Afghan Refugees Start Arriving in Temporary Home Countries
Cambodia is to temporarily accept a total of 300 refugees from Afghanistan. They will be issued with visas on arrival and allowed to use their ID cards as travel documents. They will be exempt from current Covid-19 quarantine requirements, but will be fully tested on arrival in the kingdom. The decision was announced by Prime Minister Hun Sen at the weekend, in response to a request by The Asia Foundation in Cambodia to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is not known how long the Afghans’ asylum process will take or in which country they have applied for asylum in, but the Ministry says the group will be welcome to stay in Cambodia for as long as that process takes. The Balkan state of Kosovo is also accepting Afghan refugees temporarily. A group of 111 have applied for asylum in the United States. Passengers had their temperatures checked upon arrival. They’ve been taken to a camp that previously housed construction workers about 40 kilometers from the capital, Pristina. More planes are expected to arrive in the coming days. Kosovo had agreed to accept a total of 2,000 Afghans in transit to the United States.
Evacuation Flights Continue from Kabul
Back in Kabul, the final 24 hours of scheduled evacuations are underway, with the deadline of 31 August fast approaching. While it was initially thought no further evacuation flights would be permitted beyond Tuesday, the Taliban did say this weekend that all Afghans who wished to leave the country would be allowed to do so. Despite the threat of another terrorist attack at the airport, thousands continue to gather in the hope of boarding a plane. Smoke could be seen rising from near the airport on Sunday after a US drone strike on a suspected Islamic State hideout. The group claimed responsibility for last week’s twin-suicide bombing at the airport that claimed at least 160 lives.
China Demands Covid-19 Investigation includes US
The war of words over the origins of the Covid-19 virus is hotting up between the US and China. Beijing is demanding a “reasonable and accurate investigation” of Washington’s bio-lab at Fort Detrick, which has a history of coronavirus research. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Jiang Yu, says China has twice opened its laboratories to inspectors from the WHO, but says the global investigation should be widened to include all laboratories known to have been studying viruses related to Covid-19. Some in the US have accused China of manufacturing Covid-19, although the WHO has found no evidence to support that claim. Beijing says it has approached the WHO to request an investigation at Fort Detrick, although it has had no response. Currently, the international scientific community widely agrees that the Chinese part of the study on Covid-19 has been finished. It has praised China for taking an open, transparent, and responsible attitude.
Hurricane Ida Makes Landfall in Louisiana
Hurricane Ida has made landfall in Louisiana as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm. Video footage, broadcast by EAC News, showed water pouring into a beach house in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The cameras stopped working shortly after the footage was captured. Ida is a massive storm and will be the toughest test yet of the billions of dollars spent on upgrading Louisiana’s levees following Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago. Ida intensified faster than officials predicted, prompting evacuations along the Gulf Coast. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has warned it could be the state's worst direct hit since the 1850s. At least one person has already been killed. More than a million homes are without power.
