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World Monthly Headline News August 2021
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent

(CNN) The US military negotiated a secret arrangement with the Taliban that resulted in Taliban members escorting groups of Americans to the gates of the Kabul airport as they sought to escape Afghanistan, according to two defense officials. One of the officials also revealed that US special operations forces set up a "secret gate" at the airport and established "call centers" to guide Americans through the evacuation process. more...
Joe Hernandez

The massive evacuation effort in Afghanistan continues, just hours after a series of attacks at the Kabul airport left 13 U.S. troops dead. Two officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press on Friday that 169 Afghans had died, but a final count might take more time. The crowds of people at the airport hoping to board a flight out of the country "appeared as large as ever" Friday morning, according to the AP. more...
Thousands of companies using Azure warned that their data has been exposed for years
By Thomas Ricker

Microsoft has warned thousands of its Azure cloud computing customers, including many Fortune 500 companies, about a vulnerability that left their data completely exposed for the last two years. A flaw in Microsoft’s Azure Cosmos DB database product left more than 3,300 Azure customers open to complete unrestricted access by attackers. The vulnerability was introduced in 2019 when Microsoft added a data visualization feature called Jupyter Notebook to Cosmos DB. The feature was turned on by default for all Cosmos DBs in February 2021. A listing of Azure Cosmos DB clients includes companies like Coca Cola, Liberty Mutual Insurance, ExxonMobil, and Walgreens, to name just a few. more...
Matthew Brown, Joey Garrison, Tom Vanden Brook, Josh Meyer | USA TODAY

Twelve U.S. service members were killed in Thursday’s attack at the Kabul airport, the Pentagon said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. The Associated Press reported those killed included 11 Marines and one Navy medic.  Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said 15 more U.S. service members have been injured and a “number of Afghan civilians” were also killed or injured. “While we’re saddened by the loss of life, both U.S. and Afghan, we’re continuing to execute the mission,” McKenzie said. more...
By Rob Picheta and Zahid Mahmood, CNN

(CNN) Fear is mounting for women and girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban told working women to stay at home, admitting they were not safe in the hands of the militant group's soldiers. Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said at a news conference on Tuesday that women should not go to work for their own safety, undermining the group's efforts to convince international observers that the group would be more tolerant towards women than when they were last in power. more...
By James Crump

Russia's Defense Ministry has signed a deal with a contractor to deliver Tsirkon hypersonic missiles to Russian troops by 2025, as President Vladimir Putin has vowed to put the weapons on "combat alert."

"A government contract on the delivery of the 3M22 missile (the Tsirkon hypersonic missile) has been signed," the defense ministry said in a statement shared with Russian state news agency TASS on Tuesday.

"The contract has been handed to CEO of the Research and Production Association of Machine-Building Alexander Leonov at the [Army-2021] international military-technical forum." more...
Brian Schwartz

Wealthy Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, an outspoken critic of China’s government, and several others are accused of breaking state securities laws in a class-action lawsuit filed in Arizona.

The civil complaint was filed in late June in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. The plaintiffs claim to have tried to invest in GTV Media, a private media company linked to Guo, only to never see any proof that their money actually went toward the business. more...
By Daryna Krasnolutska and Patrick Donahue

Chancellor Angela Merkel reinforced her vow to push for additional sanctions against Russia if the Kremlin uses the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany as a “weapon.”

The comments came two days after President Vladimir Putin raised the stakes in mounting tension over energy with the EU. Putin imposed conditions on any extension of a gas-transit agreement with Ukraine, an economic lifeline for the former Soviet republic threatened by the Baltic sea pipeline that circumvents Ukraine. more...
By REUTERS

Russia is in no hurry to recognize the Taliban as legitimate authorities in Afghanistan, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, calling for an inclusive government to be set up involving all Afghan ethnic groups. "... We see encouraging signs from the Taliban who say they would like to have a government that includes other political forces," Lavrov told reporters. "But it would be premature to say that we are going to start making some political steps unilaterally." more...
By Melissa Quinn

Washington — The collapse of the Afghan government and rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban ahead of the U.S. withdrawal of the last troops there has led to finger-pointing across the federal government, with members of both parties blaming their political opponents for the chaos that unfolded over the weekend.

In his first remarks since dramatic scenes in Kabul showed desperate Afghans attempting to flee the country at its main airport, President Biden on Monday defended his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan and said he inherited the situation from former President Donald Trump, whose administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban and pledged all U.S. forces would be out of the country by May 1. more....
By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business

London (CNN Business)The swift fall of Afghanistan to Taliban fighters two decades after the United States invaded the country has triggered a political and humanitarian crisis. It's also causing security experts to wonder: What's going to happen to the country's vast untapped mineral wealth?

Afghanistan is one of the poorest nations in the world. But in 2010, US military officials and geologists revealed that the country, which lies at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, was sitting on mineral deposits worth nearly $1 trillion that could dramatically transform its economic prospects. more...
By ROBERT BURNS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turned out to be the Taliban. They grabbed not only political power but also U.S.-supplied firepower — guns, ammunition, helicopters and more.

The Taliban captured an array of modern military equipment when they overran Afghan forces who failed to defend district centers. Bigger gains followed, including combat aircraft, when the Taliban rolled up provincial capitals and military bases with stunning speed, topped by capturing the biggest prize, Kabul, over the weekend. more...
Natasha Turak

Evacuation flights resumed from Kabul’s international airport Tuesday after a frenzied and panic-filled day that saw thousands of Afghans swarm the tarmac, including some who fell off departing planes in desperate attempts to get out of Afghanistan.

Images from Hamid Karzai International and shared on social media and news outlets stunned the world, as evacuation flights took off with locals still clinging onto aircraft wheels.

The crowds, who were trying to flee the country a day after Kabul fell to the Taliban, have thinned out, reports say, though the ability to leave the country remains very limited for most Afghans, who face an uncertain future. more...
By AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ, KATHY GANNON AND JOSEPH KRAUSS

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Thousands packed into the Afghan capital's airport on Monday, rushing the tarmac and pushing onto planes in desperate attempts to flee the country after the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government. U.S. soldiers fired warning shots as they struggled to manage the chaotic evacuation.

The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the U.S. and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan. The country's Western-trained security forces collapsed or fled in the face of an insurgent offensive that tore through the country in just over a week, ahead of the planned withdrawal of the last U.S. troops at the end of the month. more...
Helen Sullivan

Our full story on the chaos at Kabul airport now. Thousands of Afghans and foreign nationals have surged on to the tarmac at Kabul airport seeking a place on a flight out of the country, amid chaotic scenes that unfolded as the Taliban took control of the city. more...
By Lexi Lonas

Over 300 people are dead in Haiti after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the country on Saturday. Haiti's Office of Civil Protection said search and rescue teams will be sent out, with at least 304 people confirmed dead from the earthquake, NBC News reported. “The most important thing is to recover as many survivors as possible under the rubble,” Prime Minister Ariel Henry said. “We have learned that the local hospitals, in particular that of Les Cayes, are overwhelmed with wounded, fractured people,” Henry added. more...
BBC News

US intelligence is warning that the Afghan capital Kabul could fall to Taliban fighters within 90 days, according to reports from Washington. video...
Tim O'Donnell, Contributing Writer

U.S. officials previously believed the Afghan government would collapse in about six months, but the Taliban's rapid offensive has them rethinking the timeline, CNN reports, citing two sources familiar with discussions on the matter. Now, there's a sense that the fall could occur much more quickly, though it's not clear if there are any specific estimates. On Tuesday, the Taliban took three more provincial capitals, so the group has seized nine of these key cities in just five days. Afghanistan's capital Kabul, where the U.S. embassy is located, isn't considered to be under immediate threat, but the accelerated timeline does mean Washington is at least preparing for a further drawdown of the embassy in the coming days or weeks, the sources told CNN. more...
BBC

German federal prosecutors said the man - named only as David S - worked at the British embassy in Berlin. He allegedly passed documents to Russian intelligence "at least once" in exchange for an "unknown amount" of money. He was arrested in Potsdam outside Berlin on Tuesday and his home and workplace have been searched. more...
By Ben Westcott, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN)A Chinese court has sentenced Canadian businessman Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison for espionage, more than two years after he was first detained. Spavor, a Beijing-based businessman who regularly traveled to North Korea, was sentenced after being found guilty of spying and illegally providing state secrets to foreign countries, the Dandong Intermediate People's Court said in a statement Wednesday. The court said Spavor would also be deported, without specifying whether it was before or after he served his prison sentence. more...
By Jennifer Hauser, Tara John and Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

(CNN) The Taliban has seized control of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, local officials told CNN on Sunday. It is the first major city to fall to the insurgent group since they began their offensive in May, and marks a big blow to the Afghan government. Kunduz is the third of four provincial capitals that the Taliban has captured in recent days, a string of victories that come as foreign forces, led by the United States, complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan. With a population of 375,000, Kunduz is a significant military prize. On Sunday, Taliban forces mostly overran the provincial capital city of Sar-e-Pul, also in the country's north, marking another loss for the government amid a series of unprecedented advances by the insurgency in its 20-year war. more...
The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — A Belarusian activist who ran a group in Ukraine helping Belarusians fleeing persecution was found dead in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, local police said Tuesday. Vitaly Shishov, leader of the Kyiv-based Belarusian House in Ukraine, was found hanged in one of the city's parks not far from his home, police said in a statement. A probe has been launched, with police investigating whether it was a suicide or a murder made to look like suicide, head of Ukraine's National Police Igor Klymenko told reporters on Tuesday. more...
By Naomi Jagoda

The Senate voted to begin debate on a bipartisan infrastructure package that has yet to be turned into legislative text, and that many senators have yet to see. Yet plenty of Democrats, Republicans and outside groups have been pressing for decades for such a deal, believe the big votes this week will pave the way for the long-sought-after package to win Senate approval, and eventually get to the White House for President Biden’s signature. “I’m very, very optimistic about it,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), who is part of the bipartisan group of 22 senators negotiating the package, told reporters Friday. more...
The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is forcing governments to reimpose tough measures, while other nations are reconsidering plans to open their economies.
Agence France-Presse

Beijing, China: China and Australia ramped up Covid-19 curbs Saturday as Delta variant cases surged and tens of thousands rallied in France against restrictions designed to stop the pandemic. The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is forcing governments to reimpose tough measures, while other nations are reconsidering plans to open their economies. The variant has spread to 132 countries and territories. The pandemic has killed more than four million people and shows no sign of slowing. more...
By Laura Kelly

The Biden administration wants to ramp up pressure on Iran amid stalled talks to rejoin the nuclear deal, but internal calculations in Tehran are difficult to predict as the nation faces rising unrest at home. The options on the table for the U.S., which are said to include tighter restrictions on Iran's oil exports as well as new sanctions on its missile and drone programs, are likely to further strain tensions amid the months-long efforts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the formal name for the Obama-era nuclear deal that the U.S. exited in 2018 under then-President Trump. more...
By JON GAMBRELL

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel’s prime minister Sunday directly blamed Iran for a drone attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman that killed two people, making a veiled threat to retaliate as Tehran denied being involved in the assault. The comments by Premier Naftali Bennett and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh come after the strike Thursday night on the oil tanker Mercer Street. The attack marked the first-known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal. more...
Marina Pitofsky | USA TODAY

A Canadian fertility doctor accused of impregnating women with the wrong sperm, including using his own, has agreed to a proposed $10.7 million settlement. The potential settlement in a yearslong, class action lawsuit involving hundreds of victims was announced Wednesday against former physician Norman Barwin, whose medical license was revoked in 2019. The class-action lawsuit was started in 2016 by Davina Dixon, Daniel Dixon and Rebecca Dixon. Davina and Daniel in 1989 sought medical services from Barwin, and he performed an artificial insemination procedure for the parents. more...
YURAS KARMANAU

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus' authoritarian president said Friday he's prepared to invite Russian troops into the country if such a move is necessary to ensure the security of both Belarus and Russia. But, President Alexander Lukashenko said, at the moment “there is absolutely no need” to do that. In remarks carried by the state-run Belta news agency, Lukashenko stressed that he had dealt with last year's anti-government protests without involving other countries' armed forces, but added that he would not hesitate to bring in Russian troops if necessary. more...
TRT World

People of Myanmar continue to struggle after the military ousted the elected government of Suu Kyi six months ago with the Covid-19 exacerbating the country’s crisis. video...
Associated Press

TOKYO -- Usain Bolt would not recognize what went down on the Olympic track he used to own. On the night of the 100-meter gold medal race that once belonged to the Jamaican superstar, a Texas-born Italian with a deeper history in long jumping than outdoor sprints won the race that has long defined Olympic royalty. At the Tokyo Olympics, Lamont Marcell Jacobs is The World's Fastest Man. more...
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