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13 Jul, 5 tweets, 3 min read
Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or burned shopping malls in South Africa, with dozens reported killed as grievances unleashed by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years reut.rs/3r4T6vs 1/5
Protests that followed Zuma's arrest last week have widened into looting and an outpouring of generalized anger over inequality that persists 27 years after the fall of apartheid 2/5
'No amount of unhappiness or personal circumstances from our people gives the right to anyone to loot, vandalize and do as they please and break the law,' Police Minister Bheki Cele told a news conference, echoing sentiments expressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa overnight 3/5
Zuma was sentenced for defying a constitutional court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level corruption during his nine years in office. The legal proceedings were seen as a test of post-apartheid South Africa's ability to enforce the rule of law 4/5
The violence worsened as Zuma challenged his 15-month jail term in South Africa's top court on Monday. Judgement was reserved until an unspecified date. More from the ground 👉 reut.rs/3r4T6vs 5/5

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More from @Reuters

14 Jul
Days of riots and looting in South Africa have left more than 70 people dead, hurt thousands of businesses and damaged major infrastructure in some of the worst civil unrest since the end of white minority rule in 1994.

What is driving the violence? reut.rs/3wzFQ3a 1/6 Image
Zuma's jailing

The unrest started after ex-president Jacob Zuma handed himself over last week to start a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court. Zuma supporters burned tyres and blocked roads in his home province 2/6 Image
Poverty, Inequality

The hardship that persists 27 years after the end of apartheid is a major reason why hundreds of shops and dozens of malls have been stripped bare.

Statistics agency data show roughly half of the country's 35 million adults live below the poverty line 3/6 Image
Read 6 tweets
14 Jul
Arman Maddela, 24, is a recovering addict. He got a second chance at life, something that many Americans didn't. During the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. deaths from drug overdoses leapt nearly 30% to more than 93,000 in 2020 - the highest ever recorded, according to new data 1/5
Opioids were involved in 74.7% of overdose deaths in 2020, rising to 69,710 from 50,963 in 2019 reut.rs/3ejVxFj 2/5
With many states on lockdown, access to rehabilitation programs that offer needle exchange, opioid substitution therapy or safe injection sites was reduced. Support groups and visits with therapists were limited due to the stay-at-home mandates 3/5
Read 5 tweets
12 Jul
Chanting 'freedom' and calling for President Miguel Diaz-Canel to step down, thousands of Cubans joined street protests from Havana to Santiago in the biggest anti-government demonstrations on the Communist-run island in decades reut.rs/3yRv9KH 1/5
Protests erupted amid Cuba's worst economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, its old ally, and a record surge in coronavirus infections, with people voicing anger over shortages of basic goods, curbs on civil liberties and the authorities' handling of the pandemic 2/5 ImageImageImageImage
Special forces jeeps, with machine guns mounted on the back, were seen throughout the capital and police presence was heavy even long after most protesters went home by the 9 p.m. pandemic-related curfew 3/5 Image
Read 5 tweets
8 Jul
Last week, American troops left their main base in Afghanistan, bringing an effective end to a two-decade war. We asked veterans to share their perspectives 👇 1/9
‘When I got out of the service, I thought I was done fighting.'

Nivardo Gonzalez says he wants to be remembered more for his contributions to his community than in combat. He now hosts a book club and teaches meditation to other vets facing mental health challenges.

2/9
‘Our friends died and what was it all for?’

@_M_Gibbs shares why he feels it’s past time to end the war in Afghanistan and describes the kinship he feels with Afghan interpreters who put their lives at risk, only to be ‘forgotten about.’

3/9
Read 9 tweets
7 Jul
Haiti President Jovenel Moise was shot dead by unidentified attackers overnight, stirring fears of another bout of turmoil in a country that has suffered cycles of violence, invasion and repression.

Here are some key events in Haiti's political history 👇reuters.com/world/americas…
The assassination, which drew condemnation from the U.S. and neighboring Latin American countries, coincided with a spate of gang violence in Port-au-Prince in recent months fueled by a growing humanitarian crisis and political unrest reut.rs/36jijc5
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said in televised remarks that the government had declared a state of emergency amid confusion over who would take over the reins of the country

'My compatriots, remain calm because the situation is under control,' he said Image
Read 4 tweets
7 Jul
With the 2020 Summer Olympics kicking off on July 23, athletes will have to face more than just their competitions: Tokyo's summer heat. #Tokyo2020 may be one of the hottest summer Olympics ever recorded reut.rs/2TKPqD1 1/6
🥵 Heat-related illnesses are responsible for thousands of emergency callouts each summer in Tokyo, with hundreds requiring hospitalization. The time during which the Games will be held is the peak of summer and historically a very hot period 2/6
Tokyo is often very humid in summer, which can make the air feel hotter and raises the risk of illness. The heat index scale below shows how hot it feels to the body in shady conditions based on humidity and air temperature 👇 3/6
Read 6 tweets

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