Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Wednesday, August 18th, and this is your F-T news briefing.

Afghanistan's new rulers gave their first government press conference yesterday.

The Taliban also urged people to get back to their daily lives,

but they're still fear of the new Islamist regime.

Plus, in the UK, a flurry of deals have left British defense technology companies in foreign hands.

How concerned should the government be?

The question really, I think, for ministers is, are they happy not to have control over the IP for this?

And if the UK government doesn't own the IP,

is there a risk that it won't be able to call on them when it needs to?

I'm Joanna Gal in from Mark Filipino,

and here's the news you need to start your day.

After a harrowing few days following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul,

the airport resumed evacuation flights

and the country's new rulers urged citizens to go back to their daily lives.

And a Taliban official held their first government press conference.

Here's the F-T's Stephanie Finley.

It was a Taliban spokesman that many people had known through WhatsApp groups or phone calls,

but had never actually seen.

So he sat down for a press conference in Kabul

and repeated what the group has been saying over the past recent days,

made assurances to keep peace, to keep security,

...