Portal:Current events/2021 August 8

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Mali War
  • Mali attacks
    • At least 51 people are killed as Islamist militants storm three villages in central Mali, near the border with Niger. It is one of the deadliest recent terror attacks in the country against civilians. (Reuters)
• War in Afghanistan
  • Taliban insurgency
    • 2021 Taliban offensive
      • The Taliban captures the capitals of the Kunduz, Takhar, and Sar-e Pol provinces. In Kunduz, the Taliban seize key government buildings, leaving the government forces only in control of the airport. In Takhar, the Taliban seize Taloqan, and heavy fighting was reported as the Taliban intensifies its offensive in the north. In Sar-e Pol, the Taliban drive government forces out of the main military base. (BBC News)
• Insurgency in Balochistan
  • Two policemen are killed and 21 more people are wounded as a roadside bombing explode in a street in Quetta, Pakistan, targeting a police mobile van near a hotel. (Al Jazeera)
• Insurgency in Cabo Delgado
  • Islamist insurgency that began in 2017. (BBC News)

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religion, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Hajj, COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia
  • The
    government announces that it will begin to allow foreigners who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to participate in Umrah. Saudi authorities will begin taking travel requests tomorrow. (BBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, COVID-19 vaccination in Bangladesh
      • Bangladesh reports a new single-day record of 2.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered as part of a six-day special vaccination campaign, in which 2.7 million people received their first dose of the vaccine. (Anadolu Agency)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Brunei
      • Brunei closes all place of worships, all leisure facilities including gyms and sport facilities, postpone social events and bans dine in at restaurants for two weeks after the first local COVID-19 cases in 15 months were reported in the country. All educational institutions also have ordered to return to online learning. (The Jakarta Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
      • Iran reports a record of 39,619 new cases and 542 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 4,158,729 and the nationwide death toll to 94,015. (Barron's)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysia reports a record 360 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 10,749. (The Star)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
      • Vietnam reports a record of 9,690 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 210,405. (The Straits Times)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Queensland
        • Yarrabah enter a snap three-day lockdown after an "unexpected" case of COVID-19 was reported in a taxi driver from Kanimbla who was infectious in Far North Queensland for 10 days. (ABC News Australia)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji
      • The
        country in Oceania and is only second in the number of infections in the region, with the most cases being reported in the U.S. state of Hawaii. (RNZ)
  • COVID-19 vaccination in Tunisia
    • Tunisia launches its "open-air" COVID-19 vaccination drive for people over the age of 40 in 300 vaccination centers across the country after six million doses of the vaccine arrived from overseas. (Al Arabiya)
  • Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
    • The
      international travel that saw the suspension of plans to implement a "watchlist". (BBC News)

• Tech company
  business culture of forcing female employees to act as hostesses to entertain business clients. (The New York Times)
• Chinese prosecutors file a lawsuit against the tech conglomerate Tencent, alleging that the company's "youth mode" for the WeChat application violates laws protecting minors. Authorities did not specify as to which laws the application violates. (The Verge)
• Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, a prominent ally of Alexei Navalny, leaves Russia, days after being sentenced to eighteen months of parole-like restrictions. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Myanmar protests
  • Protests against the military government occur across Myanmar in honor of the anniversary of the 8888 Uprising. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2020 Summer Olympics
  • The Summer Olympics officially end in
    Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo in preparation for the 2024 Games. (NBC News)
• 2021 MotoGP World Championship
  • The Styrian Grand Prix is red-flagged in lap 3 after a collision involving Spanish Dani Pedrosa and Italian Lorenzo Savadori that destroyed both motorcycles. (Radio France Internationale)