Six In The Morning Saturday 20 August 2022

 

Inside Olenivka, the Russian prison camp where Ukrainians vanish

The Missing: Last month an attack on Olenivka killed more than 50 people. It was the latest in a long line of atrocities at the prison camp, where The Independent has uncovered evidence of potential war crimes including torture, disappearances and forced labour, reports Bel Trew from Dnipro, Kyiv and Warsaw

In a field whipped hard by frost, separatist soldiers handed their three Ukrainian captives a shovel each and ordered them to dig their own graves.

The three men – all civilian humanitarian volunteers – had been stopped at a checkpoint while trying to rescue family members from the besieged city of Mariupol. The soldiers, from the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, took them blindfolded to a patch of fresh soil beside two neat crosses.

“They told us the guys buried there had also said they were volunteers but, when their mobiles were checked, they were ‘military’,” says Arkady, a 31-year-old professional climber, describing the start of his ordeal in March.

Mexico’s ex-attorney general arrested over disappearance of 43 students in 2014

Jesús Murillo held on charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in notorious Guerrero case

Reuters

Sat 20 Aug 2022 04.30 BST

Mexico’s former attorney general has been arrested in relation to the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, the most prominent individual held so far in the notorious case that has haunted the country ever since.

Jesús Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City home on Friday on charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the abduction and disappearance of the student-teachers in the south-western state of Guerrero, now seen as a “state-sponsored crime”.

Murillo was taken to an office of the attorney general and would be moved to a jail in Mexico City, authorities said.

Archaeological mystery: Ancient Elamite script from Iran deciphered?

For a long time, the writing system known as "Linear Elamite" was considered illegible. Now a team of archaeologists claims to have partially deciphered the writing system. But other researchers are more hesitant.

Diamonds and squares with dots and dashes ― French archaeologists came across these geometric characters as early as 1903 when they were excavating ancient ruins in the city of Susa in southwestern Iran.

Researchers quickly realized that the language was one of the four oldest scripts known to humankind, along with Mesopotamian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Indus script. The Elamite civilization used the writing system during the Bronze Age in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennia BCE.

Somali forces battle to end deadly hotel siege in Mogadishu

At least 10 people reported killed in the attack claimed by the al-Shabab group, as security forces continue to battle gunmen holed up inside the hotel.

At least 10 people were reported dead after gunmen stormed a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials and local media have said, with security forces battling to end the 20-hour siege of the popular hotel.

Gunmen stormed the Hayat Hotel, which is known to be frequented by government officials, on Friday evening in a hail of gunfire and bomb blasts.

The world's rivers are drying up from extreme weather. See how 6 look from space

By Natalie Croker, Renée Rigdon, Judson Jones, Carlotta Dotto and Angela Dewan, CNN

Updated 0730 GMT (1530 HKT) August 20, 2022

To be stuck "up a river without a paddle" is an expression for a sticky situation you just can't get out of. But if that river happens to be in the northern hemisphere this summer, it's likely the paddle won't be helpful, anyway.

A painful lack of rain and relentless heat waves are drying up rivers in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Many are shrinking in length and breadth. Patches of riverbed poking out above the water are a common sight. Some rivers are so desiccated, they have become virtually impassable.

Afghanistan: Peace at a price in the Taliban’s heartlands

By Secunder Kermani
BBC Pakistan & Afghanistan Correspondent

A year after the Taliban takeover, BBC correspondent Secunder Kermani visits the group's heartlands in southern Afghanistan to discover that peace comes at a price.

In a dusty patch of land next to the Helmand river, along what used to be one of the frontlines of the war, two teenage boys are locked in an embrace, trying to wrestle each other to the ground. Sitting in a wide circle, spectators look on eagerly as the early evening light begins to dim.

We're in Sangin district in southern Afghanistan, scene of some of the deadliest clashes of the past two decades. Much of the town is still rubble, though a number of houses are being rebuilt as residents return home, savouring their first taste of peace in years.