| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Thursday, August 19, 2021 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. U.S. troops may stay in Afghanistan past an August 31 deadline, the battle over masks escalates in Florida, and Toyota slashes its output amid a chip crunch | | | | | Today's biggest stories  People wait to cross into Afghanistan at the Friendship Gate crossing point at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman, August 19, 2021. REUTERS/Saeed Ali Achakzai AFGHANISTAN Flag-waving protesters took to several Afghan cities and several people were killed when Taliban fighters fired on a crowd, a witness said, in the first popular opposition to the militants since they seized the capital.
U.S. troops may stay in Afghanistan past an August 31 deadline to evacuate Americans, President Joe Biden said, and the Pentagon said the U.S. military does not currently have the ability to reach people beyond the Kabul airport.
Afghanistan may be governed by a ruling council now that the Taliban has taken over, while the Islamist militant movement's supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, is likely to remain in overall charge, a senior member of the group has told Reuters.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, speaking from exile in the United Arab Emirates, said that he left Kabul to prevent bloodshed and denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace.
The fate of Afghanistan means that the West's resolve is now perceived as weak by major adversaries such as Russia, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said.
|  Students wearing protective masks queue up outside classrooms at St. Lawrence Catholic School in North Miami Beach, Florida, August 18, 2021. REUTERS/Marco Bello
U.S.
Florida's largest school district imposed a mask mandate in defiance of the state's governor, the latest chapter in the coronavirus political battle in the southern United States where new infections are highest.
Biden said his administration will require employees at nursing homes to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of the facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid government healthcare programs.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Texas law effectively banning the most common abortion procedure for terminating second-trimester pregnancies, reversing a ruling last year by a three-judge panel of the same court.
An incendiary mix of strong, shifting winds and drought-parched vegetation stoked two of California's largest wildfires, with thousands of people chased from their foothill and forest homes in the Sierra Nevada range.
WORLD
Australia reported its biggest one-day rise in coronavirus infections, as authorities began doling out emergency supplies of vaccine in the Sydney suburbs worst hit by an outbreak of the fast-moving Delta strain. A British public health study has found that protection from either of the two most commonly used vaccines against the Delta variant weakens within three months.
Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob moved closer to forming the next government after securing a parliamentary majority from the same coalition that collapsed earlier this week.
A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, who had been detained in mainland China after trying to flee the city by boat, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country in a national security case. Andy Li was among a group of 12 people intercepted by mainland authorities in August 2020 on a boat believed to be en route to Taiwan.
Dozens of people were killed in northern Burkina Faso when Islamist militants raided a civilian convoy that was being escorted by military police, the latest in a spate of attacks across West Africa's Sahel region this month.
| | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Nigeria's 'hyena man' culture clashes with conservation In northern Nigeria some men keep hyenas as pets or perform with them at festivals - but one traditional leader says the culture is dying as it clashes with modern ideas about animal welfare. | | | | And finally… Going medieval in Manhattan  In one-on-one matches, members of Gladiators NYC wear helmets, chain mail and full armor weighing up to 100 pounds. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
