2021年8月31日星期二

Tuesday Briefing: Taliban celebrate victory as last U.S. troops leave Afghanistan

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

by Linda Noakes

Hello

Here's what you need to know.

A U.S. general's ghostly image books a place in history, South Africa detects a new coronavirus variant, and play time's over for China's young video gamers

Today's biggest stories

U.S. Army Major General Chris Donahue steps on board a transport plane in Kabul, August 30, 2021 in a photograph using night vision optics

AFGHANISTAN

Celebratory gunfire resounded across Kabul as Taliban fighters took control of the airport before dawn, following the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, marking the end of a 20-year war that left the Islamist militia stronger than it was in 2001.

Carrying his rifle down by his side, Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the storied 82nd Airborne Division, became the last U.S. soldier to board the final flight out of Afghanistan a minute before midnight.

Less than 40% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden's handling of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and three quarters wanted U.S. forces to remain in the country until all American civilians could get out, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.

Even before the last U.S. flight left Kabul, many of the bright and garish sights and sounds of city life in Afghanistan were changing as those left behind tried to fit in with the austere tone of their new Taliban rulers.

So what happens now? Read our explainer.

Theophilus Charles, 70, sits inside his house which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ida in Houma, Louisiana, August 30, 2021

U.S.


Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, knocked out power to over 1 million homes in Louisiana and prompted rescue operations in flooded communities around New Orleans. We spoke to one man who rode out the storm in his destroyed home, and visited a post-Hurricane Katrina refuge that has been rocked by Ida.

The U.S. Department of Education is opening civil rights investigations to determine whether five states that have banned schools from requiring masks are discriminating against students with disabilities. Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Education said it has withheld funds from two school districts that made masks mandatory in classrooms this fall.

The number of hate crimes in the United States rose last year to the highest level in more than a decade, driven by a rise in assaults targeting Black victims and victims of Asian descent, the FBI reported. Georgia prosecutors affirmed their intention to seek the death penalty in Atlanta's Fulton County for the suspect accused of murdering four people at two Asian-run day spas there, characterizing the shootings as hate crimes.

Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to an Ohio man accused of striking a police officer during the deadly January 6 Capitol riot and then trying to grab his gas mask as another rioter fired bear spray at police. The congressional committee probing the attack told 35 telephone, email and social media companies to preserve records which could be relevant to its investigation.

WORLD

South African scientists have detected a new coronavirus variant with multiple mutations but are yet to establish whether it is more contagious or able to overcome the immunity provided by vaccines or prior infection.

Thai lawmakers began a censure debate against Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, as opponents threatened to intensify street protests fueled by frustration at his government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal is set to rule on whether the country's constitution or European Union treaties take precedence, a judgment that could further strain Warsaw's already troubled relationship with the bloc.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plunged back into campaigning after unusually vocal protesters disrupted his election rallies and forced him to cancel an event.

BBC journalist Sarah Rainsford has left Russia after Moscow abruptly refused to extend her permission to work in a tit-for-tat row with Britain over the treatment of foreign media.

BUSINESS

The Biden administration plans to make federal lands cheaper to access for solar and wind power developers after the clean power industry argued in a lobbying push this year that lease rates and fees are too high to draw investment and could torpedo the president's climate change agenda.

Young Chinese gamers took to social media to express their outrage at new rules that limit their gaming time to just three hours per week, while investors fretted about the long-term impact on the industry. President Xi Jinping wants to reshape Chinese family time at the private sector’s expense, says Breakingviews columnist Robyn Mak.

Euro zone inflation surged to a 10-year-high this month with further rises still likely to come, challenging the European Central Bank's benign view on price growth and its commitment to look past what it deems a transient increase.

Shares of Robinhood Markets, a popular gateway for trading meme stocks, tumbled nearly 7% on news that PayPal may start an online brokerage and a report saying regulators were looking at a possible ban on a practice that accounts for the bulk of the company's revenue.

Zoom Video Communications posted its first billion-dollar revenue quarter but signaled a faster-than-expected easing in demand for its video-conferencing service after a pandemic-driven boom, sending its shares tumbling 11%.


Quote of the day

"We advise investors to position for reopening and recovery"

Mark Haefele

Chief Investment Officer, UBS Global Wealth Management

Stocks set new records as August ends in buoyant mood

Video of the day

Caldor fire encroaches on heavily populated areas

Residents and tourists in communities near Lake Tahoe fled as a fierce, two-week-old wildfire roared closer to the popular resort destination through drought-parched forests in northern California's Sierra Nevada mountains.

And finally…

Murray's victory hopes go down the toilet

Stefanos Tsitsipas used his bathroom break when nature called at the U.S. Open but opponent Andy Murray fumed about the lengthy disruption as his hopes of scoring an opening round upset were flushed away.

More from Reuters

COVID-19 Investigates Legal news The Great Reboot

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2021年8月30日星期一

Monday Briefing: Rockets target U.S. troops as Afghanistan withdrawal enters final stage

Monday, August 30, 2021

by Linda Noakes

Hello

Here's what you need to know.

Tens of thousands of desperate Afghans face being left behind, Hurricane Ida pounds Louisiana, and a cautious Fed keeps world stocks happy

Today's biggest stories

A member of Taliban forces stands guard as Afghan men take pictures of a vehicle from which rockets were fired in Kabul, August 30, 2021

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. anti-missile defences intercepted as many as five rockets that were fired at Kabul's airport as the United States rushed to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end its longest war.

Having evacuated about 114,400 people, including foreign nationals and Afghans deemed "at risk", U.S. and allied forces are set to complete their own withdrawal by a Tuesday deadline agreed with the Islamist militants.

France, Britain and Germany are working on a United Nations proposal aimed at establishing a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan.

Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call that the international community should engage with Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers and "positively guide" them, China's foreign ministry said.

Whipped by the Taliban and shoved from behind by other desperate Afghans, marriage certificate in hand, Sharifa Afzali thrust her cell phone at the U.S. soldier barring the Kabul airport gate. On the other end was her husband, a U.S. Army veteran in Oklahoma. Here's how she fled Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden attended a grim homecoming for the U.S. troops killed in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Water enters a beach house as Hurricane Ida makes landfall in Grand Isle, Louisiana, August 29, 2021

HURRICANE IDA


Hurricane Ida pounded Louisiana after sweeping ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, flooding wide areas under heavy surf and torrential rains as fierce winds toppled trees and power lines, plunging New Orleans into darkness after nightfall.

Alarmed aid workers raced to get New Orleans' homeless off the streets, a complicated, last-minute push made all the more difficult by a severe outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the state.

New Orleans' levees got a $14.5 billion upgrade after Hurricane Katrina. Will they hold?


COVID-19

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine contamination woes in Japan have widened with another million doses being temporarily suspended, after foreign substances were found in more batches and two people died following shots from affected lots. Here's what we know about the contaminated vaccine supplies.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extended a lockdown in Auckland by two weeks, while officials reported the country's first death linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Intensive care cases in Australia's New South Wales will hit a peak in October as infections accumulate, said the premier of the country's most populous state, which reported record daily new infections.

India's rising output of COVID-19 vaccines and the inoculation of more than half its adult population with at least one dose are raising hopes the country will return as an exporter within months, ramping up from early next year.

BUSINESS


World stocks hovered around record highs, confident the U.S. Federal Reserve is no rush to step away from massive stimulus. Powell's wait-and-see approach gave investors and market participants some reassurance that the central bank's extraordinary efforts to prop up the economy were likely to support riskier assets a while longer.

China's top securities regulator pledged to crack down on mismanaged private funds and weed out fake ones, as the government becomes more assertive in dealing with an industry worth $9.28 trillion

Shares of Indian auto parts suppliers rose as much as 14% following a report electric-vehicle maker Tesla was in talks with at least three companies to source critical parts for its planned entry into the country.

Sea Ltd's Shopee took just two years to become Brazil's most-downloaded shopping app, winning users to its low-cost marketplace with its game-changing approach to e-commerce: in-app mini-games offering coupons to winning users. Sea's Brazil foray is just one element of its global ambition.

Quote of the day

"In just one week, they took over the country and in 24 hours they took all our hopes, dreams snatched from in front of our eyes. It was all for nothing."

Sosan Nabi

21-year-old graduate

Afghanistan's 'Gen Z' fears for future and hard-won freedoms

Video of the day

North Koreans mark Youth Day with dance party

And finally…

Dragons fly as Chinese millennials take a shine to gold

An e-commerce boom and national pride are fueling the rise in demand for what is known as heritage gold jewellery, which requires intricate craftsmanship and can command premiums of 20% or more over conventional gold jewellery.

More from Reuters

COVID-19 Investigates Legal news The Great Reboot

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Share your thoughts

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