Saturday, August 21, 2021

Six In The Morning Saturday 21 August 2021

 




‘Trapped in hell’: Kabul airport chaos casts doubt on US promise of safe evacuation


There is no coherent system, and those who do make it to the airport face days stuck waiting to board flights

 South Asia correspondent

In a voice quivering with fear and exhaustion, Sara pleaded down the phone: “Please, get us out of here. The situation is very bad, we are trapped in a hell.”

For the past four days, Sara, who asked for her real name not to be used, has waited with her family among the thousands of people outside the gates of Kabul airport, desperately trying to board a US evacuation flight.


In the past few days, she said she had seen more than 15 people, including children, shot before her eyes, witnessed her uncle beaten brutally by Taliban fighters and had her nights on the hard street outside the airport gates interrupted by crowd surges and the panic-inducing crack of gunfire.


Greece erects fence at Turkey border amid expected surge in Afghan refugees

Taliban takeover fuels fears in European Union of repeat of 2015 refugee crisis

Emily Goddard@emilysgoddard


Greece has erected a 25-mile fence and installed a new surveillance system on its border with Turkey in anticipation of a surge in Afghan refugees trying to reach Europe.

The Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan has fuelled concerns in the European Union of a repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis, when nearly a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond crossed to Greece from Turkey before travelling north to wealthier states.

Greece was on the front line of that crisis and has said its border forces are on alert to ensure it does not become Europe’s gateway again.


Climate activist meets coal worker: Are we destroying our future? | Flipping the script




Megaship that blocked Suez crosses canal again


Taiwanese-operated vessel steamed out of the Suez last month after the owners reached a compensation deal with Egypt.


The giant container ship Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March, crossed the waterway again for the first time since it left Egypt after the incident.

The ship, en route from the United Kingdom to China, entered the canal on Friday among a convoy of 26 vessels sailing from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement. Another 36 ships crossed the waterway from the south.


Australia suffers its worst day of Covid-19 pandemic as anti-lockdown protests flare

Updated 0910 GMT (1710 HKT) August 21, 2021



Thousands of protesters defied coronavirus lockdowns to hit the streets of Australia's largest cities on Saturday, as the country recorded its highest single-day caseload since the pandemic began.

The states of New South Wales (NSW) -- home to Australia's most populous city, Sydney -- and Victoria reported a total of 886 infections Saturday, amid a raging outbreak of the Delta variant.
Hundreds of unmasked protesters were seen marching through Melbourne's Central Business District before confronting police hours after a snap lockdown was announced for the entire state of Victoria.


University students attending virtual classes struggle with isolation

By Manami Misono



Mio Shinkawa, a sophomore who attends a private university in Tokyo, took all her classes virtually in her first year and failed to make a single new friend.

When her second year started in April, she finally began in-person classes once a week. Nevertheless, her experience so far has made her question whether she feels like a college student at all.

"I think to myself, 'Who the heck am I?" Mio, 20, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.

Every day, she repeats the "task" of taking her l




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