| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Friday, August 27, 2021 by Hani Richter | Hello Here's what you need to know. U.S. on alert for more attacks as death toll rises from Kabul airport carnage, Pentagon says Kabul attack was carried out by one suicide bomber and Biden's shedding support from independent voters. | | | | | Today's biggest stories  Wounded Afghan men receive treatment at a hospital after yesterday's explosions outside airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 27, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer Afghanistan U.S. forces helping to evacuate Afghans desperate to flee new Taliban rule were on alert for more attacks on Friday after an Islamic State attack killed 92 people including 13 U.S. service members just outside Kabul airport.
The Pentagon said that the deadly attack at the gate to Kabul airport in Afghanistan on Thursday was carried out by one suicide bomber, not two. "I can confirm for you that we do not believe that there was a second explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, that it was one suicide bomber," Army Major General William Taylor told reporters.
Teacher Shirin Tabriq spent five days and nights outside Kabul airport trying to get on a flight from Afghanistan. Humiliated and enraged by her ordeal, she has given up and plans to return to her village to start a new life under the Taliban.
When Shakiba Dawod was reunited with her mother on Friday, all the stress and terror of trying to get her family out of Afghanistan evaporated, and she broke down and wept.
Hours before the Taliban took control of Kabul, filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat received an offer to leave Afghanistan. She declined, as it would mean leaving family members behind. |  U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response and vaccinations during a speech in the Eisenhower Executive Office Bulding's South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., August 23, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis U.S. President Joe Biden is shedding support from independents, a crucial voting bloc that helped Democrats win the White House and Congress last year, as a resurgence of COVID-19 cases slows the country's return to normal from the pandemic, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows.
Seven U.S. Capitol Police officers sued former President Donald Trump, alleging that he conspired with far-right extremist groups to provoke the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Congress.
The Supreme Court ended the pandemic-related federal moratorium on residential evictions imposed by President Joe Biden's administration in a challenge to the policy brought by a coalition of landlords and real estate trade groups.
The number of coronavirus patients in U.S. hospitals breached 100,000, the highest level in eight months, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, as a resurgence of COVID-19 spurred by the highly contagious Delta variant strains the nation's health care system.
Texas' House of Representatives advanced a bill restricting voting access, more than six weeks after Democratic lawmakers fled the state in an effort to deny the legislature the quorum needed to approve the Republican-backed measure. |  The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd transits alongside the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt while participating in Exercise Northern Edge 2019 in the Gulf of Alaska May 16, 2019. Picture taken May 16, 2019. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Lynch/Handout via REUTERS WORLD
A U.S. warship and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the latest in what Washington calls routine operations through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from China, which claims the self-ruled island. The passage comes amid a spike in military tensions in the past two years between Taiwan and China, and follows Chinese assault drills last week.
Teachers in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas blocked President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from entering a venue in the regional capital where he was due to hold his daily televised news conference.
Climate change activists daubed red paint on the glass facade of the London headquarters of bank Standard Chartered and on the medieval Guildhall building nearby as they ramped up a two-week campaign focused on the capital's financial district
Germany's ruling conservatives will have a hidden weapon in their campaign to remain in office when Angela Merkel calls time on 16 years as chancellor next month - a right-winger who many of them are however reluctant to call their own.
Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was discharged from Milan's San Raffaele hospital after an overnight stay for a check up, a source from his Forza Italia party said.
BUSINESS
The U.S. economy continues to make progress towards the Federal Reserve's benchmarks for reducing its pandemic-era emergency programs, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks that defended the view current high inflation will likely pass.
China is framing rules to ban internet companies whose data poses potential security risks from listing outside the country, including in the United States, according to a source.
Peloton said U.S. regulators were investigating the company, adding to the exercise bike maker's woes as it deals with a backlash over reports of accidents involving its treadmills.
T-Mobile US said it was confident there were no continuing risks to user data from a breach disclosed earlier this month that affected more than 53 million current, former and prospective customers.
Nvidia is likely to seek EU antitrust approval for its $54 billion takeover of British chip designer Arm early next month, with regulators expected to launch a full-scale investigation after a preliminary review, sources said. | | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Moderna contaminant thought to be metallic particles A contaminant found in a batch of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccines delivered to Japan is believed to be a metallic particle, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. | | | | And finally… Chanel buys up more jasmine fields to safeguard famous No. 5  Wary of disappearing flower crops used in its best-selling perfumes, fashion and beauty firm Chanel has bought up more land in southern France to secure its supplies of jasmine and other varieties, harvested by hand in a delicate annual ritual. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
