Reuters World News Summary

Fearing reprisals, Sarwary and his family were evacuated to Qatar along with more than 150 other people, including other journalists and artists, a few days before Thursday's deadly Islamic State suicide bombing https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/western-nations-race-complete-afghan-evacuation-deadline-looms-2021-08-25 outside Kabul airport. Pentagon says Kabul attack carried out by one suicide bomber A deadly attack in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Thursday was carried out by a single suicide bomber at a gate to the airport and there was no second explosion at a nearby hotel, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

UK mulls easing post-Brexit immigration rules to end truck driver shortage -The Times

British ministers will consider easing post-Brexit immigration rules to help end a shortage of truck drivers amid mounting pressure from supermarket chains, The Times newspaper reported. A review of the shortage occupation list, which gives employers more flexibility to hire overseas recruits, could be brought forward to tackle an estimated shortfall of 100,000 drivers, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed government source.

Analysis: Islamic State attack signals West's least bad option for Afghanistan - the Taliban

The deadly attack on Kabul airport has underlined the realpolitik facing Western powers in Afghanistan: engaging with the Taliban may be their best chance to prevent the country sliding into a breeding ground for Islamist militancy. Almost two weeks after the Taliban's surprise return to power, officials in Europe are beginning to acknowledge that their pragmatic option is to put aside distaste for the country's new leaders and work with them instead.

U.S. intelligence community says it cannot solve COVID mystery without China

The U.S. intelligence community does not believe it can resolve a debate over whether a Chinese laboratory incident was the source of COVID-19 without more information, U.S. officials said in a declassified summary on Friday. U.S. officials said only China can help solve questions about the true origins of the virus that has now killed https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps 4.6 million people worldwide. "China's cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins of COVID-19," they said.

Brazil's indigenous burn giant coffin in protest ahead of vital land ruling

A group of about 150 indigenous people protested in front of Brazil's presidential palace on Friday, setting fire to a giant coffin that had been carried in a demonstration ahead of a landmark Supreme Court ruling over their ancestral lands. The group was a small part of the roughly 6,000 indigenous people from 176 tribes that have descended on the capital to denounce a proposal setting a cut-off date of 1988 for their land claims.

UK says more can be done for Afghans who have arrived in Britain

The British government acknowledged that more can be done by to help and assist Afghan nationals and their families settle in Britain as they escape from Afghanistan following its takeover by the Taliban. Britain earlier announced plans to welcome up to 5,000 Afghans fleeing the Taliban during the first year of a new resettlement programme that will prioritise women, girls and religious and other minorities.

China will soon surpass Russia as a nuclear threat –senior U.S. military official

China, in the midst of a rapid nuclear weapons buildup, will soon surpass Russia as the United States' top nuclear threat, a senior U.S. military official said on Friday, warning that the two countries have no mechanisms to avert miscommunication. U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas Bussiere, the deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the country's nuclear arsenal, said China's development of nuclear capabilities "can no longer be aligned" with its public claim that it wants to maintain a minimum nuclear deterrent.

Biden to Israeli PM: U.S. has options if Iran nuclear diplomacy fails

U.S. President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in White House talks on Friday that he was putting "diplomacy first" to try to rein in Iran's nuclear program but if negotiations fail he would be prepared to turn to other unspecified options. After a one-day delay due to a deadly suicide bombing in Kabul during the chaotic U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan, Biden and Bennett held their first meeting seeking to reset U.S.-Israeli relations and narrow differences over how to deal with Iran's nuclear developments.

Afghan journalist Sarwary: Leaving was most painful journey of my life

Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary began his career in 2001 helping cover the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and subsequent fall of the Taliban. Never in the 20 years since did he imagine Kabul would once again fall to the Islamist militant group, he said. Fearing reprisals, Sarwary and his family were evacuated to Qatar along with more than 150 other people, including other journalists and artists, a few days before Thursday's deadly Islamic State suicide bombing https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/western-nations-race-complete-afghan-evacuation-deadline-looms-2021-08-25 outside Kabul airport.

Pentagon says Kabul attack carried out by one suicide bomber

A deadly attack in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Thursday was carried out by a single suicide bomber at a gate to the airport and there was no second explosion at a nearby hotel, the Pentagon said on Friday. The Kabul airport attack, which killed 13 U.S. troops and at least 79 Afghans, was claimed by Islamic State militants. The Islamic State's Afghan affiliate, ISIS-Khorosan, has emerged as an enemy of both the West and of the Taliban.

U.S. on alert for further Kabul attacks in race to complete evacuations

U.S. forces helping evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule were on alert for more attacks on Friday after an Islamic State suicide bombing outside Kabul airport killed at least 92 people, including 13 U.S. service members. The White House said the next few days of an ongoing U.S. evacuation operation that the Pentagon said has taken about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks are likely to be the most dangerous https://www.reuters.com/world/us/advisers-warned-biden-significant-danger-ahead-afghan-mission-official-2021-08-27.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)