Good morning. We’re overlaying the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan, a brand new lockdown in Australia and an exodus of pro-democracy officers in Hong Kong.
Afghanistan falls to the Taliban
The federal government collapsed on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled for Uzbekistan together with his spouse. Listed here are stay updates.
The insurgents met little resistance as they entered Kabul. The capital devolved into panic and confusion. Inmates broke out of the principle jail and Afghans made a mad sprint to banks. 1000’s crammed into the civilian home terminal on the airport, desperately searching for flights out. Listed here are footage.
Insurgents and Afghan officers assured residents that there can be a peaceable switch of energy.
However the U.S. raced to evacuate diplomats and civilians in helicopter after helicopter. A core group of diplomats have been moved from the embassy to a compound on the worldwide airport.
Girls: “If the Taliban take over, I lose my id,” Wahida Sadeqi, 17, stated. The group will doubtless strip girls of their rights and crack down on training for women. On Sunday, in Kabul’s metropolis heart, folks painted over posters of girls at magnificence salons, apparently making ready for a fundamentalist takeover.
A brand new lockdown round Sydney
Officers in New South Wales introduced statewide stay-at-home orders, which might be in impact for a minimum of every week, because the Delta variant fuels outbreaks. On Saturday, the state recorded 466 new instances, its highest day by day complete of the pandemic.
The virus has unfold from Sydney to close by cities and weak Aboriginal communities. Officers blame metropolis residents who violated a seven-week-long lockdown.
Now, Sydney residents will want a allow to journey exterior town. Some faculties will shut. Journey for train and important purchasing might be restricted to 5 kilometers from residence. And officers elevated fines for violations that embrace mendacity to contact tracers.
Vaccines: Vaccination charges are rising, as group members be a part of grass-roots efforts to speed up immunity. On the present tempo, 70 p.c of Australia’s inhabitants older than 16 may have acquired a minimum of one dose of a Covid vaccine by Sept. 25.
Listed here are the newest updates and maps of the pandemic.
In different developments:
Hong Kong opposition resigns
In 2019, pro-democracy politicians received almost 90 p.c of seats in native council elections, inspiring hopes of change. Now, worry of retaliation from Beijing has pushed greater than half of them to stop.
District councilors are the bottom rung of elected official and solely entered the political limelight amid widespread protests. Day-to-day, they deal with unglamorous duties akin to coping with pest infestations, overflowing trash and unlawful parking.
Up to date
Aug. 8, 2021, 12:43 p.m. ET
However Beijing has since skilled its consideration on the councilors after they took on outsize significance two years in the past. Now, the councilors stated, they have been alarmed by the federal government’s plans to impose a brand new loyalty oath. In addition they worry experiences that perceived violations may go away them imprisoned, barred from politics or bankrupted.
Quotable: “Earlier than, we had lots of hope and anticipation,” stated Zoe Chow, an elected district official who resigned in July. “Now, it seems like our palms and toes are tied.”
Evaluation: The authorities are successfully burying Hong Kong’s final vestige of democracy, and have rewritten election guidelines to bar candidates they deem disloyal.
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Haiti Earthquake
Montenegro spent virtually $1 billion on a Chinese language-built freeway that peters out in the midst of largely uninhabited woods. Its authorities now owes Beijing money owed that complete greater than a 3rd of Montenegro’s annual funds.
Perceive the State of Vaccine and Masks Mandates within the U.S.
Masks guidelines. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention in July beneficial that every one Individuals, no matter vaccination standing, put on masks in indoor public locations inside areas experiencing outbreaks, a reversal of the steering it supplied in Might. See the place the C.D.C. steering would apply, and the place states have instituted their very own masks insurance policies. The battle over masks has change into contentious in some states, with some native leaders defying state bans.Vaccine guidelines . . . and businesses. Personal corporations are more and more mandating coronavirus vaccines for workers, with various approaches. Such mandates are legally allowed and have been upheld in courtroom challenges.Faculty and universities. Greater than 400 faculties and universities are requiring college students to be vaccinated towards Covid-19. Virtually all are in states that voted for President Biden.Colleges. On Aug. 11, California introduced that it will require lecturers and workers of each private and non-private faculties to be vaccinated or face common testing, the primary state within the nation to take action. A survey launched in August discovered that many American mother and father of school-age kids are against mandated vaccines for college students, however have been extra supportive of masks mandates for college students, lecturers and workers members who do not need their pictures. Hospitals and medical facilities. Many hospitals and main well being methods are requiring staff to get a Covid-19 vaccine, citing rising caseloads fueled by the Delta variant and stubbornly low vaccination charges of their communities, even inside their work power.New York. On Aug. 3, Mayor Invoice de Blasio of New York introduced that proof of vaccination can be required of staff and prospects for indoor eating, gyms, performances and different indoor conditions, turning into the primary U.S. metropolis to require vaccines for a broad vary of actions. Metropolis hospital staff should additionally get a vaccine or be subjected to weekly testing. Comparable guidelines are in place for New York State staff.On the federal degree. The Pentagon introduced that it will search to make coronavirus vaccinations obligatory for the nation’s 1.3 million active-duty troops “no later” than the center of September. President Biden introduced that every one civilian federal staff must be vaccinated towards the coronavirus or undergo common testing, social distancing, masks necessities and restrictions on most journey.
Publish-Olympics Japan
The Tokyo Olympics ended on a celebratory be aware and the Paralympics begin subsequent week, however Japan continues to be struggling. Coronavirus infections are at a excessive, and simply 36 p.c of residents are absolutely vaccinated. To get a way of the post-Video games temper, we spoke to Motoko Wealthy, our Tokyo bureau chief.
What’s life like in Tokyo proper now?
There’s a sense of cognitive dissonance. Within the morning once I watch the information, commentators speak about an more and more pressing sense of disaster. However the streets and trains are pretty busy. Persons are going to work in places of work and consuming lunch in eating places, consuming espresso in cafes and purchasing in shops, although almost everybody wears a masks.
Polls discovered that the Japanese public didn’t help these Olympics in the beginning. Did folks heat to them?
As soon as the Video games began, public sentiment softened. There have been nonetheless protests all through the Video games. However for a lot of, it appears the drama of the Video games diverted folks’s consideration away from their pre-Olympics nervousness.
What do you assume would be the legacy of this 12 months’s Video games?
I’m guessing there might be a reckoning for the whole Olympic motion about the price and sacrifices of serving as a number metropolis. An rising variety of nations are pulling out of bidding for the Video games. And with each the chance of future pandemics and the truth of local weather change hovering over every part we do, these forces are inevitably going to form future Video games.
