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A man has revealed how he has been inspired to 'push himself out of his comfort zone' since his brother's death.

Joe Berry, a paratrooper, lost his life during active service in Afghanistan in February this year.

His brother Mark Smith says it had been Joe's lifelong aim to become a paratrooper and that he knew he wanted to join the army from an early age.

"His ultimate goal was to help people," said Mark, from Lincoln.

"He'd always go out of his way to make people happy. He knew he wanted to join the army and he always wanted to be the best of the best, which is why he joined the paratroopers.

"He even recovered from pneumonia and passed all his qualifications despite having spent weeks in bed."

Joe sadly lost his life aged just 21.

"It was incredibly hard losing Joe," said Mark.

"He was so loving. He always wanted to help and he always wanted the best.

"He was incredibly into the outdoors, big into scouts and camping.

"One holiday we went on holiday to France, close to one of the local mountains and we went for a walk. He decided just to run up the mountain.

"He would always go on trips and climbing Snowdon with his granddad."

Mark says the death of his brother has inspired him to step out of his comfort zone and take on a mammoth challenge.

"I decided to take part in the Para's 10 event and a Tough Mudder, which was set to take place in September this year, for the charity Support Our Paras, said Mark.

"After Joe's death, they helped us so much and gave us so much support.

"I wanted to push myself and give something back."

The Para's 10 event is a ten mile endurance race based on the 10 miler from The Parachute Regiments P Company test week and requires completing the course in boots and carrying a 35lb pack.

"I go to the gym and I've done a couple of half marathons but never anything like this, said Mark.

"The Tough Mudder was cancelled but the Para's 10 is still scheduled for November so fingers crossed that goes ahead. If both are cancelled I'll still set myself a challenge for this year, so then I'll get a double whammy when I do the rescheduled events next year."

Mark's football team, the under 9s Lowlands Vulcans who he coaches, trekked four miles from Waddington to the LNER stadium in a heavy rucksack to raise money for the paratrooper charity.

If you would like to donate to Mark's fundraiser, you can do so here.

Originally posted here:
'He inspires me to push myself' - man speaks of legacy left by brother who died in Afghanistan - Lincolnshire Live

Joe Biden's presidential campaign blasted President Donald Trump's conduct as "absolutely despicable" after Trump said he did not ask in a recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about alleged Russian bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

When asked by the news site Axios about statements by a top U.S. commander that Russian was arming Taliban fighters who fought U.S. troops, Trump replied: "Well, we supplied weapons when they were fighting Russia, too."

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Biden, in a statement said, "The most critical and sacred obligation of a commander-in-chief is to protect those who serve our nation in harm's way."

"But months after the U.S. intelligence community sounded the alarm to Donald Trump and to our allies that Russia was placing bounties on the heads of American servicemen and women in a war zone, our president continues to turn his back on those who put their lives on the line for our country, and on his own duty," Bates said.

"This continues an indefensible pattern of Donald Trump weakening the United States in the world in a manner that no American president ever has before, and it's absolutely despicable," he said.

In the Axios interview, Trump said he never asked or challenged Putin during their call Thursday on allegations, first reported by The New York Times in June, about a U.S. intelligence finding that Russia was paying Islamic fighters bounties for killing American troops in Afghanistan.

"No, that was a phone call to discuss other things," Trump told Axios.

"Frankly, that's an issue that many people said was fake news," Trump said, adding that "a lot of people" had said as much.

In brief exchange Wednesday with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump was asked if he thinks Russia did not put bounties on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan

"As I told you, I have certainly read about it and since then I've talked about it," Trump said.

He added that former Secretary of State "Colin Powell says it's not true and Colin Powell's not exactly someone that I'm a big fan of, Colin Powell says it's not true, other people say it's not true, if it were true I'd be very angry about it."

But Powell, a retired Army general, has not said that the bounty reports are false.

Powell earlier this month had said, "Our military commanders on the ground did not think that it was as serious a problem as the newspapers were reporting and television was reporting."

Powell added at the time, "It got kind of out of control before we really had an understanding of what had happened. I'm not sure we fully understand now."

Trump said several times in the Axios interview that intelligence reports of the bounties "never reached my desk."

But he did not directly answer when reporter Jonathan Swan repeatedly pointed out that the allegations reportedly had been included in the president's daily intelligence briefing.

Trump has previously cast doubt on the alleged bounties, and has said he was never briefed on the U.S. intelligence about them because it didn't meet the evidentiary standard for him to be notified.

But The New York Times, citing two officials familiar with the matter, reported late last month that Trump was provided a briefing in late February about Russia's alleged dealings. The Associated Press also reported that the bounty reports had been included in the president's daily intelligence briefings, which Trump told Axios he reads.

The White House and other Trump administration officials have claimed that the reports are unverified and that the president had not been briefed.

In the Axios interview, Trump was asked why he did not challenge Putin on a related issue: that Russia has supplied weapons to the Taliban.

Swan noted that Army Gen. John Nicholson, the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, had said that.

"Well, we supplied weapons when they were fighting Russia, too," Trump replied. "When they were fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan."

The president was referring to the U.S. arming from 1979 to 1989 of mujahedeen guerrilla forces, not the Taliban, fighting Soviet Union forces who were in Afghanistan to prop up that nation's Marxist government.

When Swan pointed out to Trump "that's a different era," Trump replied, "I'm just saying, we did that, too."

"I don't know, I didn't ask Nicholson about that. He was there for a long time, didn't have great success because you know he was there before me and then ultimately I made a change," Trump said.

Trump then said, "I have heard that" Russia has armed the Taliban.

"But again, it's never reached my desk," he added.

Trump told Axios that his call with Putin focused on "nuclear proliferation, which is a very big subject, where they would like to do something and so would I."

"We discussed numerous things," Trump said, but "we did not discuss" the reported Russian bounties.

When Axios suggested Trump simply didn't believe the intelligence, the president did not answer that.

"It's interesting, you know, nobody ever brings up China," Trump instead said.

"They always bring Russia, Russia, Russia. If we can do something about Russia in terms of nuclear proliferation, which is a very big problem bigger problem than global warming, a much bigger problem than global warming in terms of the real world that'd be a great thing."

"It never reached my desk, you know why? Because they didn't think intelligence they didn't think it was real," Trump said.

"If it reached my desk, I would have done something."

Read the original here:
Biden campaign blasts Trump over Putin call that did not discuss Russian bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan - CNBC

WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that he and his team have warned Russian officials about all threats that Russia poses to Americans and U.S. interests in various parts of the world. Pompeo also defended the Trump administrations tough line on China, saying the communist nation represents a potent threat to the U.S. and Western-style democracy.

Pompeo would not say whether he had specifically raised allegations that Russia is paying bounties to Taliban fighters to kill American troops in Afghanistan, but he said the discussions with the Russians involved all manner of threats. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that threats from Russia against Americans in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere had been covered.

Pompeos testimony came a day after President Donald Trump told an interviewer he had not raised the bounty allegations in numerous phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite concerns about them from the intelligence community. Among the Russian officials, Pompeo said he has discussed threats generally with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as has the U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan.

Yes, I can assure you that each time I have spoken to Foreign Minister Lavrov, I have raised all of the issues that put any Americans at risk, Pompeo said in response to a question from the committees top Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. We have raised this at my level and not only at my level.

Pompeo declined to say whether he would recommend that Trump raise the matter with Putin but said the Russian leader understood full well the U.S. position. He pointed to military action taken against several hundred Russian mercenaries who were advancing on American forces in Syria in 2019. Those fighters are no longer on this planet, Pompeo noted.

Menendez, a vocal critic of Pompeo, challenged him about the Russian threats and Wednesdays announcement by the Trump administration about the redeployment of several thousand U.S. troop s from Germany. Trumps top diplomat rejected complaints that the administration has been soft on Russia.

Were the toughest administration ever on Russia, Pompeo said, noting the many steps, including sanctions, that have been taken to counter Russian disinformation, Moscows dominance over European energy supplies and aggressive actions in Ukraine and Georgia.

Numerous critics, including some former Trump administration officials, have said Trumps self-acknowledged personal affinity for Putin has undercut U.S. efforts to both counter Russian aggression and enlist allies to join its cause. They have pointed to Trumps refusal to accept intelligence findings that Russia tried to help him win election in 2016, the presidents willingness to praise Putin, and his efforts to condition vital military assistance to Ukraine on a political favor.

Pompeo rejected those assertions.

This administration has acted to protect our interests and our friends, Pompeo said, adding that he and others would act to counter Russian attempts to meddle in the 2020 presidential election. Were taking seriously the threats that the Russians will engage in disinformation campaigns.

Pompeo said the administration is acting with sanctions and threats of such penalties to prevent Russia from completing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would carry natural gas to Europe, in particular Germany, and increase the continents dependence on Moscow for fuel.

We want Europe to have real, secure, stable, safe energy resources that cannot be turned off in the event Russia wants to, he said.

Pompeo also took aim at China in his testimony, saying the administration was battling the Chinese Communist Partys efforts to expand its influence on multiple fronts. He pointed to recent moves the U.S. has taken to confront Chinas assertiveness in the South China Sea as well as limiting freedoms in Hong Kong and its human rights record in Tibet and western Xinjiang province.

He said those, along with Chinas recent skirmishes with India and border disputes with the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, are indicative of Chinese intentions and they are testing, they are probing to see if the world will stand up to them.

See the article here:
Pompeo says threats to US in Afghanistan raised with Russia - The Associated Press

KABUL The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of US$12 million from USAIDs Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance in support of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan, where the public health emergency is compounded by increasing levels of food insecurity and where many communities livelihoods are being obliterated.

This contribution from USAID will allow WFP to provide 95,000 families affected by the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 with direct cash-transfers. Each family will receive AFN6,000 (US$79) through cashbased transfers to partially cover their food needs for two months.

COVID-19 has disrupted the livelihoods of families across the country relying on day labour, small trade or remittances, most of all in the cities where the lockdowns have left them without opportunities to earn money to buy their next meal, said Peter Natiello, Mission Director for USAID Afghanistan. Through our partnership with WFP, USAID will help reach some of the most vulnerable families affected by COVID-19 in Afghanistan with food assistance.

Vulnerable families in Herat City and the capital Kabul, the two urban centres of the country with the highest number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 and where the impact of the pandemic on the economy and individual livelihoods is being felt the most, will receive the assistance. The assistance will help keep these most vulnerable urban families from being forced to resort to negative coping mechanisms such as begging, child labour or eating fewer and smaller meals.

Were grateful for this generous contribution from USAID and the continued support for WFP in Afghanistan, said WFP Afghanistan Deputy Country Director and Officer-in-Charge Robert Kasca. This contribution comes at critical times when we are facing additional needs of US$53 million due to COVID-19. Without concerted action, Afghanistan could face its most devastating food security crisis in decades.

At the outset of 2020, more than 12 million people were already facing acute food insecurity due to decades of conflict, natural disasters and growing poverty, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Analysis. Now, COVID-19 leaves millions of Afghans at risk of falling into hunger, faced with unusually high food prices and reduced employment opportunities.

With the far-reaching consequences of the pandemic, WFP is further providing services in health centres and through mobile teams to prevent and treat malnutrition in girls, boys and pregnant and lactating women. Under strict precautions to quell the spread of the coronavirus, WFP is continuing asset creation activities that help food-insecure families cover their food needs and build the resilience of their communities.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 in Afghanistan, WFP is working to reach 3 million people more than initially planned, creating additional funding needs of US$53 million. In total, WFP plans to reach 10.3 million food-insecure people in 2020. Funding requirements from July to December 2020 for all of WFPs activities in Afghanistan are US$218 million, of which US$135 million remain to be resourced.

This latest contribution from USAID follows contributions of US$49 million in 2020 and US$92 million in 2019.

# # #

The United Nations World Food Programme is the worlds largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media @wfp_AsiaPacific

For more information please contact:

Wahid Amani, WFP/Kabul, wahidullah.amani@wfp.org, Tel. +93 70 600 48 84

Philippe Kropf, WFP/Kabul, philippe.kropf@wfp.org, Tel. +93 70 600 52 44

Link:
USAID Contributes US$12 Million to WFP to help 95000 Families in Afghanistan Struck by the Impact of COVID-19 [EN/Dari/PS] - Afghanistan - ReliefWeb

By PTI

NOIDA: A 105-year-old woman from Afghanistan was discharged from a hospital in Greater Noida on Friday after recovering from COVID-19 in a fortnight, officials said.

Rabia Ahmed was admitted to the private Sharda Hospital on July 16 in a "life-threatening condition" after getting infected with the novel coronavirus and spent a week on ventilator, they said.

She had tested positive for the infection at a private hospital in Noida after which she was brought to Sharda Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 facility.

She was tested again on Thursday and the result came out to be negative, paving the way for her discharge on Friday ahead of the Islamic festival of Bakrid, hospital officials said.

Ahmed, who hails from Kabul in Afghanistan, had come to visit her grandchildren who are living in Noida earlier this year but eventually got stuck in the lockdown, they said.

"When the patient was brought, she had fever, severe breathlessness and pneumonia.She was also suffering from Alzheimer's.She was unable to identify any relatives also when she was admitted here," Dr Ashutosh Niranjan, the medical superintendent of Sharda Hospital, said.

"She had urinal infection and her ECG was also abnormal.The patient was in a critical state and immediately shifted on ventilator support.She was suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)," Niranjan said.

The treatment started in compliance with the protocols laid by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the hospital's own norms for COVID-19, he said.

"Her condition started improving after ventilator support for seven days.She was given a diet with high-level protein.After this, she was taken off ventilator support and the woman even started recognizing the health care staff who were attending her in the ICU," Niranjan said.

"Now her condition is much better.She is also eating properly.She was discharged from the hospital on Friday after the report of her COVID-19 test done on Thursday came negative," the senior doctor said.

The woman's grandson Ahmad Fawad, who came to take her back from the hospital on Friday, said, "Before Bakrid, the hospital has given my family a gift for a lifetime."

"Everyone in the family will recite the festival prayer together and celebrate Eid," Fawad said, as his eyes welled up with joy.

Hospital spokesperson Ajit Kumar said Gautam Buddh Nagar's Additional Chief Medical Officer V K Singh and Additional District Magistrate Diwakar Singh were present during the woman's discharge and gave her gifts, wishing her well.

"The hospital staff also presented flowers to the 105-year-old woman as she left the hospital defeating coronavirus after a 15-day fight," Kumar added.

He said 21 other COVID-19 patients were discharged from the hospital after recovery on Friday.

See original here:
105-year-old Afghanistan woman beats COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh - The New Indian Express