US President Joe Biden has declared he is sticking to his Aug. 31 deadline for completing a risky airlift of Americans, endangered Afghans and others seeking to escape Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The decision defies allied leaders who want to give the evacuation more time and opens Biden to criticism that he caved to Taliban deadline demands.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day that we know ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both us and allied forces and innocent civilians,” Biden said at the White House, referring to the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, which is known for staging suicide attacks on civilians.
He said the Taliban are cooperating and security is holding despite a number of violent incidents. “But it’s a tenuous situation,” he said, adding, “We run a serious risk of it breaking down as time goes on.”
The United States in recent days has ramped up its airlift amid new reports of rights abuses that fuel concern about the fate of thousands of people who fear retribution from the Taliban and are trying to flee the country.
The Pentagon said 21,600 people had been evacuated in the 24 hours that ended Tuesday morning, and Biden said an additional 12,000 had been flown out in the 12 hours that followed. Those include flights operated by the US military as well as other charter flights.
Ahead of his first meeting as Israeli prime minister with US President Joe Biden, Naftali Bennett said he would neither annex West Bank territory nor allow it to become a Palestinian state.
Bennett told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday — a day before his arrival in Washington — that the left-to-right composition of his coalition government meant that drastic diplomatic moves in either direction were off the table for now.
“This government will neither annex nor form a Palestinian state, everyone gets that,” he said. “I’m prime minister of all Israelis, and what I’m doing now is finding the middle ground — how we can focus on what we agree upon.”
Bennett’s predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, nearly triggered a crisis in 2020 between Israel and congressional Democrats when the party — including some of its most pro-Israel members — warned him that annexing parts of the West Bank would damage US-Israel relations. Netanyahu had been contemplating annexation under the terms of a peace agreement advanced by the Trump administration but rejected by the Palestinians.
Bennett said he would continue “natural growth” expansion of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli leader would not say whether he would attempt to block Biden’s plans to reopen a consulate in Jerusalem dedicated to the Palestinians that had been shut down by president Donald Trump.
He did say that Jerusalem would only ever be Israel’s capital — his one note of stridency in the interview. Even the Trump plan did not count out a Palestinian capital in the city’s suburbs.
“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” Bennett said. “It’s not the capital of other nations.”
Bennett, like Netanyahu, opposes Biden’s efforts to reenter the Iran nuclear deal — Trump dropped out of the 2015 agreement in 2018 — but said he would make his case to Biden without ramping up tensions.
“What we need to do, and what we are doing, is forming a regional coalition of reasonable Arab countries, together with us, that will fend off and block this expansion and this desire for domination” by Iran.
Uganda has asked Kenya and Tanzania to remove prohibitive levies placed on its dairy products saying it could jeopardise trade relations and the East African Community spirit. Since 2020, Uganda has struggled to have its milk products sold in the two East African member states, something Ugandan Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries, Frank Tumwebaze said is a barrier to the EAC spirit and regional trade relations. In April, a joint committee was set up to solve the impasse between Kenya and Uganda for milk product trade to continue smoothly but the matter was never amicably resolved.
Uganda maintains that if there are issues that need to be addressed, they can be handled through bilateral arrangements or the regional trade agreements within the East African Community instead of using arbitrary means such as high taxes.
A criminal trial over the $2 billion debt scandal that crashed Mozambique’s economy began on Monday August 23.
South Africa will extradite former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang to his home country, its justice department said on Monday.
Chang, who denies wrongdoing, and 19 others including state security officials and a former president’s son face charges including blackmail and embezzlement for their alleged roles in the disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars in government-backed loans.
A total of $2 billion in borrowing was ostensibly raised for a project spanning tuna fishing, shipyard development and maritime security. But vast sums were paid out in kickbacks, authorities say, while many promised benefits never materialised.
Chang, who signed off on the loans during his 2005-2015 term as finance minister, has been held in South Africa since 2018 after being arrested at the request of the United States, which also opened a criminal case over the affair.
Kenya and Tanzania are se to resolve most of the non-tariff barriers affecting cross-border trade by December 2021. The decision follows a five-day meeting held in Nairobi, by the Joint Commission on Cooperation, a bilateral organ comprising officials from the two countries, created to resolve issues affecting areas of cooperation.
In June 2021, a month after Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to Kenya, the committee identified 60 tariff and non-tariff barriers between the two countries.
Among those resolved is customs clearance of soft drinks made in their territories, the removal of inspection fees on processed products with a standardisation mark, including wheat flour, and the elimination of roaming calling fees following Tanzania’s entry into the common network area.
Honey is the sweet, sticky substance that bees produce and store in hives.
In its natural form, honey is produced by enzyme activity, plant matter, and live bacteria coming together to create a powerful ingredient with hundreds of practical uses.
The unique process that creates honey makes it especially valuable for cosmetic uses, such as clearing acne, healing scars, and evening out skin tone.
Raw, unpasteurized honey has the most potential for topical application on skin.
Benefits of using honey for the face
Raw honey is packed with components beneficial for your skin, especially if you have acne or autoimmune skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis. Even Candida overgrowth may be controlled by applying honey to your skin.
Raw honey helps balance the bacteria on your skin, which makes it a great product to use for acne. Manuka honey has been studied as an anti-acne product and found to be significantly more effective than other popular types of honey.
Honey speeds up your skin cells’ healing processes. If you have blemishes or an eczema outbreak, honey that’s unpasteurized could speed healing and reduce inflammation. Manuka honey is so effective at healing wounds quickly that it’s now used by doctors in clinical settings.
Raw honey is also a natural exfoliator, which means applying it to your face takes off dry, dull skin and reveals new skin cells underneath.
Uses of honey on the face
Applying honey to your face is fairly simple, though there are different ways to do it.
Honey for face acne, psoriasis, and eczema
Honey for chronic skin conditions can be treated with a paste, spot-treated, or with a face mask that you leave on for several minutes.
The most important thing about using honey to treat these conditions is to use unpasteurized honey, such as manuka honey.
It’s vital that the honey you use still contains its healthy bacteria to be effective. This will activate your immune system and help with inflammation and redness, as well as heal blemishes.
One way to use honey for your face is to mix it with other ingredients to create a soothing face mask treatment. Before doing this, make sure to do a patch test of the honey and any other ingredients to ensure you won’t have an allergic reaction.
A mixture of raw honey and cinnamon is a powerful antioxidant and antimicrobial combination.
Mix three parts honey and one part freshly ground or pure cinnamon and warm the mixture slightly using the microwave. Apply to your skin and leave the mixture on for 8 to 10 minutes. Rinse off completely using warm water and pat your skin dry. Don’t use if you’re allergic to cinnamon.
Honey for skin lightening and brightening
Researchers have not drawn a direct connection between using honey on your face and lightening dark spots.
But since honey has exfoliating properties, using it on your face can eliminate dead skin cells that make your skin look dull. This can reveal brighter skin.
After washing your face with soap and water, apply manuka honey or another variety of unpasteurized, raw honey to your face. If you’d like, dilute the honey with purified water to make it less sticky and easier to remove. Leave the honey on your skin for several minutes before rinsing off.
Honey for scar fading
MANUKA HONEY
Honey helps your body’s healing process, which may help fade acne scars. You can use honey as a spot treatment on scars, applying it every day or every other day as a paste at the site of your scarring.
You may also see results if you use honey face masks as a part of your beauty routine, as described above. Keep in mind that what we know about honey’s healing abilities is limited, and still developing. A study found that honey may not be good for scarring caused by burns and deep cuts.
Side effects of applying honey on face
Honey is unlikely to cause an allergic reaction in most people. You should use any of these remedies with caution if you have any known allergies to: pollen, celery or bee venom
Always test new products on a small area of your skin that’s minimally visible to see if you’re allergic.
Make sure to remove any honey from your face before you go to bed. Honey left on your face can attract dust and other debris, which could aggravate an active breakout.
Takeaway
Using raw honey on your face can work as a treatment for acne, scarring, and dull or dry skin.
Raw honey is more expensive than other kinds of honey, but it’s relatively inexpensive compared to other skin cosmetics for your face.
Researchers are working to find out more about how honey can help your face look its brightest and most clear. As long as you don’t have an allergy, there’s little reason not to give it a try.
The Kwara State Government has issued a statement that it is set to hold another round of free cataract surgeries in the state. The free surgery mission is being organised in collaboration with the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria.
The statement coming from the State’s Ministry of Health said the exercise will hold between Monday August 30 and Tuesday August 31 at the General Hospital Ilorin and University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.
The Health Ministry urged members of the general public with eye problems to take advantage of the free surgeries to correct their eyes’ problems.
England captain Harry Kane says he will be “staying at Tottenham this summer” and is “100% focused on helping the team achieve success”.
Manchester City were keen to sign Kane, who believed he had a gentleman’s agreement with chairman Daniel Levy to leave Spurs this summer.
But Levy has refused to enter into negotiations for the striker, 28.
Kane played his first game of the season on Sunday, comingon as a substitute in the 1-0 win over Wolves
“It was incredible to see the reception from the Spurs fans on Sunday and to read some of the messages of support I’ve had in the last few weeks,” he wrote in a social media post on Wednesday,
“I will be staying at Tottenham this summer and will be 100% focused on helping the team achieve success.”https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.43.7/iframe.html’Fantastic news’ that Harry Kane is staying at Tottenham – Nuno Espirito Santo
Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo said it was “fantastic news” to see Kane’s immediate future resolved.
“I think since Harry joined us he has been working so this is what we value. His attitude in training has been excellent,” said the Portuguese.
“It’s finished, Harry is going to be with us.”
Asked whether he was concerned about the word “summer” in Kane’s statement, and if the issue was likely to arise again in the January transfer window, Nuno replied: “I’m not worried at all. It’s day by day.
“He’s an option for tomorrow. This is the only thing and is my only thought, trying to make the best decisions to help the team and Harry is one of the options for tomorrow.”
Tottenham face Pacos de Ferreira in the Europa Conference League play-offs on Thursday, looking to overcome a 1-0 away defeat in the first leg last week.
“He is an option. It is great news for everybody,” added Nuno.
“We are all very happy. [He is] one of the best players in the world. Delighted to have one more option for the season ahead of us.”
Long-running saga draws to a close
Kane, whose contract at Spurs runs to 2024, has reaffirmed his commitment to the club just six days before the transfer window closes on 31 August.
The transfer saga has dominated the summer after he was first linked with City in May, with Tottenham left reeling by reports Kane wanted to leave.
As speculation around his future increased, the club issued a statement saying: “Our focus is on finishing the season as strongly as possible. That’s what everyone should be focused on.”
Days later he said he wanted a “a good, honest conversation” with Levy about his future.
After England lost in the Euro 2020 final to Italy, there were reportd a 160m Pounds deal had been agreed with City – which had always been Kane’s preferred destination if he left north London.
But sources told the BBC City would not be willing to pay that much.
Then at the beginning of August, Kane, who has been on an extended holiday after Euro 2020, did not turn up as scheduled at the training ground for his coronavirus tests.
Later that week, he released a statement saying he “never refused to train” and would return to the club as planned.
City boss Pep Guardiolaconfirmed City’s interest on 6 August, but added: “If Spurs don’t want to negotiate then there is nothing more to say.”
Kane missed the first two games of the season, a 1-0 win over City in the Premier League and a Europa Conference League defeat away to Pacos de Ferreira.
Analysis – Levy gets his way
Harry Kane was right to mention Tottenham’s supporters in his statement.
Their reaction to his introduction at Wolves on Sunday was crucial in determining how this summer’s longest-running transfer saga played out.
Levy was determined to hold Kane to his contract, which still has three years to run.
Yet Levy would have had a tough call to make if keeping Kane meant opposing his own fans.
But by proclaiming Kane as “one of our own” at Molineux, the Tottenham fans signalled their willingness to forget the England skipper’s barely concealed desire to leave.
The can may just be being kicked down the road to subsequent transfer windows of course. After all, Kane is unlikely to become less ambitious over time.
But for now, Tottenham’s world-class striker stays where he is. Levy has got his way again.
And while the news is a blow for Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, it could hardly be argued the Blues are now in a position of weakness.
The £100m arrival of Jack Grealish has strengthened what was already the strongest squad in England and Guardiola has already proved adept at improving players, so more can be expected of last summer’s signing Ferran Torres.
The word from the City camp is that they still feel in a very strong position to compete.
Rafael Nadal will miss the US Open after the Spaniard ended his 2021 season because of a foot injury.
The injury caused the 20-time Grand Slam winner to miss the Cincinnati Masters and Canadian Open last week.
Defending champion Dominic Thiem and five-time winner Roger Federer have also pulled out of this year’s US Open.
Nadal, 35, wrote on Instagram: “Honestly, I have been suffering a lot more than I should with my foot for a year and I need to take some time.”
He added: “Having discussed it with the team and family, this decision has been made and I believe that it is the way forward to try to recover and recover well.
“I am [determined] to do whatever it takes to regain the best possible shape, to continue competing for the things that really motivate me and the things that I have done during all these years.
“I am convinced that with the recovery of the foot and obviously a very important daily effort this can be achieved. I will work as hard as I can to make it happen.”
The four-time US Open champion did not compete at Wimbledon or the Olympic Games in order to rest following the clay-court season.
He sustained the injury at the French Open in June, where he failed to defend his title for the first time since 2016 in defeat by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.
The US Open begins on Monday, 30 August, however 2020 champion Thiem will be absent because of a wrist injury and Federer has also ended his season as he prepares to have further knee surgery
Federer and Nadal are tied with world number one Novak Djokovic – who will be seeking to complete the calendar Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows – for the all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles.
The Formula 1 season restarts at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend with the title fight finely poised and an air of uncertainty hanging over the second half of the championship on many different levels.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are locked together in one of the most intense and bitter campaigns for years, their Mercedes and Red Bull teams slugging it out both on and off the track with no quarter asked or given.
But how long will their contest last? The Japanese Grand Prix was cancelled last week, and no-one knows for sure exactly how many races there will be before the end of the season.
Between now and then, Hamilton v Verstappen is just one of a number of intriguing narratives set to unfold.
The slugfest
The magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes forests starts a run of three races on consecutive weekends on legendary European tracks.
After Belgium, the return of F1 to Zandvoort in the Netherlands for the first time since 1985 promises a febrile, intimidating atmosphere packed with passionate Verstappen fans, and it is followed by the Italian Grand Prix at charismatic Monza.
Hamilton starts this run of races with an eight-point championship lead. But while that might suggest at first glance that he is a narrow favourite for a record eighth title, a closer analysis of the season so far belies that belief.
Traditionally, the second half of the season is when Hamilton really comes alive. In the past, both his ex-Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel were steamrollered through late summer and autumn as Hamilton hit a rich vein of consistency and form in the 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 seasons.
That may yet happen again. But 2021 has been Mercedes’ toughest season since the start of the hybrid era in 2014.
Just two races ago, Verstappen had moved into a 32-point championship lead with four victories in five races. He’d have won all five had he not suffered a tyre failure at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was won by his team-mate Sergio Perez, and Hamilton seemed to be on the ropes.
Then came the crash between Hamilton and Verstappen at the British Grand Prix – a key turning point as Verstappen retired and Hamilton went on to win. That was followed by another difficult weekend for Verstappen in Hungary, when his car was badly damaged in the first-corner pile-up triggered by a mistake from Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, and he could finish only ninth, while Hamilton was third.
The arguments as to who was to blame – and to what extent – for the incident at Silverstone will rage for as long as people are interested in motor racing.
But regardless of the rights and wrongs of that situation, the cumulative effect of both races is two-fold – firstly, that Hamilton has enjoyed a 40-point swing in his favour in the championship; and secondly that there has been no real chance to judge the respective race pace of the two cars since Mercedes introduced an upgrade in Silverstone.
Before Silverstone, Red Bull clearly had a pace advantage over the two races in Austria. Mercedes could and should have won the race before that in France, but their car had been faster over one lap in qualifying than the Red Bull only once in five races. Following the upgrade, Hamilton qualified fastest at both Silverstone and Hungary.
Mercedes appeared, then, to have eked out a small advantage again, but how the competitive picture will play out between the two teams over the rest of the season is unknown.
Adding further uncertainty is the situation surrounding Verstappen’s engine allocation.
Red Bull’s partner Honda had hoped to salvage the engine that was in the car at Silverstone – which was the second of Verstappen’s permitted three power-units this season.
But in Hungary Honda discovered a previously unseen crack and had to replace it, and Verstappen had to take his third and final engine.
Can the second engine be salvaged? For now, Honda is not saying. If not, the chances of Verstappen requiring a fourth engine to make it to the end of the season are high – and that would mean a grid penalty somewhere down the line, a further blow in his title campaign.
The Tokyo Olympics went ahead, but the Japanese government decided to cancel the country’s grand prix
Uncertainly over the calendar
The cancellation of Japan for the second year in a row because of the pandemic leaves 10 races officially on the calendar between now and the end of the season.
But that’s unlikely to be the way it stays. F1 president Stefano Domenicali has been steadfast in his determination to run as close as he can to a record 23-race season despite the challenges of the pandemic, which has already seen the events in Australia, China, Canada and Singapore also called off.
F1 has been spending the summer break – when all teams are required to shut down for two weeks to give staff time to rest and recuperate – working out how the final part of the season could look.
There are a number of uncertainties, and the picture is complicated by global travel restrictions. For example, Turkey, Mexico and Brazil are currently on the UK’s red list requiring 10 days of hotel quarantine for anyone returning from those countries, and as most teams are based in the UK, that matters.
The cancellation of Japan raises problems with the Turkish event – the plan had been for UK-based staff to run out their 10-day quarantine period from Istanbul in Suzuka, but that has gone by the wayside.
A second race in Austin, Texas, a week before the US Grand Prix, had been mooted. But that now looks unlikely to happen.
The period around October and November is particularly thorny – currently it is Turkey followed by a three-week gap left by Japan, then the USA, Mexico and Brazil. But there is likely to be some shuffling around, and it is set to be another couple of weeks or so before the detail of the calendar around that period is finalised.
The end of the season looks clearer. A new event in Qatar is expected to be added to make it a three-race finale in the Middle East, with the season culminating with the new race in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and the last event in Abu Dhabi.
Even then, the Brazil issue means it remains to be seen whether that is three weeks in a row, or whether Qatar has to be straight after Brazil to avoid the UK quarantine, and then a gap before the final two races.
Ferrari and McLaren once battled for the F1 constructors’ title, but they are far behind Mercedes and Red Bull in 2021
Ferrari v McLaren, and the Ricciardo problem
Behind the title fight, there is an equally intriguing fight for third between Ferrari and McLaren, who are tied on points behind Mercedes and Red Bull, with Ferrari classified ahead on results count-back.
A glance at the drivers’ championship table underlines McLaren’s problem in this fight, though. While Lando Norris – one of the stand-out stars of the season – is in a brilliant third place behind Hamilton and Verstappen, his McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo is 63 points behind the Briton in ninth place.
Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, are just three points apart in sixth and seventh places.
Sainz has had an impressive debut season for Ferrari, but even so Leclerc has been the team’s stronger driver, and should be higher up – luck has not gone his way.
But the closeness of the Ferrari drivers merely serves to emphasise the struggles being suffered by Ricciardo, who is taking an unexpectedly long time to adapt to the driving style required by the McLaren car, a situation being exacerbated by Norris’ consistent excellence. To be third in the championship ahead of both second drivers for the top two teams is a quite outstanding performance.
Regularly out-paced by Norris, sometimes to a considerable degree, Ricciardo’s frustration has been mounting, and recently he described his plight as “a bit of a sad reality for the moment”.
That sounds a notably pessimistic assessment for someone not only known for his positivity, but who has also established himself over the last few years as one of the leading drivers in the sport.
Ricciardo’s problem stems from a mis-match between the way he drives and the way the McLaren needs to be driven.
Ricciardo, McLaren’s performance director Andrea Stella says, “likes to roll the speed into the corner and not necessarily attack the braking as much as our car requires”.
The McLaren is strong in the straight-line part of the braking phase, but relatively weak on turn-in, which makes Ricciardo’s style a poor fit for it, and he is struggling to generate the necessary degree of rotation on corner entry.
The surprise, though, is the time it is taking him to adapt, which is not what would be expected of a driver of his calibre.
Will the summer break have given him a chance to reset, clear his mind and come back stronger, or is he stuck with this to the end of the season? The answer could well determine McLaren’s chances of beating Ferrari to that coveted third position.
Russell excelled when he filled in for Lewis Hamilton for one race at Mercedes last season
The driver market
Off-track, the biggest questions surround who drives where next season.
The key decision still unannounced is who will get the second Mercedes seat alongside Lewis Hamilton, who last month committed to a further two years with the team.
The decision, team boss Toto Wolff has made clear, is between incumbent Valtteri Bottas and Williams driver George Russell, and the Briton is widely expected to get the nod, having more than proved his potential as a future superstar over the last couple of seasons.
Some insiders believe a decision has already been made in Russell’s favour, but Mercedes say nothing will be finalised until next month.
If Russell does get the seat, Bottas is looking at a move either to Alfa Romeo – probably in place of Kimi Raikkonen, whose illustrious F1 career looks as if it might be coming to an end after a lacklustre first half of the season and with his 42nd birthday looming in October – or back to Williams in a swap with Russell.
Outside Mercedes, will Perez keep the second Red Bull seat? The Mexican has impressed on occasion, and is slightly closer on average qualifying pace to Verstappen than either of his predecessors, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly. But he is fifth in the championship, and has only rarely performed the role of spoiler to Mercedes that Red Bull require from their second driver.
Further down the grid, the line-ups at Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin will continue as they are, and Alpine is all but confirmed.
Hungary winner Esteban Ocon already has a new three-year deal and Alpine have strongly hinted they will take up their option on Fernando Alonso, whose performances have been extremely impressive since he became fully familiar with his new car in the early summer.
But all other teams have some degree of uncertainty over them.
Outside the driver market, there are some big decisions to be made by F1 bosses, especially on the details of the new engine formula that will come into force from 2025.
The plan is for an increase of the proportion of performance provided by the hybrid part of the engine to 50% of the total power output, and the introduction of fully sustainable fuels. But the architecture of the engine – specifically whether it has an MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo – and the detail of the fuel, whether it will be bio-fuel or synthetic e-fuel, are undecided.
There is a big meeting of engine manufacturers with the FIA planned for the Italian Grand Prix after which more clarity may emerge.
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