The clock is ticking

U.S. President Joe Biden rejected pleas from allies in the Group of Seven Tuesday, saying he was sticking with his Aug. 31 deadline to fully exit Afghanistan. It’s grim news for the untold number of Afghans who aided the U.S. during the war who want to get out but haven’t yet. Civilian evacuations at Kabul airport must end in the next few days to allow enough time for the U.S. military to depart. The Taliban, who are reportedly cracking down on Afghans looking to flee, contend the window has already shut, announcing “the airport is now closed and Afghans are not allowed to go there now. Only foreigners are allowed to go.” —Margaret Sutherlin

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic worldwide.

The number of children falling ill because of Covid-19 is reaching all-time highs and school districts around the U.S.—sometimes in the face of opposition by local politicians—are taking matters into their own hands to protect those too young to be vaccinated. With the full U.S. approval of the Pfizfer-BioNTech vaccine, more employers from Deloitte to Goldman Sachs are implementing mandates, and employees want bosses to punish co-workers who won’t get the shot. White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. is ready to deploy boosters. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

After domestic crackdowns on tech industries by Beijing, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will demand that the more than 250 Chinese companies trading in U.S. markets better inform investors about political and regulatory risks—or risk getting kicked out.

Chinese tech companies rebounded after solid earnings and new votes of investor confidence. In the U.S., fears over economic growth, Covid-19 and tapering by the Fed seemed misplaced yet again. Here’s your market wrap.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and moderate Democrats struck a deal to move forward on Biden’s $4.1 trillion economic plan. The agreement ends a standoff that threatened to stall the party’s domestic agenda, including the bipartisan $550 billion infrastructure deal.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s Asia tour hit a snag Tuesday because of concerns about “an anomalous health incident” in Hanoi, her next destination after Singapore. That’s State Department-speak for the unexplained “Havana Syndrome.”

Kathy Hochul was sworn in as New York’s first female governor after predecessor Andrew Cuomo resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal and questions over his handling of pandemic data. Hochul promised to start off with a school mask mandate.

Across the U.S., Republican-led states from Georgia to Kansas are enacting laws that place restrictions on mail-in voting, add onerous ID requirements and other hurdles to exercising the franchise, all while giving control of elections themselves to political appointees. The GOP cites election security despite no evidence of significant election fraud. Critics see it as a transparent voter suppression campaign unlike any since Jim Crow. There are, however, some states that are expanding access.

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