Portal:Current events/2021 August 18

August 18, 2021 (2021-08-18) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • Taliban insurgency
    • 2021 Taliban offensive
      • Three people are killed and 12 more wounded during a shootout as civilians protest in Jalalabad against the Taliban banner replacing Afghanistan's national flag. (Reuters)
      • The United Arab Emirates confirms through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Afghan former President Ashraf Ghani has been welcomed along with his family on humanitarian grounds. (Reuters)
      • The Afghan embassy in Tajikistan issues a request to INTERPOL to arrest former president Ashraf Ghani on the accusation that he stole from the country's treasury when he fled Afghanistan. (Forbes)
      • Former President Ghani says that he fled the country to avoid being lynched. He also denies reports that he left the country with cash. He also says that he is in talks to return to Afghanistan. (The New York Times)
    • Operation Allies Refuge
      • During a interview with ABC News reporter George Stephanopoulos, U.S. President Joe Biden says that the U.S. is committed to getting every American out of Afghanistan, even if it meant extending the mission past the August 31 withdrawal deadline. (ABC News)
      • Oregon Governor Kate Brown announces in a statement that Oregon will accept refugees from Afghanistan, becoming the latest U.S. state to do so. (The Hill)
      • U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that American troops will evacuate as many Americans and allied Afghan interpreters as it can, but admits that the Pentagon lacks the capacity to do so. Austin also announces that around 5,000 people have been evacuated. (Stars and Stripes) (NBC News)
• Insurgency in the Maghreb
  • Clashes between the armed forces of Burkina Faso and militants linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL leave dozens dead. In an attack in the northern town of Arbinda, militants killed 30 civilians, 14 soldiers and three pro-government militiamen. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2021 France wildfires
  • Two people are dead during the fires that are affecting the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, mainly in the city of Saint-Tropez, making them the first victims of the fires. (The Guardian)
• Flash flooding kills at least seven people in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after torrential rains. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
      • COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales
        • New South Wales reports a record 633 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
      • New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces a snap lockdown, stating that its first community infection of COVID-19 in six months, reported yesterday, is suspected of being a Delta variant case. The lockdown will last for seven days in Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, and three days for the rest of the country. (ABC News Australia) (Times of Oman)
      • New Zealand announces that its first community infection of COVID-19 in six months is the first confirmed case of the Delta variant, and that six more cases have emerged, and then increase to ten. (9 News) (Japan Today)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Israel
      • Israel begins to require people aged above three years old to show their vaccination certificate, a negative test result, or have been recovered from COVID-19 to enter indoor places excluding malls and stores. Additionally, there will be crowd size restrictions at large events and malls and stores will be required to limit capacity to one person per 7 square metres (75 sq ft). (Haaretz)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Japan reports a record 23,917 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, with record highs were reported in 27 prefectures. (The Japan Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysia reports a record 22,242 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1.46 million. (Free Malaysia Today)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka
      • Due to rise of the COVID-19 infections, Sri Lanka closes swimming pools, shopping malls, spas, arenas, gyms, and playgrounds, restrict travel only for emergency reasons with only one person allowed to leave at a time, and ban carnivals, beach parties and musical events. (Economynext)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
      • Thailand reports a record 312 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours for the second day in a row, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 8,285. (Inquirer)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
      • Vietnam surpasses 300,000 cases of COVID-19. (Vietnam Plus)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
      • COVID-19 vaccination in Mexico
        • The Mexican Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk issues an emergency use authorization for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. (El Financiero)
    • Mexico reports a record 28,953 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 3,152,205. (Bloomberg)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
      • The Biden administration announces that the U.S. will begin administering booster shoots of the Moderna and Pfizer–BioNTech vaccines for most people who received the second dose eight months ago beginning from September 20. (Business Insider)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Tunisia
    • Tunisia eases its nightly curfew to five hours from midnight to 5:00 a.m. and allows restaurants to remain open until 10 p.m. as the number of COVID-19 cases declined. (Reuters)
• Bulgaria reports an outbreak of African swine fever at an industrial farm with 13,000 pigs in the central village of Apriltsi. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2021 Japanese Grand Prix, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on motorsport
  • Formula One announces that this year's Japanese Grand Prix scheduled for October 8–10 has been cancelled due to the rising number of COVID-19 infections in the country. (BBC Sport)

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August 2021

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