Six In The Morning Saturday 31 August 2024

A brutal hurricane razed their town. Five years later, they’re still searching for home

Hurricane Dorian ravaged the Bahamas in 2019. Its poorest survivors are being pushed from one shantytown to the next

By Amanda Ulrich in Great Abaco and Nassau

Shaquille Joseph knew things were profoundly wrong, irreversibly so, when he heard the bubbling.

The noise had no logical origin. It wasn’t the sound of a tidal wave, roaring towards his house, but a steady fizzing, like a pot of water boiling over in the next room. Moments before, Joseph had been ready to fall asleep in his bedroom. But now he got up and went to the window.

Peering into the grey mist outside, Joseph finally saw it: the Atlantic Ocean was advancing through the dirt roads of the Mudd, a shantytown on the Bahamian island of Great Abaco, and home to thousands of people living in hundreds of makeshift wooden houses.

Philippines, China trade blame over latest ship collision

Manila said one of its patrol vessels was rammed three times by a Chinese coastguard ship in the South China Sea. Beijing said the Filipino ship "deliberately collided" with its vessel.

The Philippines and China on Saturday accused each other of dangerous maritime maneuvers after their coastguard ships collided in disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Tensions between the two Asian neighbors have ratcheted up in recent months over areas like the Sabina Shoal, which falls under Manila's exclusive economic zone but is also one of several parts of the sea that Beijing claims it owns.

Afghan women are erased by the Taliban as the international community looks on

The oppression of Afghan women continues unabated before the eyes of the world. The Taliban imposed severe new restrictions earlier this month, with women not only obliged to cover their faces but now forbidden from raising their voices, singing or reading aloud in public. Western countries – led by the US and EU – have condemned the new laws but also seem resigned to the Taliban regime, which offers some stability in the region.

Invisible, and now silent. Three years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghan women continue to see their few remaining rights dwindle away.

A Taliban ministry promulgated a new set of laws on August 21 that it said “will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice”. The laws aim to control all aspects of the social and private life of Afghans, especially of Afghan women.

Among the rules in the 114-page text published by the ministry is the requirement for women to cover their bodies and faces completely if they leave the house as well as a ban on women making their voices heard in public.

Israeli soldiers besiege Jenin as assault on West Bank enters fourth day

At least 20 people have been killed in Israel’s largest military operation in the occupied territory in decades.

Israel’s military is conducting raids in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, blocking access to aid for Palestinians in the besieged refugee camp on the fourth day of its assault.

 Dozens of Israeli soldiers were stationed on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp, with Israeli military jeeps and armoured personnel carriers moving into the area.

‘Blood type O. DM me’: Myanmar’s poorest are so desperate they’re turning to social media to sell their kidneys

By Teele Rebane and Su Nandar Kyaw, CNN

Delivery driver Maung Maung’s wife and young daughter hadn’t eaten in three days, he recalled, when he walked into an internet cafe in his hometown of Mandalay, Myanmar, in late 2022.

He had recently been detained and tortured by the country’s military junta for weeks, he said, on suspicion of transporting goods for opposition forces, during which time his wife had been forced to take out loans to support the family.

When he was finally released, he had lost his job and the family found themselves penniless and ridden with debt. Desperate, Maung Maung went on Facebook and offered to sell his kidney.

Far right eyes political earthquake as Germans head to the polls

Jessica Parker

Berlin Correspondent

Reporting fromThuringia, eastern Germany

The far right is on the cusp of winning the most votes in German state elections for the first time since the Nazis.

For some in Germany, the rise of Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a literal nightmare.

But others, particularly in the east, say the AfD is a chance for change.

All year, the temperature has been rising in German politics and Sunday’s vote in Thuringia and Saxony may be the boiling point.