Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:                     

• Pakistan’s Spy Chief Visits Kabul for Meeting With Taliban.   
• European Allies Fault U.S. Afghan Pullout, GOP Senator Says.
• HK Pro-Democracy Body Won’t Comply With Police Request: SCMP.   
• China’s ‘Mr. Income Distribution’ Explains Common Prosperity.
• Australia Touts Resilient Economy in Face of China Trade Curbs.  
• Italy’s Economy to Grow at Least 5.8% This Year, Minister Says.
  
• UN Urges Climate Laggard Australia to Set Emissions Target.
• Mercedes Boss Warns Chip Shortage Won’t Just Go Away Next Year.
• Emerging Currencies Are in ‘Sweet Spot’ for Carry Trades Again.  
• Saudis Cut Oil Prices to Woo Buyers as OPEC+ Boosts Supply.
• UAE Plans to Become Finance Hub, Seeks $150 Billion Investment.  
• Asia Stocks Eye Japan Lift; Traders Mull Weak Jobs: Markets Wrap.
• Mideast Stock Markets Mixed as Traders Mull Recovery: Inside EM.
• Oil Extends Losses as Saudi Arabia Slashes Asian Crude Prices.
• Mercedes Readies E-Class’s Electric Sibling to Bolster Overhaul.  
• Opioid Distributors to Move Forward With $26 Billion Accord.

Wall Street Journal:  

• Inside Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal Plan: Warnings, Doubts but Little Change.
• Islamic State Kills at Least 12 Police in Iraq.
• Search for Yield Leads Bond Buyers to Unrated Debt.
• Biden’s Aides Head Abroad After U.S. Afghan Pullout.
• U.S. Ports See Shipping Logjams Likely Extending Far Into 2022.
• Progressives’ Tax-the-Rich Dreams Fade as Democrats Struggle for Votes.
• Wallets Are Over. Your Phone Is Your Everything Now.
• 9/11 and the Rise of the Homeland-Security Industrial Complex.  
• Russia and China Eye a Retreating U.S.
• Media Can’t Handle the Climate Truth.  
• A Dishonest Afghanistan Accounting.
• China’s Industrial Planning Evolves, Stirring U.S. Concerns.  
• Biden’s Vainglory Brings Abject Humiliation in Afghanistan.

CNBC:

• College debt crisis drives more students away from four-year schools.
• Republican lawmaker readies bill mandating foreign subsidy disclosures for mergers.
• How Amazon’s cloud business generates billions in profit.

IG:

• Weekend Markets Trading Live.

MarketWatch.com:      

• Why the recent wave of regional bank mergers is far from over — and you could profit from it.
  
• Opinion: Beat the market with this quant system that’s very bullish on stocks at record highs.

Fox News:

• Pregnant Calif. woman stranded in Afghanistan says Taliban going ‘door to door,’ looking for US citizens.
• Judge Jeanine: Joe Biden has given a terrorist organization their own nation. 
• HANSON: Our new woke Pentagon is hell-bent on losing America's trust – and wars.
• Taliban spokesperson warns US not to interfere with their culture, treatment of women.
• Biden’s chief of staff responds to Taliban slaughtering US citizens' stories.

Newsmax:   

• Biden Polling Plunge Continues as Questions Mount on COVID Leadership, Afghanistan.  
• Rep. Jackson: Taliban Holding Americans Until US Recognizes. 
• Rep. McCaul: Executions Taking Place of Afghans Who Were US Partners.

Reuters:

• U.S.-bound migrants fill Colombia town as COVID-19 border closures lifted. (Aug. 11)
  
• Colombia has administered at least 35,750,492 doses of COVID vaccines so far. (graph) Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 35.5% of the country’s population.
• COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Colombia, with 1,959 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 6% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on June 27.

 Jerusalem Post:

• COVID-19: New 'Mu variant' from Colombia could be vaccine resistant - WHO.

Nature: 

• Why US coronavirus tracking can’t keep up with concerning variants. (April 7) Laboratories supported by the US government have doubled the rate at which they are sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genomes over the past two months. Still, the number of genomes that the country shared in the online genome repository GISAID in March represented only 1.6% of its positive COVID-19 cases that month.

Newsweek:

• Mu COVID Variant, Which Could Be Resistant to Vaccines, Now in Almost Every State.

Zero Hedge:

• California Admits Grid At Risk Amid Push To Greenify Economy.
• Victims Of US Drone Strike In Kabul That Wiped Out Children Want Answers.
• Horse-Paste Hooey: How Left-Wing Lunatics Spread Yet Another Obvious Lie.
• Fauci Talks Boosters: Pfizer First As Moderna Delayed.
• Bad Ideas Tried Again: Pension Plans Borrow Money At A Record Pace To Invest.
• World Food Prices Jump In August To Near Decade High.
• Amidst Historic Labor Shortage, The Retail Race To Secure Tens Of Thousands Of Holiday Workers Has Officially Started.
• Tesla Reportedly Targeting $25,000 "Model 2" With No Steering Wheel By 2023.
• Jerome Powell's Quest For Economic Stability Is Destabilizing.
• Brazil Suspends 12 Million Doses Of China's Sinovac Vaccine.
• Taiwan Scrambles Jets Against Renewed Large Chinese Aerial Incursion.
• Morgan Stanley: Commodities Find Themselves At The Center Of 2021's Most Important Stories.
• Rolling Stone 'Horse Dewormer' Hit-Piece Debunked After Hospital Says No Ivermectin Overdoses
• House Of Lords Member Asked Why Brits Are Forced To Take PCR COVID Tests On Returning To UK But Illegal Migrants Aren't. 
• Is The US Intelligence Community Putting The World At Risk?
• As If Millions Of Hollywood Celebs Suddenly Cried Out In Terror: China Bans "Effeminate Men" From TV.
• Vaccine Voodoo.
• China's Financial Regulators Pledge Tighter Control Of Economy, Closure Of "Loopholes".
• Pentagon Won't Name ISIS Terrorists Killed In Airstrike.
• Congress Stealthily Moves Closer To Making Women Register For The Draft.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• WHERE’S KAMALA? Vice President Goes Missing Amid Afghanistan Disaster.
• Finally Some Common Sense and Science – UK Halts Giving COVID Shots to Children Under Age 16.
• Utility Workers Wait for Joe Biden’s Motorcade in Louisiana then All Turn Their Back on Him.
• UPDATE: SIX PLANES in Northern Afghanistan NOW HELD HOSTAGE BY TALIBAN — Filled with Americans and Afghan SIV Holders #BidenEffect.
• Biden Mocks Concerns About Freedom in New COVID Vaccine Video, Peddles Misinformation as He Complains Debate Has Become “Awful Political”.
• Taliban Terrorists Execute Pregnant Female Police Officer In Her Home in Front of Her Family.
• Israel Preparing to Administer FOURTH Covid Jab to Fight New Variants.
• California School Official Says Thousands of Students and Children Are Trapped in Afghanistan – Their Stories Will Start to Unfold in Coming Days.

The Epoch Times:

• Brazil Suspends 12 Million Doses of China’s Sinovac Vaccine.
• US Coast Guard Pacific Chief Says China’s New Maritime Rule ‘Very Concerning'.

Covid-19(Data, Maps, Graphs):

• Our World in Data:  New Global Covid-19 Cases(7-day rolling average graphs). New US Covid Hospital Admissions/ICU Admissions/Deaths
  
• FT.com:  Fully Vaccinated by Country(graph). Global Lockdown Stringency Index(map).
• Bloomberg.com:  International Travel Restrictions.  Case Graphs by State.
  
• NYTimes.com:  County Trends and Clusters. Local ICU Occupancy.
  
• Brown School of Public Health:  Covid Severity by State/County(map).  US Hospital Capacity(region).
  
• CovidActNow:  Covid Severity/Infection Rate by Metro Area.
  
• KFF:  US Vaccinations by Race/Ethnicity.
  
• Carnegie Mellon: Covid-Like Symptoms in Community. Covid Symptom Searches on Google. Covid-Related Dr.Visits.  Restaurant Visits. Wearing Masks. (graphs)
  
• Safegraph.com:  Commerce Patterns(graphs).