French Polynesia extends their COVID-19 lockdown to September 20 following the deaths of more than 200 people over the past two weeks. The lockdown extension will apply to the Society Islands and the Tuamotus archipelago as the number of cases increase in those regions. (RNZ)
Cuba begins a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign for children aged two to 18 years old as a condition to reopen schools for in-person learning using Abdala and Soberana vaccines. (France 24)
The European Union says that it will not currently recognize a Taliban government in Afghanistan and that the government will be "subjected to conditions". However, the EU also states that it will still engage the group in diplomatic talks. (Reuters)
Defrocked Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleads not guilty to three counts of indecent assault and battery on a 16-year-old boy at a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974. The statute of limitations paused when he left the state shortly after the alleged incident. McCarrick is the first American cardinal to be charged with a sex crime. (DW)
The European Union and AstraZeneca reach a settlement to end a legal battle over slow delivery of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, with an agreement that requires AstraZeneca to deliver the remaining 200 million doses of its vaccine to the EU countries at the end of March 2022. (Euronews)
Yoshihide Suga, the Prime Minister of Japan, announces that he will not seek re-election after one year in office. Suga had replaced former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who resigned for health reasons in September 2020. (CNN)