South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Afghan PM defends Taliban rule amid nation’s many crises
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban prime minister defended the group’s rule in a public address Saturday, saying it was not to blame for a worsening economic crisis and is working to repair the corruption of the ousted government. He also dismissed international pressure for the formation of a more inclusive Cabinet.
The half-hour audio played on state-run media was the first such public address by Mohammed Hassan Akhund since the Taliban captured Kabul and secured their rule over the country three months ago. The Taliban takeover led to a shut-off of international aid to the government and the blocking of billions of dollars in Afghan assets held abroad, worsening an already crumbling economy.
Akhund said the problems of worsening unemployment and the financial meltdown had begun under the previous, U.S.-backed government, adding that Afghans should not believe claims that the Taliban were to blame.
“Nation, be vigilant. Those left over from the previous government in hiding are ... causing anxiety, misleading the people to distrust their government,” he said.
The ousted government had run “the weakest system in the world,” he said, pointing to pervasive corruption. In contrast, he said, the Taliban are eliminating corruption and have brought security around the country.
Akhund said that the group had formed committees to try to the resolve the economic crisis and pay salaries to government employees, who have largely gone without pay for months.
U.N. officials have warned of a humanitarian crisis with millions of Afghans plunging deeper into poverty and facing hunger — with increasing numbers on the verge of starvation. Afghanistan has been hit by one of its worst famines in decades, and the economic collapse has meant many people are unable to afford food.
The United States and other countries have refused to recognize the Taliban government until it includes more of Afghanistan’s ethnic and political spectrum — as well as women — and until it guarantees women’s rights.
All the ministers in the current Cabinet come from the Taliban’s ranks. The Taliban have not completely barred women from the public sphere as they did during their previous rule in the late 1990s. But they have ordered most women government employees not to come to work and have not let high school girls return to school, though they allowed younger girls.
A Russian court on Saturday ordered five people to remain in pretrial detention for two months pending an investigation into a devastating blast in a coal mine in Siberia that resulted in dozens of deaths.
Ru s s i a n a u t h o r i t i e s reported 51 deaths after a methane explosion rocked the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia on Thursday — 46 miners and five rescuers. The tragedy appears to be the deadliest in Russia since 2010.
The Central District Court in the city of Kemerovo ruled to jail the director of the Listvyazhnaya mine, Sergei Makhrakov, his deputy Andrei Molostvov and section supervisor Sergei Gerasimenok. They are facing charges of violating industrial safety requirements for hazardous production facilities that resulted in multiple deaths. If convicted, they may be imprisoned for up to seven years.
Two officials of the local branch of Rostekhnadzor, Russia’s state technology and ecology watchdog — Sergei Vinokurov and Vyacheslav Semykin — have also been jailed for two months on the charge of negligence that led to two or more deaths, punishable by up to seven years in prison as well.
Law enforcement officials said Friday that miners had complained about the high level of methane in the mine.
Some 285 miners were in the Listvyazhnaya mine Thursday morning at the time of explosion, which quickly filled the mine with toxic smoke. A total of 239 people were rescued shortly after the blast, and more than 60 sought medical assistance for an assortment of injuries.
The Dayton Board of Zoning Appeals has approved the city’s request to demolish a 129-year-old historic Ohio building that once was the site of the Wright brothers’ first bike shop.
The city wants to tear down the site because the building has deteriorated to a point where it can no longer be maintained and redeveloped, the Dayton Daily News has reported. Public safety concerns have also been raised by some who fear the building could collapse.
While agreeing that most of the building should be demolished, the Dayton Landmarks Commission rejected the demolition request in September. The panel instead recommended that the city re-advertise the property and encourage its renovation in a way that preserves the historic facade.
Germany’s health minister said Saturday he hopes that the sight of air force planes transferring patients across the country will act as a “wake-up call” to millions who are still holding out on getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said there has been a welcome increase over the past week in the number of people getting their first shots, with 450,000 recorded. He put that down to pressure from Germany’s worsening coronavirus situation and to increasing requirements to people to provide proof of vaccination or recent recovery to take part in many activities.
But it’s still not enough and “this figure of nearly 12 million unvaccinated adults is still far, far too high,” Spahn said at an online town hall event.
For 956 students at one of the largest historically Black medical colleges, an unexpected gift of gratitude arrived in their bank accounts just in time for Thanksgiving.
The students, from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, have been pivotal in helping their city keep coronavirus testing sites staffed for the last 19 months — and, more recently, in helping run vaccination clinics.
That work inspired Dr. James Hildreth, Meharry’s president, to send each student $10,000 on Wednesday.
The money comes from the $40 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds earmarked for colleges and universities. Schools are required to spend at least half on emergency grants to students. Hildreth did not tell Meharry students how to spend the cash infusion, although he did offer advice.
“We felt that there was no better way to begin distributing these funds than by giving to our students who will soon give so much to our world,” Hildreth told the students in a video.