The White House announced Friday that 21 U.S. citizens and 11 lawful permanent residents have been brought safely out of Afghanistan in the latest departures since the full U.S. troop withdrawal on Aug. 31.
State of play: A chartered Qatar Airways flight held 19 U.S. citizens while two other U.S. citizens and 11 lawful permanent residents traveled separately overland.
Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family support the Black Lives Matter movement, a senior representative said in a television interview that will be broadcast Friday, AP reports.
The big picture: The remarks come after Prince Harry and Meghan in March accused the family of racism, saying unnamed relatives expressed concern about how dark their baby's skin would be.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Friday announced the creation of the new government, with billionaire businessman Najib Mikati serving as the country's prime minister.
Why it matters: Lebanon has been without a government for more than a year, exacerbating its devastating economic crisis.
Construction was officially completed Friday on the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will allow Russia to bypass Ukraine in delivering natural gas directly to the heart of Europe, according to Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Why it matters: The $11 billion pipeline has been condemned as a "Kremlin geopolitical project" by the Biden administration and is vigorously opposed by Ukraine, which considers it to be a grave threat to national security.
The European Central Bank just sent a signal that mirrors that of its U.S. counterpart: peeling off unprecedented pandemic-era support won’t be quick — leaving a full return to normal far out.
Why it matters: When and how the crisis-era measures end have big implications for global financial markets that have been buoyed by them.
President Biden used a call with Xi Jinping on Thursday night to test whether personal diplomacy with the Chinese leader can make more progress than the meetings among subordinates, who have been snubbing and rebuffing Biden's aides.
Driving the news: The call was the first between Biden and Xi in seven months. Since Biden's election they had only spoken once previously, on Feb. 10.
Epic Games says it "intends" to re-release its popular "Fortnite" battle royale game on iPhones and iPads in South Korea, citing the country's new law involving in-app purchases.
Why it matters: Epic's plan, announced tonight via a Tweet, would allow it to achieve one of its key goals in its ongoing fight with Apple, at least in one country.
Afghanistan is close to universal poverty, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report released Thursday.
Why it matters: The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan along with the COVID-19 pandemic and severe drought have set up the poverty rate to balloon. As much as 97 percent of Afghans could be below the poverty line by mid-2022, according to the UNDP.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro seemed to take a step back from the ledge on Thursday night, releasing a conciliatory statement two days after pledging to ignore Supreme Court rulings and declaring that only God could remove him from office.
State of play: Bolsonaro addressed rallies of around 100,000 supporters in Brasilia and São Paulo on Tuesday, Brazil’s independence day. They were intended as a show of force, with his approval ratings sliding and investigations against him stacking up.
French Health Minister Olivier Véran announced Thursday that starting next year France will offer free contraception for women up to the age of 25.
Why it matters: The move expands existing policy, which covers contraception up to the age of 18, and comes as President Emmanuel Macron's government gears up for the 2022 elections.
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week that abortion cannot be considered a crime, in a decision called “historic” for the heavily Catholic country and reached while its northern neighbor, Texas, is severely restricting those procedures.
Why it matters: At least 850 women have been criminally charged and over 200 of them imprisoned across Mexico in the past two decades because of state laws that impose fines or jail time for abortions and even for miscarriages, according to NGOs.
Around 200 foreigners, including several Americans, left Afghanistan Thursday on a flight from Kabul to Doha, Qatar, according to the AP and the Washington Post.
Why it matters: The Qatar Airways flight was the first mass evacuation of Americans, green card holders and people of other nationalities since the U.S. airlift operation concluded at the end of August.
The World Health Organization warned on Thursday that Africa will receive 25% fewer doses of the coronavirus vaccine than expected by the end of the year, in part because of the approval of booster shots in developed countries.
Why it matters: The continent lags behind the rest of the world in vaccinations, and the cut to doses will further delay African countries' vaccination efforts — which raises the risk of new, more aggressive variants emerging.
The Taliban over the last two days have detained and later released at least 14 journalists covering protests in Kabul, according to various news reports and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Why it matters: The journalists' detention undermines the Taliban's vague assurances that they have changed since the tight grip they ruled with in the 1990s, Axios' Dave Lawler reports.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared at a middle-of-the-night military parade in Pyongyang on Thursday to mark the communist state's 73rd founding anniversary.
Why it matters: Compared to other recent parades, Thursday's was relatively calm. Kim reportedly gave no fiery speech against the United States and its allies and the country did not display intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, according to the New York Times.
The Taliban announced Wednesday a ban on all protests, slogans and demonstrations that do not have official approval of the caretaker government.
Why it matters: The decree signals that the new all-male interim government is set to be repressive, despite pledging to be "inclusive." It was written by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the new interior ministry, who is wanted by the FBI for terrorism offenses.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce confirmed the Australian airline will ban passengers not vaccinated against COVID-19 from international flights, traveller.com.au first reported Wednesday.
The big picture: Joyce indicated in November he planned for Qantas to require international travelers provide proof of vaccination. He aims to have the mandate in place by December, when the airline plans to resume global operations. All Qantas staff must be vaccinated by March 2022 unless they have a medical exemption.
