Haitian authorities said the confirmed death toll from Saturday’s earthquake has risen (Miami Herald) to 1,941 people. Relief workers reported being under-equipped in the aftermath of a tropical storm. They also voiced concerns about gangs blocking (WaPo) a major supply road, a symptom of political instability as Haiti continues to reel from the murder of President Jovenel Moise.
 
Officials said the quake left around thirty thousand people homeless (AP). Ten inches of rain from what became Tropical Storm Grace temporarily halted relief efforts on Monday and early Tuesday, but they have since resumed. International reinforcements from groups such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are aiding the relief effort. Haitians have stressed (Reuters) the need for relief funds to be channeled through local groups after international aid organizations, such as the American Red Cross, were accused of misusing donations following an earthquake in 2010.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s top political leader, arrived in Afghanistan (WaPo) from Qatar yesterday. Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesperson said in a news conference (Al Jazeera) that the group aims for regular relations with other countries and will allow women to participate in society within the bounds of Islamic law. Taliban fighters reportedly beat protesters (NYT) in Jalalabad today and blew up a statue (LA Times) of a Hazara political enemy killed by the group in the 1990s. 
 
For Foreign Affairs, Daniel Byman discusses whether Afghanistan will again become a terrorist safe haven.
 
Myanmar: Security personnel have killed at least one thousand civilians (AFP) since the February military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an activist group. Military authorities said in June that more than ninety security-force members had been killed.

During an economic leadership meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese President Xi Jinping called on wealthy citizens (SCMP) to “give back to society more,” and officials pledged to increase regulations on people with high incomes. The comments could signal new property and inheritance taxes, economists told Bloomberg.
 
This Backgrounder looks at the CCP.
 
Cambodia: Authorities sentenced union leader Rong Chhun (Al Jazeera) to two years in prison for incitement after he criticized the government’s demarcation of the Cambodia-Vietnam border last year.

Algerian police arrested sixty-one people (AFP) in several provinces on suspicion of lynching a man who was falsely accused of starting the country’s recent deadly forest fires. Images of the killing sparked outrage in Algeria.
 
Syria: Israeli rockets struck southern Syria (Haaretz) near the border of the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, Syrian media reported. The Israeli army did not immediately comment.

South African activists called for full disclosure (AP) of the government’s contracts with U.S. drug company Johnson & Johnson after the New York Times reported that the government waived its rights to ban exports of domestically produced vaccines. Amid a shortage of vaccines in South Africa, the drugmaker has been filling and finishing doses in the country and shipping them to Europe.
 
Niger: Gunmen killed thirty-seven civilians (Reuters), including fourteen children, in an attack on a village in the southwestern Tillaberi Region. According to Human Rights Watch, armed groups have killed more than four hundred civilians in Tillaberi and the neighboring Tahoua Region this year.

U.S. President Joe Biden called British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Reuters) to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, Biden’s first discussion of the issue with a foreign leader since the Taliban took over Kabul on Sunday. British officials have been embittered by the U.S. role in the crisis, the New York Times reported. Biden and Johnson agreed to convene a virtual summit next week for Group of Seven (G7) leaders to discuss Afghanistan.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Hector Bejar resigned after nineteen days in office (FT) following the emergence of videos in which he said armed Maoist groups in the country were linked to the CIA. His resignation comes less than two weeks before Congress is set to vote on newly inaugurated President Pedro Castillo’s cabinet.

Federal officials are expected to announce recommendations (NYT) today that Americans who received the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines receive boosters after eight months due to the spread of the corovirus’s Delta variant. World Health Organization officials have criticized wealthy countries for launching booster campaigns while much of the world remains unvaccinated.
 
For Think Global Health, Ali H. Mokdad and Eric Feigl-Ding discuss what a smart approach to boosters would look like.