Reuters World News Summary
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.
Early Canada election call backfires on Trudeau, who now trails in polls
Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finds himself behind in polls ahead of a snap election he called hoping his management of the COVID-19 crisis would propel him to victory. Trudeau called the Sept. 20 election last month, two years ahead of schedule. At the time, his Liberals were well ahead and looked likely to regain the majority in parliament they lost in 2019. His main rival, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, has repeatedly attacked him for calling a vote during the pandemic.
Taliban sources say last Afghan holdout region falls; resistance denies claim
Three Taliban sources said the Islamist militia had on Friday seized the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, the last province of Afghanistan holding out against it, although a resistance leader denied it had fallen. "By the grace of Allah Almighty, we are in control of the entire Afghanistan. The troublemakers have been defeated and Panjshir is now under our command," said one Taliban commander.
Japan's struggling PM Suga steps down, sets stage for new leader
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in a surprise move on Friday he would step down, setting the stage for a new premier after a one-year tenure https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/fall-japan-pm-suga-triggered-by-criticism-over-pandemic-failure-communicate-2021-09-03 marred by an unpopular COVID-19 response and sinking public support. Suga, who took over after Shinzo Abe resigned https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-politics-abe-resignation/japans-shinzo-abe-says-to-step-down-as-pm-apologies-from-bottom-of-my-heart-idUSKBN25O0ZX last September citing ill health, has seen his approval ratings drop below 30% as the nation struggles with its worst wave of COVID-19 infections ahead of a general election this year.
Exclusive-Google locks Afghan government accounts as Taliban seek emails -source
Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners.
In the weeks since the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan from a U.S.-backed government, reports have highlighted how biometric https://theintercept.com/2021/08/17/afghanistan-taliban-military-biometrics and Afghan payroll https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/30/1033941/afghanistan-biometric-databases-us-military-40-data-points databases might be exploited by the new rulers to hunt their enemies.
Police in New Zealand kill "extremist" who stabbed six in supermarket
New Zealand police on Friday shot and killed a knife-wielding "extremist" who was known to authorities, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, after he stabbed and wounded at least six people in a supermarket. The attacker, a Sri Lankan national who had been in New Zealand for 10 years, was inspired by the Islamic State militant group and was being monitored constantly, Ardern said.
U.S. defense secretary to travel to Gulf countries next week
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait next week, the Pentagon said on Friday, in a "thank you" tour for allies and troops that helped in the massive U.S.-led airlift from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. Austin planned to leave on Sunday and meet with regional officials as well as U.S. service members and other government staff.
U.S. seen funding humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, but not its goverment
The U.S. Congress is likely to finance U.N. and other agencies providing humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan but there is virtually no chance it will directly fund a new Taliban-led government, congressional aides said on Friday. The United States has been a massive funder of Afghanistan since its 2001 invasion to topple the Taliban, setting aside roughly $130 billion for security, governance and development and humanitarian needs.
Exclusive-'They'll kill us' - Afghan pilots held at Uzbek camp fear deadly homecoming
The U.S.-trained Afghan pilots and others held at a camp in Uzbekistan already feared being sent back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. So it was little comfort when an Uzbek guard unsympathetically quipped the other day: "You can't stay here forever." The offhand warning added to an already grinding sense of unease at the camp just across Afghanistan's northern border, recounted one of the Afghan pilots who fled there with aircraft when ground forces fell to the Taliban in August as the United states and its allies withdrew their forces.
U.S. sanctions Iranians over alleged plot to kidnap NY-based journalist
The United States has sanctioned four Iranian intelligence operatives behind a failed plot to kidnap a U.S. journalist and human rights activist, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday. The sanctions come after U.S. prosecutors in July charged the four with plotting to kidnap the New York-based journalist who was critical of Tehran. Reuters previously confirmed he was Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad.
Lebanon deported Reuters journalist after questioning
Lebanon deported a Reuters correspondent after questioning him on arrival at Beirut airport at the start of a reporting assignment last month, detaining him overnight before putting him on a flight to Jordan. Suleiman al-Khalidi, a Jordanian national, flew to Beirut on Aug. 2 but was stopped by officials at passport control who took him aside for questioning and asked him to surrender his company laptop computer and mobile phone, Khalidi said.
