World News Roundup: Israel cabinet approves Gardos as new budget czar; Australian PM Morrison defends lockdown strategy as daily cases hit record and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Israel cabinet approves Gardos as new budget czar

Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved Yoav Gardos as the country's budget director after he had been serving as interim budget czar for the past year, the finance ministry said. Gardos, 38, who has held several posts in the budget department over 11 years, had become an acting budget director in September 2020 after Shaul Meridor resigned as budget chief last August along with two other senior finance ministry officials in the span of three months.

Australian PM Morrison defends lockdown strategy as daily cases hit record

Australia will stick to its lockdown strategy against the coronavirus until at least 70% of its population is fully vaccinated, but after that, it will have to start living with the virus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday. The country set a record with 914 infections, its highest daily figure, as the southern and eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory remain under a strict lockdown.

Iran urges Japan to release billions in blocked funds amid U.S. sanctions

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi called on Japan to release Iranian funds frozen in the country because of U.S. sanctions, Iranian state TV reported after the president met on Sunday with the visiting Japanese foreign minister. Iran has been unable to obtain tens of billions of dollars of its assets mainly from exports of oil and gas in foreign banks, including $3 billion of its funds in Japan, due to U.S. sanctions on its banking and energy sectors. The sanctions were reimposed in 2018 after Washington abandoned Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers.

"I'm distraught": grieving Haitians bury their dead a week after quake

Families gathered in villages in southwestern Haiti this weekend to hold church and funeral services a week after an earthquake battered the region, killing more than 2,000 people and destroying tens of thousands of buildings. The collapse of churches in some of the worst-affected towns and villages of the impoverished Caribbean nation left residents to grieve in open fields.

Thai monarchy budget survives rare calls for cuts in parliament

The Thai government's allocation of 8.76 billion baht ($262 million) for the monarchy in the next fiscal year survived unprecedented calls for cuts by opposition lawmakers during parliamentary proceedings that concluded on Sunday. The questions over the royal budget in parliament's lower house followed criticism of the monarchy and calls to curb its powers at youth-led protests last year.

'He never stood a chance': the fateful downfall of Haiti's president

Haitian President Jovenel Moise began this year by warning that his country was a land of coups, conspiracy, and murder. In the days before he was shot dead in a murky international plot last month, he was telling friends that enemies were out to get him. "He told me a lot of people were spending a lot of money to murder him," said a former Haitian senator and close friend of the late president, relating a conversation with Moise the evening of his death. "I told him to stop thinking like that."

Biden administration to use commercial airlines to carry Afghan evacuees

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said on Sunday that commercial aircraft would be used to help ferry people who have been evacuated from Afghanistan. A Pentagon spokesman said the 18 aircraft, including from United, American Airlines, and Delta, would not fly into Kabul but would be used to transport people who have already been flown out of Afghanistan.

South Korea to get more Moderna COVID shots in boost to vaccination effort

South Korea's health ministry said on Sunday that Moderna Inc will supply the country with 7.01 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by the first week of September, following a government request to speed up delivery. Some 1.01 million doses are expected to arrive on Monday, the ministry said, with another 6 million to be supplied sequentially.

Dutch send more soldiers to Afghanistan to help with evacuations

The Netherlands will increase its military presence in Afghanistan to help with efforts to evacuate people from the country, the Dutch defense ministry said on Sunday. An unspecified number of troops will be sent to help the 62 Dutch special forces already at Kabul airport to secure airplanes, protect people trying to flee Afghanistan, and help embassy staff.

Taliban fire in the air to control crowd at Kabul airport

The Taliban fired in the air and used batons to make people line up in orderly queues outside Kabul airport on Sunday, witnesses said, a day after seven people were killed in a crush at the gates. On Sunday, there were no major injuries as gunmen beat back the crowds and long lines of people were being formed, the witnesses said.

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