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1. The Afghan Taliban tightens their territorial stranglehold around Kabul on Saturday, as refugees from the insurgents' relentless offensive flooded the capital and US Marines returned to oversee emergency evacuations. With the country's second- and third-largest cities having fallen into Taliban hands, Kabul has effectively become the besieged, last stand for government forces who have offered little or no resistance elsewhere. 2. Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed in crossfire and his fault was to not coordinate with the Taliban, a spokesperson of the group tells NDTV on Friday as it made rapid advances in Afghanistan, taking control of key cities including Herat and Kandahar. 3. Three people arrested for parading a 45-year-old Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur town through a street, assaulting him and making him chant 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans have been granted bail less than 24 hours after their arrest. 4. The Centre notifies amended rules prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items, including plates, cups, cutlery, and packing films around boxes for sweets and cigarette packets among others. The thickness of plastic carry bags will be increased from 50 microns to 75 microns from September 30, 2021, and to 120 microns from December 31, 2022, according to the notification dated August 12. 5. The Assam Legislative Assembly on Friday passes the Assam Cattle Preservation Bill, 2021, amid bedlam in the House, with opposition members staging a walkout after their demand to send the draft to a select committee wasn't considered. 6. Widespread irregularities including tampered exam results under Madhya Pradesh's top state-run medical university that controls around 300 colleges, emerges in a report commissioned by the government in what could be the biggest scandal of its kind since the 2013 Vyapam scam.