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At just 14, Husnah Kukundakwe is the youngest athlete and also Uganda's only Para swimmer at Tokyo 2020. She joined her Para athlete 'movie star' heroes, including long jump legend Markus Rehm, and Para fencer champion Bebe Vio, in Japan's capital ahead of the Paralympic Games.

Uganda's Husnah Kukundakwe is not only the youngest athlete competing at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, but the 14-year-old is also currently the only classified elite Para swimmer in her country.

The schoolgirl says the pressure of being the only representative in her sport is outweighed by her excitement at having qualified for the Games, as well as sitting alongside her Para athlete heroes at a press conference ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which start on 24 August to 5 September. "I feel like I am sitting with movie stars," she admitted.

They included Germany's long jump legend Markus Rehm, Italy's wheelchair fencing champion Beatrice "Bebe" Vio, Mexico's superstar powerlifter Amalia Perez, the USA's two-time Paralympian Matthew Stutzman and OTA Shoko, who hopes to win Japan's first gold in Para taekwondo when the sport makes its debut at the Games.

Kukundakwe, who was born without a lower right arm, told reporters she wanted to inspire other young Ugandans to take up Para swimming: "Yes, I feel some kind of pressure on me as the only Para swimmer, but just getting the chance to be here, it is a dream come true. I am so happy right now.

"I can also show other young people, who want to participate in Para sports, that they should go forward and believe in themselves. There was a lot of people who kept telling me that you can't reach this, but you can reach it."

The athlete, who qualified to compete in women's 50m and 100m freestyle S9, is only the second-ever Para swimmer from Uganda to have competed at a Paralympic Games: Prossy Tusabe was the first at Sydney 2000.

Among Kukundakwe's "movie stars" was 24-year-old Vio, who appeared in the powerful film about Paralympians, Rising Phoenix. She told the schoolgirl that she was around the same age as Kukundakwe when she was inspired to take up Para sports after visiting the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Vio had taken up fencing as a five-year-old and dreamed of competing in the Olympics, but in 2008, when she was 11, she contracted meningitis and lost her arms and legs. At the time, she was told competing in fencing would be "impossible" but her dream came alive again when she visited the London 2012 Paralympic Games. "I am sitting next to Husnah and I was about the same age as her when I was in London 2012," she said. "I remember how amazing it was. I wanted to take up fencing again but was told it would be impossible, but I was determined to try.

"To win gold in Rio 2016 all this raw emotion came out when I won. I had lived and dreamed fencing since I was five years old. I had wanted to compete in the Olympics but when I had my disease at 11, I started thinking about the Paralympics and I had finally achieved my dream."

Long jump legend Markus Rehm was celebrating his 32nd birthday at the event. The "Blade Jumper" is going for his third Paralympic gold medal in a row in the long jump T64. In June 2021 he set a new world record of 8.62m, a distance which would have seen him win gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by 21cm.

"I am super-excited to be here and can't wait to compete," said Rehm, who also won gold in Rio 2016 in the 4x100m relay T42-47 and is a seven-time world champion. "I heard it is a fast track in the Olympic Stadium and a great track to jump."

Stutzman, who is known as the "Armless Archer", told reporters that he was trying to contain his excitement at finally being at Tokyo 2020, after the Games were delayed for a year. This will be his third Paralympic Games: he won silver in Para archery in London 2012 and also competed in Rio 2016.

"I am actually feeling more excitement about these Games, following the postponement, than I have in a long time, because this is one of the first times that as a world we can come together," said the athlete, who has the world record for hitting a target from 310 yards, and also appeared in the film, Rising Phoenix.

"Even though we've all been through the pandemic, we get to hang out and do what we love, which is sport, and that is something super-special that you did not get with other Paralympic Games." The 38-year-old, who was born without arms, added: "I want to keep doing the best that I can do. It is my goal in life to show people by my actions that I can achieve whatever I want to with my life."

Mexico's powerlifting star Amalia Perez also expressed her delight at being at the Games and the opportunity to go for her fourth consecutive gold. The 48-year-old has set a new world record each time she has won gold and is the only powerlifter to have won a title in three divisions.

Japan's OTA Shoko completed the line-up. The 31-year-old, who was born without fingers on her left hand, is hoping to make history by winning Japan's first Paralympic gold medal in Para-taekwondo when the sport makes its debut at Tokyo 2020.

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Superstar Para athletes from the youngest to veterans line-up at Tokyo 2020

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At just 14, Husnah Kukundakwe is the youngest athlete and also Uganda's only Para swimmer at Tokyo 2020. She joined her Para athlete 'movie star' heroes, including long jump legend Markus Rehm, and Para fencer champion Bebe Vio, in Japan's capital ahead of the Paralympic Games.

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Bubu !!

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martian south pole: new clue emerges of what may lie beneath  - cnn

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A new clue emerges of what may lie beneath the Martian south pole

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The frigid Martian poles have long fascinated scientists not just because of their ice caps, but for the potential of what may exist underneath them. New research suggests that clays, not water, are beneath the south polar ice cap.

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conner :)

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Locals Digging a Well Accidentally Discover a $140 Million Star Sapphire Weighing Half a Ton

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In the City of Gems in Sri Lanka, local workmen discovered a star sapphire cluster weighing half a ton, containing 2.5 million carets.

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kianya

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other discoveries show early mammals evolved quickly after dinosaur extinction - cnn

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New 'Hobbit' creature, other discoveries show early mammals evolved quickly after dinosaur extinction

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The fossils of three new species of early mammals, including one named for a "Hobbit" character, have been discovered in Wyoming's Great Divide Basin. The findings suggest these creatures rapidly evolved after dinosaurs went extinct.

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Three babies born amid Afghanistan evacuation - Matthew

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Three babies born amid Afghanistan evacuation - Matthew

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https://taskandpurpose.com/news/afghanistan-evacuation-flight-births/

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Amid the collapse of the Afghan government and the flight of thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, there was a bright spot in the fact that three babies were born safely amidst the U.S. evacuation from country.

Army Gen. Steve Lyons, the head of U.S. Transportation Command, told reporters on Monday that he is aware of three babies born to Afghan refugees during the evacuation effort, though there may be more that he is unaware of since he does not have "a formal tracker," he said.

The most well-known of the three babies was a baby girl born on Saturday when a band of U.S. Air Force crew members and medical experts helped an Afghan woman deliver her aboard a C-17 transport jet at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

The C-17 was flying from an unnamed base in the Middle East when the mother went into labor, according to a statement released by Air Mobility Command. She began experiencing complications due to low blood pressure, so the aircraft commander decided to take the plane down to a lower altitude to increase air pressure in the jet, the statement said. The decision saved the mother's life. The jet soon landed at Ramstein, where airmen from the 86th Medical Group came aboard and delivered the child in the C-17's cargo bay.

"The baby girl and mother were transported to a nearby medical facility and are in good condition," the statement read.

Medical support personnel from the 86th Medical Group help an Afghan mother and family off a U.S. Air Force C-17, call sign Reach 828, moments after she delivered a child aboard the aircraft upon landing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Aug. 21. (cont..) pic.twitter.com/wqR9dFlW1o
- Air Mobility Command (@AirMobilityCmd) August 21, 2021

The story is "really exciting," Lyons said. "I mean I really appreciate the news reporting on the baby being born as that flight came into Ramstein. As a matter of fact, there's actually been more than that, so it's just an incredible, incredible operation ongoing, you know, just impressive work by our great airmen."

One Facebook commenter reacting to the news of the Ramstein baby had an excellent suggestion for the C-17 crew.

"Now they need to add a pink [stork] to the entrance like are added to ambulances after a birth," they said on Facebook, referring to the paramedic practice of putting a stork decal on their ambulances after helping deliver a baby.

The story was one of several good-news moments to emerge from Afghanistan this weekend as American service members rushed to secure the Kabul airport and evacuate Afghans who worked for the U.S. during its 20-year war there. For example, on Thursday, footage emerged of a U.S. Marine helping an infant get over a wall into safety; on Friday, Air Mobility Command announced that one of its C-17s had set a new record for fitting 823 refugees onto a single flight; and bases throughout Europe and the Middle East posted pictures of refugees making it to temporary shelters set up there.

"This is what our airmen do," wrote the Air Force's top enlisted leader, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass, in a Facebook post about the airlift on Thursday. "No matter the situation, they persevere and deliver hope to those in need. I am honored to serve alongside them."

U.S. Airmen and U.S. Marines guide qualified evacuees aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), Afghanistan, Aug. 21, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brennen Lege)

By Monday, Defense Department officials announced that they had evacuated about 37,000 people out of Afghanistan since evacuation efforts began on Aug. 14. Some of them were taken to U.S. installations in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Spain, Italy, and Germany, where U.S. officials will complete their screening and security checks as part of the Special Immigrant Visa process. Others may soon find themselves at four bases being used to house evacuees: Joint Base McGuire-Dix Lakehurst, New Jersey; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Fort Bliss, Texas; and Fort Lee, Virginia.

"We have intelligence and law enforcement personnel at these sites making sure a robust screening is done of these individuals," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby explained on Monday. "So that nobody comes into the United States that hasn't been screened in a robust manner."

Air Mobility Command did not respond in time to a question about whether or not the newborn baby girl is an American citizen, but it's unlikely. U.S. military bases overseas are not U.S. territories, according to the State Department. Children born on bases overseas may still be U.S. citizens if their parents are, but it was unclear if that was the case for the baby girl born at Ramstein. Either way, questions of citizenship seem to be taking a backseat to common humanity, at least at Ramstein.

"Inscribed on the bottom of the Statue of Liberty is, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," Maj. Gen. Derek France, the Director of Operations, Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa, in a Facebook post on Sunday. "We're about to receive a lot of people who fit that description; and need our help."

More great stories on Task & Purpose
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Three babies born amid Afghanistan evacuation, general says

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Amid the collapse of the Afghan government and the flight of thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, there was a bright spot in the fact that three babies were born safely amidst the U.S. evacuation from country. Army Gen. Steve Lyons, the head of U.S.

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https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/hung-liu-artist-obit/index.html

Putu 🧞

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Written by Oscar Holland, CNN

Artist Hung Liu, whose striking portraits depicted life in Maoist China and the American immigrant experience, has died at age 73.

Liu's death on Saturday followed a battle with pancreatic cancer, according to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, where she was due to open a major exhibition later this month.

The gallery's director, Kim Sajet, praised the late painter's "extraordinary artistic vision" in a statement, adding that Liu's work "was always rooted in history as she transformed marginalized subjects into monumental, heroic, contemporary figures."

Liu's forthcoming exhibition, the first solo show by an Asian American at the National Portrait Gallery, will still go ahead, the museum confirmed.

She was born in Changchun, a city in northeastern China, in 1948, the year before the Communist Party declared victory in the country's bloody civil war. Growing up in the early decades of Mao's rule, Liu trained in Socialist Realism -- an idealized style typical of communist art education and propaganda at the time -- before studying mural painting at Beijing's prestigious Central Academy of Fine Art.

In addition to sketched portraits of villagers and landscape paintings of rural China, Liu also experimented with photography in her early years, capturing images of her village during Mao's tumultuous Cultural Revolution. Liu's interest in the medium would later prove central to her work, which often merged historical photographs with her own compassionate portraiture.

When Liu moved to the US to study at the University of California San Diego, in 1984, she continued to draw inspiration from the history and iconography of China. Basing many of her works on historical photographs of everyday people, including laborers, street performers and prostitutes, she shone a light on those overlooked by society in a style she dubbed "weeping realism."

She never directly copied the photographs, but instead brought their subjects to life with color and depth, renewing their humanity in a process that both "preserves and destroys" original images, according to her official website.

While indulging her self-professed nostalgia for China, Liu also sought to unravel the realities of immigration in her adopted homeland. The painter's later work saw her depicting Chinese communities in Idaho and inCalifornia during the gold rush, imagining immigration papers bearing the name "Cookie, Fortune." Buther interest in human movement and memory stretched far beyond the Asian diaspora, too, with several series of paintings centered on photographer Dorothea Lange's Depression-eraimages of migration in America's Dust Bowl.

Although she primarily exhibited in the US, Liu's work intermittently showed in China, until it eventually fell foul of Beijing officials. In 2019, a planned show at the city's UCCA Center for Contemporary Art was canceled amid Sino-American trade tensions, according to the Art Newspaper. She later told the New York Times that the country's censors had been concerned about her depictions of China's past.

Tributes have been flooding in from across the art world since her death. The Oakland Museum of California, which in 2013 hosted a retrospective of Liu's work, described her on Twitter as "extraordinary." San Francisco's de Young Museum, where several of Liu's works are currently on display, meanwhile called her as a "trailblazer among Asian American artists." In a statement, one of the museum's curators, Janna Keegan, described her as a "vibrant and vital part of the art world in the Bay Area and beyond."

"Hung Liu's art practice focused on recovering the stories of people who have been often forgotten in traditional historical narratives," Keegan is quoted as saying. "The legacy and wonderful oeuvre she leaves behind will ensure that she too will always be remembered."
"Hung Liu: Golden Gate," is on display at The de Young Museum until March 13, 2022. "Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands" will show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, from Aug. 27, 2021 to May 30, 2022.

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artist who documented the immigrant experience

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Hung Liu, artist who documented the immigrant experience, has died at 73

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Written by Oscar Holland, CNN Artist Hung Liu, whose striking portraits depicted life in Maoist China and the American immigrant experience, has died at age 73. Liu's death on Saturday followed a battle with pancreatic cancer, according to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, where she was due to open a major exhibition later this month.

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How Australia's COVID situation quickly changed in the span of two months - Jack

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How Australia's COVID situation quickly changed in the span of two months - Jack

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-australia-went-being-covid-free-paradise-mess-n1277426

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SYDNEY - You would have forgiven Australians for feeling smug during much of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Early lockdowns combined with extremely strict border measures meant the virus was effectively snuffed out and, with the exception of one state, the country had been largely Covid-free since mid-2020.

As case numbers and death tolls skyrocketed around the globe, the majority of Australians enjoyed near-normal lives, packing restaurants, beaches and festivals inside what was dubbed "fortress Australia."

But then in June, one case of the delta variant breached the fortress walls and started an outbreak that could not be controlled.

With the highly infectious variant now seeping around the country, more than half of Australia's 25 million people are in lockdown, and a slow vaccination program has left many demanding to know what went wrong.

"[For a time] we were in a bit of a Covid-free paradise," Michael Toole, a professor at the Burnet Institute, a medical research center, said. "And I think it led to a level of complacency, both within the government and among the public ... Now, it's all a mess."

At the start of the pandemic, Australia locked down its population and then slammed shut the borders, only allowing a trickle of people back in, with a mandatory 14-day quarantine inside repurposed hotels or government facilities.

When Covid cases leaked, states used forensic contact tracing or quick lockdowns - or both - to suppress the virus. Life would quickly return to normal - the big exception being Melbourne, which only controlled one outbreak with a 3 1/2-month lockdown last year.

Then in June, one case of the delta variant changed everything. An unvaccinated and unmasked driver in Sydney became infected after transporting international flight crews. Before long, the virus was spreading in his neighborhood and beyond.

Contact tracing and a Sydney-wide lockdown were used, but cases started to climb and then began popping up around the country. Within weeks, almost all major cities had some sort of lockdown, with various levels of success in taming the virus.

Meanwhile, just a single delta case that originated in the Australian outbreak has also plunged the whole of neighboring New Zealand into lockdown.

The lockdown in Sydney, which was initially supposed to be two weeks, is now in its ninth week. In the hardest-hit areas of the city, army personnel have been deployed and fines for breaking certain rules have risen to $3,700.

The state of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, has gone from recording dozens of cases each day early in this outbreak to more than 800 cases and several deaths each day.

While this is dramatically less than in the United States - which is still recording upwards of 100,000 cases and hundreds of deaths each day - these numbers were unthinkable in Australia just weeks ago.

"We have to accept that this is the worst situation New South Wales has been in since day one," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian recently told reporters. "And it's also, regrettably, because of that, the worst situation Australia's been in."

Or as earlier put by the state's chief health officer, Kerry Chant, the delta strain is "a game changer."

Toole said delta "is twice as infectious as earlier strains, so it's obviously more challenging."

He's part of a group of health experts calling for even harsher lockdown measures to contain the more infectious variant - particularly in the outbreak epicenter of Sydney where cases keep rising - including closing far more businesses.

Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, has fewer cases but a much stricter lockdown - with a city-wide curfew, closed playgrounds and more businesses shut. But despite this, there are still dozens of new cases there each day.

Balancing health and economic priorities has proved a tightrope walk for leaders, with economists saying the latest rounds of lockdowns have already cost around $12.5 billion.

While unemployment remains low for now, there is concern that continued lockdowns could push the country into its second recession of the pandemic.

On Thursday, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg predicted the economy will contract by at least 2 percent in the September quarter.

A spokesperson for Australia's minister for health, Greg Hunt, told NBC News that "the Delta variant of Covid-19 is a global challenge not just faced by Australia, but we continue to work together to meet this challenge head on."

But making it all the more challenging is Australia's vaccination rate, which is lagging behind many other comparable countries.

Australia's initial success against Covid meant it did not pursue vaccines with the urgency and strategy of some other countries, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison (now infamously) claimed it was "not a race."

The rollout started in February, with locally made AstraZeneca as the main component, followed by limited supplies of Pfizer from overseas.

It's since been marked by vaccine shortages and community confusion around AstraZeneca.

After it emerged that AstraZeneca had an extremely rare blood-clotting risk, local health authorities recommended that it only be given to people over age 60. But then they backpedaled on this advice after the latest outbreak.

The government "put too many eggs in one basket, mostly relying on AstraZeneca, because we could make it locally," Archie Clements, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Curtin University, said. "Then there was inconsistent messaging around it ... when it's a very effective and very safe vaccine."

As a result of the early stumbles, 30 percent of Australians aged 16 and above are fully vaccinated, compared to 62 percent in the U.S. aged 18 and above.

For much of this year, Australia had the lowest vaccination rate as a percentage of population in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and it is currently ranked 35th of 38 countries.

The rollout ended up being "a huge policy and operational bungle," Toole said.

And there is alarm as the latest outbreak is spreading to remote Aboriginal communities, where vaccination rates are particularly low.

Australia's Aboriginal people were a priority group for vaccination, but in one remote area where delta is now present, only 8 percent of this population is fully vaccinated.

"This is absolute negligence," Toole said.

The Australian government has set vaccine thresholds of 70 and 80 percent for a staged return to normal life, which likely won't be achieved until much later this year.

But the rollout is starting to pick up pace, with 1.8 million vaccines administered over the past week, meaning more than half of the eligible population has now received their first dose.

"On a per capita basis, that's on par with the best ever week in the United States and better than the best ever week in the United Kingdom," Morrison said on Monday.

Toole said the rollout will escalate even more later in the year, "because we've ordered a lot more Pfizer and a lot of Moderna vaccines."

Clements said despite the latest outbreak and accompanying lockdowns, the world should still be envious of Australia.

"This outbreak, we haven't seen the massive levels of mortality and the collapse of health systems that have happened in other countries. So we're still in a privileged position," he said.

During the entirety of the pandemic, there's been around 44,000 Covid-19 cases and just under 1,000 deaths in Australia. This compares to upward of 37.5 million cases and 628,000 deaths in the U.S.

"So we're still doing incredibly well," Clements said.

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How Australia went from being a 'Covid-free paradise' to 'a mess'

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SYDNEY - You would have forgiven Australians for feeling smug during much of the Covid-19 pandemic. Early lockdowns combined with extremely strict border measures meant the virus was effectively snuffed out and, with the exception of one state, the country had been largely Covid-free since mid-2020.

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Conner -︹-

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Locals Digging a Well Accidentally Discover a $140 Million Star Sapphire Weighing Half a Ton

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In the City of Gems in Sri Lanka, local workmen discovered a star sapphire cluster weighing half a ton, containing 2.5 million carets.

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Afghanistan: US under pressure over evacuation deadline

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Afghanistan: US under pressure over evacuation deadline

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58312644

kalisha <3

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The US is being pressed to allow more time for evacuation from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan as the deadline for its withdrawal nears.

Under an agreement with the Taliban, the US must leave by 31 August.

But France, the UK and Germany all raised the possibility of allowing more time ahead of a summit on Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden is set to decide within the next 24 hours whether to extend the timeline for withdrawal, an official told Reuters news agency.

However the Taliban have told the BBC that any extension would violate the agreed deal and warned of consequences if forces remained.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the Afghan capital Kabul, but others seeking to flee remain crammed in or near the city's airport, which is guarded by US forces and their allies.

Increasing worries

By Yogita Limaye, BBC South Asia correspondent, Mumbai

Thousands of people, foreign nationals and Afghans, continue to throng the gates of the airport.

Amidst the crowds, even those with the right permits aren't able to get through. Some have been waiting there for days, with little shelter or food.

At least 20 have been killed in shootings and stampedes at the airport since last week. More than 10,000 were evacuated on Monday, but time is running out.

The Taliban have said that if foreign forces stay beyond the end of August it would be considered a violation. Many are hoping President Biden will announce an extension of the deadline.

Elsewhere in the country, the BBC has spoken to people who have been in hiding out of fear they will be killed by the Taliban. They say they don't have the means to leave.

There are millions in Afghanistan who support the insurgent group as well, hoping they will bring an end to the violence.

The Taliban have been holding discussions on forming a government. Markets and workplaces are slowly opening up. But banks are still closed and fewer women are visible on the streets.

Many of the people fleeing, particularly those who worked with foreign forces, live in fear of reprisals from a group that imposed a harsh version of Islamic law when in power from 1996 to 2001.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in the UAE: "We are concerned about the deadline set by the United States on August 31. Additional time is needed to complete ongoing operations."

Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he had discussed keeping Kabul airport open beyond the deadline with Nato allies and the Taliban.

On Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to push the US for an extension during the virtual summit with other G7 leaders. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the prime minister was "going to try and raise the prospect of seeing if the United States will extend" its withdrawal.

The UK has said that any foreign military presence at Kabul airport cannot continue without US troops.

Military advisers have told the White House that a decision needs to be made on Tuesday in order to allow for the troops along with their equipment and weapons to leave in time for the deadline, CNN reports.

A defence official told the network that if Mr Biden agreed on withdrawing in time for the deadline, there would be "a few more" days of evacuating people before the drawdown of troops began, possibly at the end of this week. Currently 5,800 troops are on the ground.

According to the White House, about 10,900 people were evacuated from Kabul between 11:30 and 23:30 local time (07:00 - 19:00 GMT) on Monday.

The US has evacuated, and facilitated the evacuation of, approximately 48,000 people since an intense airlift started on 14 August, the White House said.

Images from Washington's Dulles Airport shows Afghans arriving in the country.

The Taliban have tried to paint a conciliatory picture for those Afghans who stay, asking them to help rebuild the country. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the BBC people with passports would still be able to leave on commercial flights after the deadline.

He said: "We want them to stay in the country but if they intend to go, they can."

The United Nations human rights council is set to meet in an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan. It comes amid warnings from aid agencies about the deepening humanitarian crisis in the country and concerns over human rights, in particular, the rights of women.

The Taliban say they will respect the rights of women and girls but there are already reports of detentions and executions. Human rights groups say the UN must create an international, independent body to investigate what is happening.

Tuesday's emergency human rights council session could do this - but the draft resolution, submitted by Pakistan does not go that far, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes says.

The resolution asks the UN human rights chief to keep an eye on things, and report back in December.

The airlift began as the Taliban moved into Kabul following a lightning campaign that saw them take over almost all of the country in the wake of the US decision to withdraw forces.

The Taliban were ousted by US and allied troops following al-Qaeda's 11 September 2001 attacks. A 20-year conflict ensued.

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Afghanistan: US under pressure over evacuation deadline

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The US is being pressed to allow more time for evacuation from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan as the deadline for its withdrawal nears. Under an agreement with the Taliban, the US must leave by 31 August. But France, the UK and Germany all raised the possibility of allowing more time ahead of a summit on Tuesday.

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To really see the influence of rising temperatures, the researchers had to broaden their analysis and look at a larger section of Western Europe, including eastern France, western Germany, eastern Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and northern Switzerland.

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Climate change: Europe's extreme rains made more likely by humans

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To really see the influence of rising temperatures, the researchers had to broaden their analysis and look at a larger section of Western Europe, including eastern France, western Germany, eastern Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and northern Switzerland.

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Cairo - Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities has revealed details of the latest landmark discoveries to emerge from the Saqqara necropolis, south of Cairo. The vast burial grounds sit in what was once Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to more than a dozen pyramids, including Egypt's oldest, the Pyramid of Djoser.

The site has yielded thousands of artefacts over decades of excavation, but among the biggest rewards for Egyptologists in this latest round of discoveries was the identity of a queen who died around 4,200 years ago.

Her tomb was discovered at a site adjacent to the pyramid of King Teti, the first pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom, the era between about 2680 and 2180 BC known as the Age of the Pyramids.

"The excavation started in 2010, when we discovered a pyramid of a queen next to the pyramid of King Teti, but we didn't find a name inside the pyramid to tell us who the pyramid belonged to," leading Egyptologist and former minister of antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass told CBS News.

About a month ago they discovered a funerary temple, and now researchers finally have a name for the ancient female monarch: Queen Neit, the wife of King Teti. Her name was finally found, carved on a wall in the temple and also written on a fallen obelisk in the entrance to her tomb.

"I'd never heard of this queen before. Therefore, we add an important piece to Egyptian history, about this queen," said Hawass, who heads the archaeological mission. He said the recent discoveries would help "rewrite" the history of ancient Egypt.

His team also discovered 52 burial shafts, each around 30 to 40 feet deep, inside of which they found have more than 50 wooden coffins dating back to the New Kingdom, around 3,000 years ago.

"Actually, this morning we found another shaft," Hawass told CBS News on Monday. "Inside the shaft we found a large limestone sarcophagus. This is the first time we've discovered a limestone sarcophagus inside the shafts. We found another one that we're going to open a week from now."

The team also found a papyrus about 13 feet long and three feet wide, on which Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead is written in hieroglyphics, with the name of its owner recorded on it. The Book of the Dead is an ancient manuscript that explains how to navigate through the afterlife to reach the field of the Aaru - paradise, to ancient Egyptians.

Hawass said it was the first time such a large papyrus had been discovered inside a burial shaft.

Other finds from the site include numerous wooden funerary masks, a shrine dedicated to the god Anubis (Guardian of the Cemetery), statues of Anubis, and games that were buried with the dead, to keep them busy in the afterlife. One of them was a game called "Twenty," found with its owner's name still visibly written on it.

Another game, called "Senet" (cross), was found in the shafts. It's similar to chess, but if the deceased player wins, they go safely into the afterlife.

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4,200-year-old queen's identity among remarkable new finds in Egypt

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Cairo - Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities has revealed details of the latest landmark discoveries to emerge from the Saqqara necropolis, south of Cairo. The vast burial grounds sit in what was once Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to more than a dozen pyramids, including Egypt's oldest, the Pyramid of Djoser.

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https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wellbeing/a35199648/positive-news-this-week/

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Spiritual Unfoldment with John Butler

A little bit of good news goes a long way in cutting through less encouraging headlines and lifting our spirits. Here, we round-up six good things that have happened this week (from Monday 2nd August), to make you smile, laugh and feel hopeful...

84-year-old farmer goes viral in Derbyshire

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John Butler, an 84-year-old former farmer from Derbyshire, has gone viral for posting inspirational messages on YouTube. He records them using his calm, soft and tranquil voice which fans say is the perfect tonic. He has "a voice like a warm glass of milk," one listener commented. John, who rides a tricycle and wears a blue beret, has practiced meditation for decades and wanted to share messages of hope during the pandemic to inspire those who were struggling. His YouTube channel, Spiritual Unfoldment with John Butler, currently has a whopping 183,000 subscribers.
LISTEN TO JOHN
Christmas Fair tickets go on sale

Tickets have officially gone on sale for our Country Living Christmas Fairs 2021 and we are so excited to be back. Running in London, Harrogate and Glasgow, we will, as ever, have a host of talented artisans selling festive gifts, decorations and food. There'll also be a line up of hands-on workshops. For everything you need to know about the events and to book your tickets, follow the link:
BOOK TICKETS
Travel company to plant tree for every train ticket sold

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A startup travel company in the UK called Trainhugger has implemented a green initiative to encourage people to travel by train as opposed to using their cars. They have pledged to plant a tree for every train ticket booked through their platform and their fare costs are in line with those of their competitors. A third of the company's overall profits are also put towards tree planting. Regular bookers can track how many trees have been planted thanks to their travel.

The Mission Statement on the Trainhugger website reads: "To plant millions of healthy, resilient trees in the UK and support sustainable travel and tourism.

"In partnership with the Royal Forestry Society and the Royal Scottish Forestry Society, we're creating a network of diverse, climate resilient woodlands across the country. These trees will protect wildlife, clean the air and support a local, sustainable timber industry that provides green jobs and valuable skills."
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800-year-old castle discovered in Shropshire

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Archeologists have discovered what is believed to be the remains of an 800-year-old castle in the grounds of Soulton Hall, near Wem, in North Shropshire. The team at Dig Ventures, which works with students from Cardiff University, initially visited the site in 2019 for a test dig near an untouched mound of land. This week, they returned for the bulk of the project, excavating a strip of land on the edge of the mound.

Everyone is very excited about the discovery, with the site manager Nat Jackon telling the Shropshire Star: "To find this is just amazing. We think it was a small castle, which dominated the road to Wem. There would have been a moat around it and and we believe we have found evidence of the bridge that went over the moat. But that will be for further exploration."

Edible food packaging now exists

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A female-led German startup called Traceless has created the world's first ever 100% compostable and edible food packaging. It's transparent and looks like plastic but it is actually made using agruciluraul waster, starch and brewery residue. being made from all natural materials and plants, the packaging can go straight into the food waste bin where it will take nine weeks to break down. It is also safe to eat but the taste might not be as good as the food it is protecting.

The invention has won the Green Alley Award for innovation in the circular economy. Their website reads: "Our materials are ready to replace plastics in a wide range of single-use applications. All products made of traceless materials degrade under natural composting conditions and are free of hazardous additives or solvents."

Man recreates Olympics for the squirrels in his garden

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Steve Barley, from Hitchin in Hertfordshire, as recreated an Olympic-inspired obstacle course in his garden for the squirrels that visit it. It took him three months to build and, as we all know how good squirrels are at acrobatics, it didn't take the animals long to have a go on the professional-looking course.

Steve has been filming the squirrels follow the course to get to the nuts at the end. He's been adding a hilarious commentary in the style of an Olympic judge.
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16 of the best family tents to buy in 2021

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Good news alert! 6 positive things that happened this week

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Spiritual Unfoldment with John Butler A little bit of good news goes a long way in cutting through less encouraging headlines and lifting our spirits. Here, we round-up six good things that have happened this week (from Monday 2nd August), to make you smile, laugh and feel hopeful...