Six In The Morning Sunday 19 June 2022

 

These children lost young parents to Covid-19. Here's what they want other kids -- and adults -- to know

By Holly Yan, CNN

Updated 1528 GMT (2328 HKT) June 19, 2022

A 5-year-old had just finished his first day of kindergarten when he watched his young mother collapse and take her final breaths. A 13-year-old has suffered panic attacks since her dad's death. A 17-year-old must face adulthood without his idol.

More than 202,000 US children have lost one or both parents to Covid-19, according estimates from Imperial College London. And the number of children robbed of their parents keeps growing.

While life in the US might seem more like it did before Covid-19, the disease is still claiming hundreds of American lives every day -- including young parents who likely never imagined leaving their children to grow up without them.

‘Let’s make history’: Colombia could elect first leftist president in runoff

The election is being contested by mayor of Bogotá Gustavo Petro and populist business tycoon Rodolfo Hernández

Joe Parkin Daniels

@joeparkdan

Sun 19 Jun 2022 10.00 BST

Voters head to the polls in Colombia on Sunday in a historic presidential election that could see the left win for the first time in the conservative South American country.

Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla and mayor of Bogotá, will face off against Rodolfo Hernández, a populist business tycoon and the former mayor of the city of Bucaramanga, in a contest where both candidates have cast themselves as political outsiders.

Both men are divisive, gaff-prone and high-handed, and the campaign ahead of the election was bitter, with each candidate accusing the other of corruption. Hernández – who is under investigation for graft – refused to debate Petro and briefly relocated to Miami after claiming his life was at risk.

Russia sanctions: Which brands are severing ties over Ukraine invasion?

Banks, businesses, oligarchs, politicians and military leaders all targeted with harsh economic penalties by Western democracies as punishment for Vladimir Putin’s actions

Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Almost four months have passed since Russian president Vladmir Putin began his deadly invasion of Ukraine, triggering global condemnation and a raft of sanctions and economic penalties in the hope of bringing the aggressor to its knees by targeting its leaders and tanking its economy.

The Ukrainian military and its people have mounted a heroic resistance since the fighting began, but, more than 100 days on, Russia continues to make gradual incursions in the country’s south and east, destroying whole cities in the process, despite clearly finding the fightback much tougher than anticipated and its own forces less well-prepared and equipped than assumed.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has meanwhile won the admiration of the world by staying in Kyiv to rally his people and urge heads of state across the globe to keep on donating military hardware and funding to support the defensive effort.

High CasualtiesRussia Pulls Out All the Stops to Find Fresh Troops

The Russian army is suffering high casualties in the war against Ukraine and Vladimir Putin badly needs fresh troops. He wants to avoid a general mobilization, so the military is relying on other methods.

By Christina Hebel in Moscow

Kirill Krechetov still has clear memories of the moment he found the white-and-red envelope in his mailbox. Inside was a summons instructing him to show up the next day at his local draft office. "Damn it, now I have to go to Ukraine," he recalls cursing to himself. Over the telephone, he says he was immediately filled with fear.

Krechetov, 35, is a construction worker and the father of a two-year-old daughter. He lives in Nizhny Novgorod, located about seven hours by car east of Moscow. Speaking rapidly, he asks that his real name not be used out of concern for his safety. Ten years ago, Krechetov completed his mandatory military service with a special unit belonging to the military intelligence agency GRU, and he is now a private first class in the reserves.

Hundreds protest in Tunis against Saied's constitutional referendum plan

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Tunis on Sunday in a second day of protest against a constitutional referendum called by President Kais Saied that his opponents say would cement his hold on power.

The demonstration was organised by the Salvation Front, a coalition including the moderate Islamist Ennahda, the largest party in a parliament that Saied dissolved in March.

It followed a similar protest on Saturday called by the Free Constitutional Party over the referendum, and a strike on Thursday by a powerful labour union over government economic reform plans, which brought much of the county to a standstill.

Palestinian, 53, killed by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemns the killing of Nabil Ahmed Ghanem at Israel’s separation wall in Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have killed a 53-year-old Palestinian man near the separation barrier in Qalqilya city in the north of the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The victim, identified as Nabil Ahmed Ghanem by the Palestinian health ministry, was shot dead on Sunday near the village of Jaljulia. He was a resident of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.