Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • Taliban insurgency
    • 2021 Taliban offensive
      • Fall of Kabul
        • Russia accuses President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani of fleeing with "four cars and a helicopter full of cash" and that he left money behind as it would not all fit in. Ghani's whereabouts are still unknown although multiple sources say he fled to Tajikistan. (Reuters)
        • The first Afghan President after the 2001 United States invasion, Hamid Karzai, announces that he and his daughters are remaining in Kabul as he appeals to the Taliban to respect his life and civilians in Afghanistan. (India Times)
        • Saudi Arabia calls on the Taliban and "all Afghan parties" to "preserve lives and property". The statement further states that "Saudi Arabia stands with the decision of the Afghan people without interference". (Reuters)
        • The Taliban sets up a cordon and blocks access to the airport, also firing warning shots as civilians attempt to flee. (Al Jazeera)
  • Withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan
    • U.S. troops shoot dead two "armed men" at Hamid Karzai International Airport as evacuations of Western diplomats and allied Afghans continues. (Wall Street Journal)
    • Two people are filmed falling to their deaths from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III over the airport. Local reports say the stowaways landed on nearby rooftops. In a separate incident, three civilians are run over and killed while clinging on to a U.S. jet on the runway. (NDTV)
    • U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the U.S. following his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. In the address, Biden said that he "stands squarely behind" the decision to withdraw from the country and admits that the government's collapse was "quicker than anticipated". (The Independent) (USA Today)
  • Operation Pitting
    • The United Kingdom deploys a further 200 troops to Kabul to help airlift UK nationals and Afghans who worked with British forces during the war. (BBC)
  • Uzbekistan shoots down an Afghan Air Force jet that crossed into its airspace. The pilot ejected and survived, according to the Ministry of Defense. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Four Palestinians are killed and another seriously injured after an undercover branch of the Israel Border Police raid a Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. The raid, done to arrest a suspected Hamas member, had the highest death toll in the area in months. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• 2021 Haiti earthquake
  • The death toll from the earthquake that struck Haiti two days ago, rise to 1,297 people. More than 5,700 others are injured. (BBC)
  • Tropical Storm Grace threatens earthquake-hit Haiti as it approaches the island of Hispaniola with sustained winds of 35 mph (56 km/h), and higher gusts. (CNN)
• Wildfires in 2021
  • Around one thousand people are evacuated in Castile and León, Spain, as a wildfire spreads across the region. (Reuters)
• 2020–21 North American drought
  • The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issues an official water shortage declaration at the Lake Mead reservoir for the first time. The shortage will mean reduced water apportionments to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico from October. (Reuters)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      • Hong Kong reclassifies 15 countries and territories, including the U.S., France, Malaysia, and Thailand, to "high-risk" category, which means that beginning from August 20, there will be mandatory 21-day quarantine and tougher boarding requirements for travellers arriving from those countries due to surge of the COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant. (South China Morning Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
      • Iran reports a record 655 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours on the first day of general lockdown, bringing the nationwide death toll to 98,483. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, COVID-19 vaccination in Israel
      • The number of people over the age 50 years old who received a "booster" COVID-19 vaccine dose in Israel reaches milestone of one million. (The Times of Israel)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, Malaysian movement control order
      • The Government of Malaysia begins to allow 11 more economic sectors in states under Phase 1 of the national recovery plan (NRP) to reopen and operators in 11 sectors must ensure their customers to show a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate before enter. (Free Malaysia Today)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • France requires shoppers to show their "health pass" to enter 126 shopping centres that measure more than 20,000 km² (7,700 sq mi) in Paris and 12 departments that reached threshold of 200 cases per 100,000 people following the increase of COVID-19 cases. (Radio France Internationale)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, COVID-19 vaccination in Germany
      • The German Standing Committee on Vaccination recommends that all children aged 12 to 17 years old to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to increased risks among them posed by the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant and further vaccine's safety data. (Spiegel)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia
      • North Macedonia restricts the access of cafés, restaurants and public events to those who have been vaccinated at least one dose or has been recovered from COVID-19 within the past 45 days and limiting the capacity of restaurant to 30 people with only outdoor parts of restaurant to open in order to curb the rising COVID-19 cases. (U.S. News and World Report)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 pandemic in England, COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland
        • A requirement for fully vaccinated people and people under 18 years old to self-isolate is removed in England and Northern Ireland if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus. They are now advised to take a PCR test despite it being voluntary and wear a face covering in enclosed spaces. (BBC)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Northern Territory, COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria
      • Greater Darwin and Katherine enter a three-day lockdown after new community transmissions of COVID-19 was reported. Meanwhile, lockdown restrictions in Melbourne are extended and tightened for two weeks, with a controversial nighttime curfew reinstated. (The Australian) (ABC News Australia)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
      • Outgoing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces that healthcare workers in the state will be required to be vaccinated by September 27. (WIVB-TV)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
      • Washington, D.C. announces that they will require healthcare workers and other health-related professionals to be vaccinated by either at least first dose for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines or a single-dose Janssen vaccines by September 30. (The Hill)
• Ivory Coast begins to vaccinate "healthcare workers, close relatives and contacts of the victim" against Ebola using 5,000 doses of Ebola vaccines donated by Guinea after the first case of the virus since 1994 was reported at the weekend. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• The Speaker of the Tongan Parliament, Lord Fakafanua, introduces the Illicit Drugs Control (Amendment) Bill 2021 for debate in the legislative assembly. The Speaker wants a mandatory death sentence for serious drug offenses. Tonga has a moratorium on the death penalty and has not used it in more than four decades. (RNZ)
• The last living Khmer Rouge leader, Khieu Samphan, appears before a court in Phnom Penh to appeal his conviction, in an attempt to overturn it. The 90-year-old's hearing is expected to last a few days as analysts say that it is very unlikely that he will succeed in his appeal. (Deutsche Welle)

Politics and elections

• 2020–21 Malaysian political crisis
  • Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin resigns from office, leading the ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition government to collapse. Yassin will remain as the caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. (CNA)
• COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, Political impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • President Gotabaya Rajapaksa replaces his health minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi with Keheliya Rambukwella, who was also the media minister and government spokesman, with the former becoming the transport minister, amid public criticism over understating COVID-19 infections and her endorsement of sorcery and magic potions to battle the virus. (Al Jazeera)

Sports

• 2020 Summer Paralympics, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
  • The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Japanese government issue a joint statement that spectators will be banned at Paralympic venues in Tokyo and another prefecture under state of emergency due to the spread of COVID-19. The exception would be some school children who want to attend via "special programme" and are located nearby the games' venue. (The Washington Post) (France 24)