What Will Become of the Afghans Left Behind?
By Matthias Gebauer, Konstantin von Hammerstein, Christoph Hickmann, Christiane Hoffmann, Muriel Kalisch, Martin Knobbe, Steffen Lüdke, Maximilian Popp, Fidelius Schmid, Anna-Sophie Schneider, Thore Schröder und Christoph Schult
His voice was bursting with agitation. "Please, help us!" Abdullah Arash said over the phone. "We don’t have much time left."
The conversation took place on Tuesday, Arash was hiding with his wife and two children at a friend’s apartment in Kabul. He had hardly been outside for several days, with both he and his family paralyzed by fear. They are afraid of the Taliban.
Fears grow for Afghan refugees stuck in ‘Kafkaesque’ Poland-Belarus standoff
Fears are growing for a group of Afghan refugees who fled their country last month and made their way to Europe, only to find themselves marooned on the border between Poland and Belarus in a “Kafkaesque” political standoff.
The 32 refugees – women, men, and a child of 15 years old – have been stuck in a small, muddy patch of land between the two countries for almost three weeks with no access to clean water, insufficient shelter and intermittent food supplies, according to a Polish NGO.
Despite seeking international protection in Poland, they are not being allowed in, with border guards preventing them from entering. Neither are they being allowed back into Belarus, where they came from in the hope of being able to cross into the European Union.
Afghan athletes complete harrowing journey to arrive in Tokyo for 2021 Paralympics
Afghan athletes Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli have arrived in Tokyo, via what's been described as a harrowing journey from Kabul to Paris, to compete in the Paralympics.
For now, they are sequestered in the Paralympics Village alongside Tokyo Bay and will not be available for media interviews during their stay — before or after they compete. And where they go after the Games close on Sept. 5 is unclear.
The International Paralympic Committee said they arrived in Tokyo from Paris early on Saturday evening, having passed all the required COVID-19 tests to enter Japan. IPC spokesman Craig Spence said they'd need a few days to get their bearing and needed some privacy.
Israel bombs Hamas sites in Gaza after protests
The Israeli military says its aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza early in response to incendiary balloons launched from the besieged Palestinian enclave as a recent rise in violence tests a fragile truce that ended a deadly assault on Gaza in May.
The army said on Sunday hundreds of Palestinians gathered along the separation barrier between Israel and the Gaza Strip during the night, hurling explosives and burning tyres and that troops responded with “riot dispersal means”.
More Moderna vaccine contamination detected in Okinawa
Okinawa Prefecture suspended the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday after another contamination was spotted, the local government said.
It comes a day after the Japanese health ministry said it was investigating the death of two men who received shots from tainted Moderna batches -- though the cause of their death is unknown.
Okinawa prefectural government officials said Sunday's vaccination program was partially postponed.
Herat under the Taliban: residents on the new rulers
The BBC has been speaking to people in Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city, with a population estimated to be more than 500,000.
It’s a strategically important provincial capital in the west of the country, and is close to the borders with Iran and Turkmenistan.
Residents said their lives had totally changed living since the Taliban control, and that they fear for their safety.
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