Shares fell in Asia on Thursday after further losses on Wall Street following a Federal Reserve report showing U.S. economic activity slowed this summer.

The report pointed to resurgent coronavirus cases and mounting supply chain problems and labor shortages — woes affecting many economies. Benchmarks fell in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney.

Reminiscent of their previous harsh rule in the 1990s, the Taliban have already begun to wipe out some of Afghanistan's gains of 20 years. They've denied women a seat at the Cabinet, beaten journalists into silence and enforced their severe interpretation of Islam, on occasion violently.

And yet there seems little the international community can do about it.

Japan announced Thursday it is extending a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and 18 other areas until the end of September as health care systems remain under severe strain, although new infections have slowed slightly.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said serious cases remain high and are still overwhelming many hospitals.

British writer Susanna Clarke won the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction on Wednesday for her mind-tweaking fantasy novel "Piranesi" — a book that chronic illness made her fear she would never get to write.

Clarke, 61, was awarded the 30,000 pound ($41,000) prize for her second novel, which was published 16 years after her first, "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell," became a global best-seller.

Brazil has triggered a FIFA regulation in a bid to prevent eight players from competing for their respective clubs in the English Premier League this weekend.

They had been called up for World Cup qualifiers but didn't travel after Premier League teams had objected to their players going to South American nations, which are red-listed by the British government because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leader Brazil and second-place Argentina will return to action in World Cup qualifiers on Thursday as fallout from the chaos of their suspended game on Sunday continues.

Just minutes into their match on Sunday, a Brazilian health official entered the pitch to remove four Argentina players he considered should be in quarantine due to COVID-19 protocols. FIFA has opened an investigation, and soccer bodies of both countries have questions to answer.

Can kids get "long COVID" after coronavirus infections?

Yes, but studies indicate they're less likely than adults to be affected by symptoms that persist, recur or begin a month or more after infection.

Rain was pouring down on the Florida Panhandle as Tropical Storm Mindy made its way across the state early Thursday morning.

The storm made landfall in St. Vincent Island, on Wednesday night. Mindy was expected to cause as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rainfall across the Florida Panhandle and portions of southern Georgia and South Carolina through Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. Scattered flash, urban, and small-stream floods are possible.

Civil defense forces carrying rifles and personnel wearing gas masks and red hazmat suits paraded North Korea's capital overnight in a celebration of the nation's 73rd anniversary that was a marked departure from past militaristic displays.

The parade — overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, wearing a cream suit and visibly slimmer than he was at the start of the year — centered around paramilitary organizations and public security forces protecting Pyongyang instead of the major military units that handle the most important weapons of Kim's nuclear and missile arsenal.

Germany's foreign minister arrived in Libya on Thursday to reopen the country's embassy in Tripoli.

"Today, we want to show with the reopening that Germany is and will remain a committed partner of Libya," Heiko Maas said upon his arrival in Tripoli. "We want to have a voice in the Libyan capital again."