Six In The Morning Sunday 1 August 2021

 

Some vaccinated Americans have lost their patience with those refusing the shot as Covid-19 cases surge and mandates return

By Christina Maxouris, CNN

Updated 2226 GMT (0626 HKT) July 31, 2021

John McCullough got a chilling look into the horrors of coronavirus while he worked as a contact tracer for a health department in Alexandria, Virginia.

So he did his part to keep himself and his community safe: mostly stayed home, wore his mask and had only a close group of people he interacted with.

He got vaccinated as soon as he could and was enjoying a return to the normalcy he had longed for. As Covid-19 vaccinations climbed in the spring and cases plummeted, local and state leaders did away with mandates and restrictions meant to curb the spread of the virus. Experts touted that Americans who got their shots could cautiously return to pre-pandemic activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced fully vaccinated people could -- finally -- shed their masks.

Resurgent Taliban escalates nationwide offensive in Afghanistan

Afghan forces defend western city of Herat and Lashkar Gah in south as Kandahar airport hit by rockets

Peter Beaumont and agencies

Sun 1 Aug 2021 13.47 BST

The Taliban escalated its nationwide offensive in Afghanistan on Sunday, renewing assaults on three major cities and rocketing a major airport in the south amid warnings that the conflict was rapidly worsening.

As Afghan government forces struggled with a resurgent Taliban after the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces, hundreds of commandos were deployed to the economically important western city of Herat, while authorities in the southern city of Lashkar Gah called for more troops to rein in the assaults amid fierce fighting.

In Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand – once the focus of UK military efforts – eyewitnesses described street fighting, bodies lying in the open and Afghan government and US airstrikes raining down on Taliban positions.

Germany’s New Climate RealityA Country Races to Prepare for the Unavoidable

Floods, storms, forest fires – events that used to be extreme have become the new normal. Now German officials are building dikes, underground storage tanks and green roofs too avert disaster. Will it be enough?

By Markus Dettmer, Jan Friedmann, Annette Großbongardt, Dietmar Hipp, Philipp Kollenbroich, Ann-Katrin Müller, Christopher Piltz, Hilmar Schmundt und Steffen Winter

They were prepared. Several years ago, in 2014, the hospital management had an expert report prepared at the request of the City of Leverkusen. The aim was to clarify whether the hospital was protected from flooding. Its buildings are located right next to the Dhünn River, which winds around the clinic grounds, a gentle 40-centimeter (16-inch) deep body of water in normal times.

The hospital’s technical rooms are located 12 meters (around 40 feet) from the edge of the river. They house the control center for the normal power source, as well as the emergency power. The specialist recommended installing sheet pile walls, just in case. That were fitted, and everyone was satisfied.

Lebanon’s middle class joins mass exodus – or finds creative ways to survive at home

Thousands of middle-class Lebanese families have moved overseas since the August 4, 2020, blast that rocked the city of Beirut. Some of those leaving town, particularly those who grew up during the 1975-1990 civil war, want a better quality of life and security for their children. But not everyone has the luxury of leaving.

When Fouad Assaf, 51, first felt the tremors of the explosion that rocked the capital last August 4, he rushed to the Red Cross in the hard-hit district of Gemmayze where he has volunteered as a first aid worker for the past 30 years.

As he searched through the rubble for survivors and helped treat the injured, he had a “revelation” – a “huge shock in that I realised that nothing here would change”.

Six months after Myanmar coup, battle for diplomatic recognition

The generals who seized power and the shadow government of overthrown elected officials are jostling for UN credentials.

By John Liu and Rory Wallace

1 Aug 2021

In Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, people are scrambling for hospital beds and looking for oxygen for their COVID-hit family members and friends. Bodies are piling up in cemeteries.

With economic desperation and a deadly virus ravaging the population, neither the military, despite its de facto power, nor the parallel government, with its international influence, has managed to turn the tide of the pandemic or break the political deadlock.

Belarus Olympics: Krystsina Tsimanouskaya refuses to fly home

A Belarusian Olympic athlete has been taken to the airport in Tokyo to fly home after publicly complaining about the national team.

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was due to compete in the women's 200m event on Monday.

But after posting a video complaining about being entered into another race at short notice, she says she was told to pack and taken to the airport.

She has now called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to intervene.

"They are trying to get me out of the country without my permission," she said in a video posted on the Telegram channel of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), a group that supports athletes jailed or sidelined for their political views.