Six In The Morning Tuesday 13 July 2021

 

Taliban fighters execute 22 Afghan commandos as they try to surrender

By Anna Coren, Sandi Sidhu and Tim Lister, CNN

Updated 1432 GMT (2232 HKT) July 13, 2021

Over clear but unsteady video, the words ring out: "Surrender, commandos, surrender." Several men emerge from a building; they are clearly unarmed.

Gunfire erupts. At least a dozen men are seen shot to death amid cries of "Allahu Akhbar" -- God is Great.

The victims were members of an Afghan Special Forces unit: their executioners, the Taliban. The summary killings took place on June 16 in the town of Dawlat Abad in Faryab province, close to Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan.

American west stuck in cycle of ‘heat, drought and fire’, experts warn

Maanvi Singh in San Francisco

@maanvissingh

Tue 13 Jul 2021 06.00 BST

As fires propagate throughout the US west on the heels of record heatwaves, experts are warning that the region is caught in a vicious feedback cycle of extreme heat, drought and fire, all amplified by the climate crisis.

Firefighters are battling blazes from Arizona to Washington state that are burning with a worrying ferocity, while officials say California is already set to outpace last year’s record-breaking fire season.

Extreme heatwaves over the past few weeks – which have smashed records everywhere from southern California to Nevada and Oregon – are causing the region’s water reserves to evaporate at an alarming rate, said Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida, a climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit advocacy group. And devoid of moisture, the landscape heats up quickly, like a hot plate, desiccating the landscape and turning vegetation into kindling.

Cuba protests: What you need to know

Anger over high prices, long food lines and lack of vital medicines have sparked the biggest protests in Cuba in decades. DW has the overview.

Cuba saw its largest anti-government protests in decades this weekend, with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel cracking down on the demonstrators.

Here's a look at why Cubans are protesting, what it means for the island country, and how the international community has responded.

What is the current situation?

Cuban police were deployed to major cities such as Havana on Monday following the protests a day earlier. Streets in Havana were quiet due to the ramped up police presence.

Unrest spreads in South Africa in wake of Zuma jailing as grievances boil over

Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or burned shopping malls in South Africa on Tuesday, with dozens reported killed as grievances unleashed by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years.

Soldiers were deployed on to the streets as outnumbered police seemed helpless to prevent attacks on businesses in Zuma’s home province KwaZulu-Natal and in Gauteng province, where the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, is located.

"No amount of unhappiness or personal circumstances from our people gives the right to anyone to loot, vandalise and do as they please and break the law," Police Minister Bheki Cele told a news conference, echoing sentiments expressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa overnight.

Tokyo's taxi drivers suffer another blow with no Olympic spectators

In his white gloves, dark suit and tie, taxi driver Yuki Kawaguchi is ready to ferry passengers around Tokyo in style.

But while taking a cab in the Japanese capital is a luxurious experience, drivers face the constant threat of coronavirus infection, and recently suffered another blow to business when Olympic spectators were banned in Tokyo.

Kawaguchi, 26, turns up for work at his taxi firm in the busy district of Shinagawa in jeans and a baggy T-shirt.