Wildfires ravage southern Turkey
Now on its sixth day of blaze, the wildfires of Turkey have ravaged much of the southern part of the country, leaving eight people dead while local officials plead for help. Forced evacuations from towns, villages, and even resorts have taken place.
LinkedIn greenlights ‘WFH’
LinkedIn gave its employees the flexibility to work remotely full-time or work at an office part-time. It will apply to their global workforce of more than 16,000 employees. This is an update to their previous announcement in 2020 that mentioned employees could work from an office 50% of the time when COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lift.
Disney makes employee vaccination mandatory
The Walt Disney Company said in a statement on Friday that all its employees need to be fully vaccinated if they are going to work on-site. Those who aren’t vaccinated yet will have 60 days to do so, and those vaccinated have to show proof of inoculation. New hires will be required to get vaccinated before joining the company. Though this rule pertains to salaried and non-union hourly employees in the US, Disney is in talks with the union too.
The exodus from Afghanistan
Afghanistan is going through a mass exodus as the Taliban press on their military campaign that now covers half the country’s 400 districts. 330,000 Afghans have already been displaced since May when the US began withdrawing its troops. It is reminiscent of previous periods of unrest in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported: “Millions poured out of Afghanistan in the years after the Soviets invaded in 1979. A decade later, more fled as the Soviets withdrew and the country fell into civil war. The exodus continued when the Taliban came to power in 1996.”
French Gates-Scott’s $40 million donation
Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott are teaming up to donate $40 million to four organizations that promote gender equality. The awardees were selected through the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge, hosted by French Gates’ investment firm Pivotal Ventures and supported by Scott and her science teacher husband Dan Jewett.
Olympic wins
Tokyo Olympics highlights: Yulimar Rojas has broken the women’s triple jump world record to secure gold for Venezuela. Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica is officially the fastest woman in the world — again — after winning the 100 meters at the Tokyo Games in Olympic record time. She was the defending gold medalist in this event. It was a sweep for Jamaica, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce taking silver and Shericka Jackson taking bronze. Katie Ledecky is undefeated in every 800-meter freestyle race she’s competed in for 11 years. Her six individual gold medals are now the most by any female U.S. Olympian ever and second-most in swimming to Michael Phelps.
