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.