The Taliban knocked on her door 3 times. The fourth time, they killed her
Updated 1030 GMT (1830 HKT) August 17, 2021
Najia was at home with her three young sons and daughter in a small village in northern Afghanistan when Taliban fighters knocked on their door.
Exxon’s oil drilling gamble off Guyana coast ‘poses major environmental risk’
ExxonMobil’s huge new Guyana project faces charges of a disregard for safety from experts who claim the company has failed to adequately prepare for possible disaster, the Guardian and Floodlight have found.
Exxon has been extracting oil from Liza 1, an ultra-deepwater drilling operation, since 2019 – part of an expansive project spanning more than 6m acres off the coast of Guyana that includes 17 additional prospects in the exploration and preparatory phases.
By 2025, the company expects to produce 800,000 barrels of oil a day, surpassing estimates for its entire oil and natural gas production in the south-western US Permian basin by 100,000 barrels that year. Guyana would then represent Exxon’s largest single source of fossil fuel production anywhere in the world.
Tensions rise as Iranian dams cut off Iraqi water supplies
Drought in Iran is sparking protests, but its strategy of building dams to conserve water has devastating consequences across the border in Iraq.
Alqod Mahmoud stands on the bank of the Diyala River, staring helplessly into the stagnant pond where deep waters once swelled. Diyala means "shouting river" in Kurdish. But, these days, it's barely a whisper.
The rainy season in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) usually lasts less than three months of the year. But, in Mahmoud's village of Topkhana, which depends on the Diyala to water its crops, locals say the situation has never been as bad as this year.
Three years ago, Mahmoud, who, at 33 years old, is Topkhana's mukhtar, or village leader, invested $1,700 in a new pump to bring water from the Diyala to irrigate his fields. Now, the pipe hangs uselessly over a bed of dry gravel. What remains of the river runs too far from the village, and too low, to water its fields.
Thousands evacuated in southern France as wildfire spreads
Hundreds of French firefighters battled a raging blaze near the Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez on Tuesday, with thousands of residents and holidaymakers forced to evacuate.
Roughly 750 firefighters using high-pressure hoses and water-dropping aircraft were attempting to control the flames, which began racing through a nature reserve on Monday evening.
"Thousands of people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, but there are no victims," fire service spokeswoman Delphine Vienco told AFP on Tuesday morning, adding that the blaze was "still very fierce".
Detainee says China has secret ‘black site’ in Dubai, holds Uighurs
By Nomaan Merchant
A young Chinese woman says she was held for eight days at a Chinese-run secret detention facility in Dubai along with at least two Uighurs, in what may be the first evidence that China is operating a so-called “black site” beyond its borders.
The woman, 26-year-old Wu Huan, was on the run to avoid extradition back to China because her fiancé was considered a Chinese dissident. Wu told The Associated Press she was abducted from a hotel in Dubai and detained by Chinese officials at a villa converted into a jail, where she saw or heard two other prisoners, both Uighurs.
Will the Taliban takeover lead to a new European refugee crisis?
Since 2015, European nations have fortified their borders, meaning large flows of refugees are unlikely, analysts say.
As European countries scramble to react to the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan, debates are emerging about whether the continent will experience a major increase in asylum seekers.
Amid scenes of chaos in Kabul airport on Monday, where thousands of Afghan’s desperately attempted to board the few planes leaving the country, EU leaders made promises to secure the safety of Afghan staff who worked with their armies and diplomatic staff.
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