Lebanon
Stark headline from AP today: Lebanese hospitals at breaking point as everything runs out. “Everything.” Lebanon is caught in an unprecedented economic and political crisis, one the World Bank has called potentially the world’s worst since the mid-1800s. The economy is in tatters, a staggering two-thirds of the population have been pushed into poverty and, underlying it all, the government is in shambles. Wealthy people from across the Middle East previously travelled to Lebanon for access to its top class healthcare. This one deserves to be making more international headlines.
More from AP here.
Afghanistan
All eyes remain on the evacuations from Kabul airport. There are concerns it will be impossible to complete all of the necessary evacuations by the existing August 31st deadline. The UK and Germany are lobbying the US to extend the deadline but, today, a worrying complication. The Taliban has said it is not willing to allow any extension and that it would consider evacuations continuing into September an “extension of occupation”. It has warned of “consequences” should the operation continue.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Tanzania
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, the country’s first female leader, has been slammed for saying that female footballers representing the nation are not marriage material. “If we bring them here and line them up, for those with flat chests, you might think they are men - not women," she said. Hassan has previously spoken about the challenges she faced in being taken seriously when she became president.
More from BBC here.