A.M. Edition for Aug. 20. WSJ’s Costas Paris discusses the latest supply-chain issues in China and the broader slowdown in shipping goods around the world.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals plans for a humanoid robot using artificial intelligence. Online sports-merchandise retailer Fanatics reorders the trading-card world. Oil prices decline. And, why using your credit card could cost more. Marc Stewart hosts.
With the Taliban promising more freedoms in Afghanistan, we ask how the West is planning to protect the country’s women and girls. Plus: the first minister of Wales on his coronavirus response and the latest arts news.
We look to Brussels to hear how the EU plans to approach an Afghan migration crisis, and discuss New Zealand’s latest lockdown. Plus: a review of the morning papers and the headlines from the Balkans.
August 17, 2021: Afghanistan, central bank chief flees Kabul, Storm Fred, Robert Durst, Haiti quake
1. Military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan resumed after the runway at Kabul airport was cleared of thousands of people desperate to flee after the Taliban seized the capital.
2. The head of Afghanistan’s central bank has fled Kabul, questioned the loyalty of Afghan security forces and blamed President Ashraf Ghani and his inexperienced advisors for the country’s swift and chaotic fall to the Taliban.
3. Tropical Storm Fred slammed the Florida Panhandle, making landfall with a wet slap of heavy rain and blasting winds.
4. Real estate heir Robert Durst testified to chopping up the body of a Texas neighbor he killed in self-defense and to abandoning the body of his best friend after discovering her dead in her Beverly Hills home during his Los Angeles murder trial.
5. Heavy rains lashed Haiti, complicating rescue efforts and drenching thousands left homeless by a devastating earthquake that killed at least 1,419 people.
A president’s assassination, a cratered economy and now this: a tropical depression that will hamper rescue efforts after a massive earthquake. The country cannot catch a break.
India and Pakistan parted ways 74 years ago this week; we discuss how the tensions that defined their division still resonate today. And why Indonesia is so good at badminton.
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including the fallout in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal and how it could affect America’s midterm elections.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, with fighters entering the presidential palace, and gunshots broke out at Kabul’s airport as thousands tried to flee the country. The collapse of the Afghan government creates an uncertain future for civilians and challenges for the U.S. Photo: Stringer/Reuters
The fall of Kabul, the capital, sealed the country’s fate: after 20 years, the Taliban are back in charge—a fearsome outcome for its people and for the Biden administration.
As capital punishment fades, life sentences proliferate; that comes with its own costs and iniquities. And visiting an enclave in Uruguay that is in many ways more Russian than Russia.
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