2021 07:06 PM PDT New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced 1,164 new cases of locally acquired Covid-19, and three more deaths. Intensive care nurse at Liverpool hospital, Michelle Dowd, described how physically and emotionally hard the work in ICU is caring for Covid patients. She said, 'These patients are some of the sickest we've ever seen. They require so much support and monitoring and physical care. We're in layers of PPE, sometimes for hours at a time' ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
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| Fifty percent: Short film asks 'Is it better to know your future or live in the moment?' – video Posted: 30 Aug 2021 01:36 PM PDT With a 50% chance of inheriting a fatal disease, is it better to know your future or live in the moment? Lillian Hanly has a 50/50 chance of inheriting Huntington's, a neurodegenerative disease. With a number of her family testing positive for the gene, and her mother already affected by it, she must come to a decision: Get tested now or continue to live on, in the unknown. Fifty Percent is part of the Loading Docs 2021 collection. The films can be viewed online via www.loadingdocs.net Continue reading... |
| Pentagon 'not in position to dispute' Kabul drone strike claims – video Posted: 30 Aug 2021 12:44 PM PDT The Pentagon has said it is investigating reports of civilian casualties from a drone strike on Sunday in Kabul, but is 'not in a position to dispute' accounts from the scene of nine people from one family being killed, including seven children. US military officials continued to insist however that the strike hit an Islamic State car bomb, pointing to 'secondary explosions' at the scene. That conflicted with reports from Kabul, that the targeted vehicle belonged to a civilian and that children were in it when it was struck by a missile from a US drone. Initial reports said at least 10 people were killed, nine from the same family, who lived on the street where the attack happened, adding to the bloodshed and chaos of the last days of the 20-year US military presence. Among the dead were three two-year-olds, two three-year-olds and two 10-year-olds, according to reports from Kabul Continue reading... |
| WHO expects 236,000 more Covid deaths in Europe by 1 December – video Posted: 30 Aug 2021 12:05 PM PDT Senior officials at the World Health Organization have cited stagnating vaccination rates and low uptake in poorer countries as reasons so many Covid deaths are predicted. 'Last week, there was an 11% increase in the number of deaths in the region – one reliable projection is expecting 236,000 deaths in Europe, by 1 December,' WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said. Kluge attributed the higher transmission to the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, an 'exaggerated easing' of restrictions and measures, and a surge in summer travel. While about half of people in Europe are fully vaccinated, vaccination uptake in the region has slowed, Kluge said. Europe has registered about 1.3 million Covid deaths
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