KABUL: At least 35 people were killed and 230 injured on Monday after heavy rain in eastern Afghanistan, a local official said.
“On Monday evening, stormy rains killed 35 people and injured 230 others in Jalalabad and certain districts of Nangarhar” province, Quraishi Badloon, head of the department of information and culture, told AFP.
The casualties were caused by heavy storms and rains that collapsed trees, walls and roofs of people’s houses, Badloon said.
“There is a possibility that casualties might rise,” he went on, adding that the wounded as well as victims’ bodies were brought to Nangarhar regional hospital and Fatima-tul-Zahra hospital.
Images shared by Badloon’s department showed medical personnel wearing white and blue uniforms giving treatment to the wounded.
Other pictures on social media showed battered buildings and power masts.
Nangarhar authorities said on X that 400 houses were damaged, while electricity was out of service in the provincial capital of Jalalabad.
They added that several citizens had donated blood at the hospital to support the recovery efforts.
A camp at the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan, built for Afghans returning to their country, was particularly devastated as tents were swept away.
“We share the grief of the families of the victims,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban government.
“The relevant institutions of the Islamic Emirate have been directed to go to the affected areas as soon as possible,” Mujahid wrote on X, adding they would provide shelter, food and medicine to displaced families.
The tragedy comes after flash floods killed hundreds of people in Afghanistan in May and swamped agricultural lands in the country, where 80 percent of the population depends on farming to survive.
Among the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change.
This year, it saw an unusually wet spring after an extremely dry winter.
Heavy rains kill at least 35 in eastern Afghanistan — official
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Heavy rains kill at least 35 in eastern Afghanistan — official
- The storms and rains collapsed trees, walls and roofs of several houses in Jalalabad and Nangarhar
- The tragedy comes after flash floods killed hundreds of people and swamped agricultural lands in May
Hope fading as search for Sicily yacht missing enters third day
- The British-flagged ‘Bayesian’ was anchored with 10 crew and 12 passengers on board when it was struck by a waterspout before dawn on Monday
PORTICELLO, Italy: Searches resumed for a third day Wednesday on the wreck of a luxury yacht that sank off Sicily, with hope fading that the six missing passengers would be found alive.
The search operation, which involves specialist divers aided by an underwater drone, continued until late on Tuesday and resumed at first light on Wednesday morning, firefighters said.
The 56-meter (185 feet) British-flagged “Bayesian” was anchored with 10 crew and 12 passengers on board when it was struck by a waterspout — akin to a mini-tornado — before dawn on Monday.
One body was found in the hours after the sinking, believed to be the yacht’s chef, and 15 people were rescued.
But UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his teenage daughter Hannah, his lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda, and Jonathan Bloomer, the chair of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy remain missing.
Firefighters said on Tuesday evening that divers had entered the inside of the wreck, but that it was a “long and complex” operation.
The yacht is largely intact, resting on the seabed some 50 meters down.
Despite eyewitness testimonies that the 75-meter mast had snapped, reports on Wednesday suggested that it too, survived the incident.
A coast guard official, Captain Vincenzo Zagarola, had told Italian radio on Tuesday morning that it was “difficult to imagine” that the search would end well.
But experts noted that superyachts such as “Bayesian” were designed with watertight subdivisions.
“There are records of survivors found in such air pockets,” noted Dr. Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a UK engineering expert and fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, in a commentary provided by the Science Media Center.
He noted the case of Nigerian sailor Harrison Okene, who was rescued in 2013 after spending nearly three days trapped in an air pocket after his ship capsized in rough seas off the Nigerian coast.
But he added: “Whether air pockets formed on the Bayesian is simply impossible to predict.”
The passengers were guests of Lynch — an entrepreneur sometimes referred to as Britain’s Bill Gates — to celebrate his acquittal in a massive US fraud case.
The 59-year-old was acquitted on all charges in a San Francisco court in June after he was accused of an $11 billion fraud linked to the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.
Taliban bars UN human rights special rapporteur from Afghanistan
- Report said the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls could amount to a crime against humanity
- Three years into their rule after foreign forces withdrew, the Taliban have not been formally recognized by any foreign government
KABUL: The Taliban have barred United Nations-appointed special rapporteur Richard Bennett from entering Afghanistan, the administration’s spokesperson told local broadcaster Tolo, accusing the human rights watchdog of “spreading propaganda.”
Bennett was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2022 to monitor Afghanistan’s human rights situation after the Taliban took over the previous year.
Bennett, who has previously said the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls could amount to a crime against humanity, is based outside Afghanistan but has visited several times to research the situation.
The UN Human Rights Council did not immediately respond to request for comment. Bennett could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Taliban administration’s foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi told Reuters Bennett “had been unable to acquire a travel visa to Afghanistan.”
“Even after repeatedly requesting Mr. Bennett to adhere to professionalism during work ... it was decided that ... his reports are based on prejudices and anecdotes detrimental to interests of Afghanistan and the Afghan people,” Balkhi said.
Taliban administration spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has previously said the Taliban respect women’s rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law and local customs. He told Tolo that Bennett would not be allowed to come to Afghanistan, a rare public barring of an individual foreign official.
“Mr. Bennett’s travel to Afghanistan has been prohibited because he was assigned to spread propaganda in Afghanistan... He used to exaggerate minor issues and propagate them,” Mujahid said, according to Tolo.
Three years into their rule after foreign forces withdrew, the Taliban have not been formally recognized by any foreign government.
Foreign officials, including Washington, have said the path toward recognition is stuck until the Taliban changes course on women’s rights, having barred most girls over the age of 12 from schools and universities, banning women from parks, and stopping most long-distance travel by women without a male guardian.
Afghanistan’s central bank assets have been frozen and many senior Taliban officials are subject to UN travel restrictions that require them to seek exemptions to enter other countries.
The UN has been trying to find a unified international approach to dealing with the Taliban. In June, top UN officials and envoys from up to 25 countries met the Taliban in Qatar, receiving criticism from human rights groups for not including Afghan women and civil society representatives at the meeting.
The UN mission to Afghanistan also operates from Kabul and monitors and reports on human rights issues.
Thailand says mpox case recorded in traveler from Africa
- Thai authorities were treating the case as if it were the Clade 1 form of mpox
- Thailand has detected 800 cases of mpox Clade 2 since 2022, but so far not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants
BANGKOK: Thailand has detected an mpox case in a European man who arrived from Africa last week and is awaiting test results to determine the strain, a disease control official said on Wednesday.
Thai authorities were treating the case as if it were the Clade 1 form of mpox, as the person, a 66-year-old European man with residency in Thailand had arrived on Aug. 14 from an African country where it was spreading, Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said.
“After he arrives from the flight there is very little time frame where he come into contact with others,” Thongchai said. “He arrives around 6 p.m. and on the next day, Aug 15, he went to see the doctor at the hospital.”
Thongchai said the man has undergone a test to determine whether the case was a Clade 1 variant, with the result expected by Friday. Authorities are also monitoring 43 people in the country who may come into contact with the patient, he said.
The director-general did not name the African country the man had been in. He said the man had transited in a Middle Eastern country, which he also did not name, before flying on to Thailand.
Thailand has detected 800 cases of mpox Clade 2 since 2022, but so far not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants.
Pro-Palestine DNC delegates welcome Biden’s exit but side-eye Harris
CHICAGO: Though there are only a handful of them among thousands of delegates, the “Uncommitted Movement” delegates at the Democratic National Convention are among the most vocal.
The delegates plan to voice their discontent with the war in Gaza at the party’s convention this week in Chicago, during which Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the Democratic Party’s nomination in the close race for the White House.
The 30 “Uncommitted Movement” delegates hail from eight different US states and claim to represent some 700,000 voters.
Though they welcomed the news of President Joe Biden dropping out of the race on July 21, they have met Harris’s subsequent ascension with caution and skepticism.
“The party needed change,” Minnesota delegate Asma Mohammed told AFP. “I don’t feel sad about someone who has unapologetically supported a genocidal regime in Israel.”
Mohammed came to Chicago hoping to see a renewed perspective within her party, but she said she is disappointed that the convention has no pro-Palestinian voices on the speaker list.
“I know she’s (Harris) more empathetic than Joe Biden, I’ve seen that,” Mohammed said. “But those words are not enough. That needs to be followed by policy.”
The Uncommitted Movement advocated for adding Tanya Hajj-Hassan to the speaker list, wanting the thousands of attendees to hear from a doctor who has treated victims of the conflict between Israel and militant group Hamas in Gaza.
However, all that has been permitted at the event so far is a panel at the nearby McCormick Center, outside the main venue. During the panel, the pediatrician described the horrors of war, bringing the audience to tears.
Among the speakers slated for the DNC are some relatives of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 when it sparked the conflict by attacking Israel, which also left 1,199 dead, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
“Why does it have to be one or the other?” asked Mohammed, who emphasized that more than 40,000 people have died in Gaza from Israel’s retaliation, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
For her, there is room to listen to both sides.
Jacob Schonberger, a 17-year-old delegate representing the state of Connecticut, is not part of the “Uncommitted Movement” but shares the sentiment. He arrived at the convention wearing buttons with slogans in support of Israel.
“I think it should be leadership’s decision... I have my personal beliefs, but I think that it’s important to have both sides,” he said.
In addition to the “Uncommitted Movement,” protests fomented outside the United Center, the venue for the convention, where hundreds of people chanted “Free Palestine!“
Inside the arena, some delegates covered their mouths as Biden gave his speech Monday night, a gesture made in protest of his response to the war in Gaza.
“We wanted to send the message that we don’t agree with what Biden has been doing,” said Sabrene Odeh, a delegate from Washington state.
While the DNC is underway, Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is on a tour of the Middle East in a new attempt to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas.
Biden acknowledged the discontent with the death toll in Gaza during his speech Monday night.
That did not excite Yaz Kader, another Washington delegate.
“The fact is, he has been a president that has supported a genocide that Israel is committing,” he said.
Philippines says new mpox case ‘not’ deadly variant
- The highly transmissible Clade 1b strain of the virus has killed hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Nine mpox cases were reported by Philippine authorities in 2022 and 2023, with the previous most recent one last December
MANILA: The first mpox case reported by the Philippines this year is a mild variant and not the deadly strain sparking global alarm, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said Wednesday.
The highly transmissible Clade 1b strain of the virus has killed hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has also been detected Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Sweden.
“It’s the old variant,” Herbosa said of the virus that struck a 33-year-old Filipino male, referring to the mild Clade 2 variant.
“It’s not as alarming as the Clade 1b,” Herbosa said.
He said the patient had not traveled outside the country and was “still confined” in the hospital.
“For us doctors, that means the virus is circulating in the community,” Herbosa said.
Nine mpox cases were reported by Philippine authorities in 2022 and 2023, with the previous most recent one last December.
President Ferdinand Marcos on Tuesday ordered health officials to continuously monitor areas and people vulnerable to the virus.
