Top eight

Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

National

1.) A week after the pullout of U.S. forces and the Taliban's unfettered takeover of Afghanistan, President Joe Biden offered assurances Friday that any of America's allies still in the country who want to leave will be able to.

2.) A federal judge denied a competency hearing for a two-time Iraq veteran whose criminal history of illegal weapons, drugs, theft and arson predates his turn in the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

3.) Republicans' views of several major American institutions have grown more negative in the past two years, according to a survey published Friday by the Pew Research Center.

4.) Markets were able to recover some of what they lost during the midweek selloff amid the August doldrums on Wall Street, as investors are almost assured of tapering soon by the Federal Reserve.

Regional

5.) Residents of sleepy mountain villages sprinkled throughout the foothills around Pollock Pines await their fate as one of Northern California’s many major fires grows unchecked.

6.) With recall ballots now in the hands of over 22 million California voters — and recent polls showing a close race — Democrats are pushing a novel approach to ensure Governor Gavin Newsom keeps his office: Only fill out half the ballot.

7.) Schools across Florida are openly defying the governor's order banning mask mandates as the delta variant spreads rapidly.

International

8.) With the crisis in Afghanistan deepening, the NATO military alliance came under increasing strain on Friday as it evacuated thousands of people from Kabul and assessed what many are calling its catastrophic failure to keep Afghanistan from falling into the hands of the Taliban.

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