“Protests against Taliban rule in Afghanistan spread to several cities ahead of the first Friday prayers since the militant group took control last Sunday. In Kabul, around 200 people gathered at one protest on Thursday, the country’s independence day, before Taliban fighters dispersed them violently. Several people were killed in Asadabad after the Taliban fired on a crowd waving Afghan flags, and the group announced a curfew in Khost after demonstrations there.
The small but defiant protests signal the challenges the Taliban may face in governing the country, even as tens of thousands of Afghans have sought to flee, fearing a return to the draconian rule of the late 1990s. The militants have called for unity—and urged imams to do so on Friday—amid the scramble for the exits. But the Taliban may have trouble tamping down on dissent, particularly in the case of a humanitarian crisis. (The United Nations has already warned of food shortages.)
Two Talibans. The Taliban could also face a challenge from within. The gap between the group’s top leadership, who have spent years abroad, and the fighters now charged with keeping order in Kabul and beyond is vast, as FP’s Anchal Vohra writes. The Taliban leadership has engaged in a public relations exercise in a quest for internal and external legitimacy, but tensions over this approach and any concessions to the West remain unresolved, from allowing certain social freedoms to holding elections.
Will the Taliban keep their word? In an interview with ABC on Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden said the Taliban must decide quickly whether they want international recognition. But the question of whether the Taliban can be trusted to keep its promises depends on who it’s made the promises to, Anatol Lieven argues in Foreign Policy. Taliban pledges not to sponsor international jihadism have been ‘unequivocal,’ he writes—and they have repeated this promise to all of their neighbors.
‘It is a very different matter, however, when it comes to Afghan promises concerning the rights of Afghan citizens,’ Lieven writes. While the Taliban have projected a more moderate stance to the outside world, intelligence reports indicate that they have already begun rounding up Afghans on a blacklist that includes people who have worked with the previous administration or with U.S.-led forces. Afghan journalists have expressed doubt about a Taliban pledge to allow a free press after attacks and raids.
Ultimately, much remains unknown about how the Taliban will govern Afghanistan as a whole, and Kabul in particular. Their response to early protests and dissent could offer a clue.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“KABUL — A chaotic and dangerous dynamic at Kabul's airport showed few signs of relenting Thursday as thousands of people attempting to board flights faced beatings by Taliban guards, the crush of heaving crowds and interminable spells in the dust and heatwhile waiting to escape Afghanistan.
The daily mayhem at the airport — a fixture since the Taliban takeover Sunday — has stoked criticism that the Biden administration was slow to try to get Americans and their allies out, while underscoring fears about how the militants will rule the country.
Several people said Thursday they had received confusing signals from the United States about how exactly they were supposed to leave, citing emails from the State Department urging them to go the airport, only to find there was no one to receive them or to answer their questions on how to board flights.” Read more at Washington Post
“WASHINGTON—An internal State Department memo last month warned top agency officials of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the U.S.’s Aug. 31 troop withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the document.
The classified cable represents the clearest evidence yet that the administration had been warned by its own officials on the ground that the Taliban’s advance was imminent and Afghanistan’s military may be unable to stop it.
The cable, sent via the State Department’s confidential dissent channel, warned of rapid territorial gains by the Taliban and the subsequent collapse of Afghan security forces, and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and speed up an evacuation, the two people said.
The cable, dated July 13, also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban, one of the people said.As of last weekend, some 18,000 Afghans who have applied for the U.S.’s Special Immigrant Visa program, as well as their families, remained on the ground in Afghanistan, with about half of them outside Kabul in areas already under Taliban control, and efforts to get them to the Kabul airport have grown more difficult by the day.
In all, 23 U.S. Embassy staffers, all Americans, signed the July 13 cable, the two people said. The U.S. official said there was a rush to deliver it, given circumstances on the ground in Kabul.
The cable was sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of Policy Planning Salman Ahmed. Mr. Blinken received the cable and reviewed it shortly after receipt, according to the person familiar with the exchange, who added that contingency planning was already under way when it was received, and that Mr. Blinken welcomed their feedback.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a June 16 summit meeting with President Biden, objected to any role for American forces in Central Asian countries, senior U.S. and Russian officials said, undercutting the U.S. military’s efforts to act against new terrorist dangers after its Afghanistan withdrawal.
The previously unreported exchange between the U.S. and Russian leaders has complicated the U.S. military’s options for basing drones and other counterterrorism forces in countries bordering landlocked Afghanistan. That challenge has deepened with the collapse over the weekend of the Afghan government and armed forces.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Military vehicles transferred by the U.S. to the Afghan National Army in February. Photo: Afghanistan Ministry of Defense/via Reuters
“The Taliban just gained a massive new war chest, complete with U.S.-made Humvees, planes, helicopters, night-vision goggles and drones, Reuters reports.
Video shows the advancing militants inspecting lines of vehicles and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear and even military drones.
The Biden administration is so concerned about the weapons that launching airstrikes against the larger equipment, such as helicopters, hasn't been ruled out, officials told Reuters.
But there's concern that could antagonize the Taliban at a time when the main U.S. goal is evacuating people.
Another U.S. official said that according to the current intelligence assessment, the Taliban are believed to control:
More than 2,000 armored vehicles, including U.S. Humvees.
Up to 40 aircraft — potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters and ScanEagle military drones.
‘Everything that hasn't been destroyed is the Taliban's now,’ one U.S. official told Reuters.
Officials aren't just worried about the Taliban using the weapons against civilians. They're also concerned the equipment could be seized by ISIS or handed over to China or Russia.” Read more at Axios
“Federal health officials are investigating emerging reports that the Moderna coronavirus vaccine may be associated with a higher risk of a heart condition called myocarditis in younger adults than previously believed, according to two people familiar with the review who emphasized the side effect still probablyremains uncommon.
The investigation, which involves the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is focusing on Canadian data that suggests the Moderna vaccine may carry a higher risk for young people than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, especially for males below the age of 30 or so. The authorities also are scrutinizing data from the United States to try to determine whether there is evidence of an increased risk from Moderna in the U.S. population.” Read more at Washington Post
“‘The boost was always intended to be temporary’: The Biden administration won't seek to extend the enhanced $300 unemployment benefits past its current expiration date of Sept. 6.” Read more at USA Today
Shields at a restaurant in Placerville, Calif., in May 2020. Research suggests that transparent barriers can interfere with normal ventilation.Credit...Rich Pedroncelli/File, via Associated Press
“Covid precautions have turned many parts of our world into a giant salad bar, with plastic barriers separating sales clerks from shoppers, dividing customers at nail salons and shielding students from their classmates.
Intuition tells us a plastic shield would be protective against germs. But scientists who study aerosols, air flow and ventilation say that much of the time, the barriers don’t help and probably give people a false sense of security. And sometimes the barriers can make things worse.
Research suggests that in some instances, a barrier protecting a clerk behind a checkout counter may redirect the germs to another worker or customer. Rows of clear plastic shields, like those you might find in a nail salon or classroom, can also impede normal air flow and ventilation.
Under normal conditions in stores, classrooms and offices, exhaled breath particles disperse, carried by air currents and, depending on the ventilation system, are replaced by fresh air roughly every 15 to 30 minutes. But erecting plastic barriers can change air flow in a room, disrupt normal ventilation and create ‘dead zones,’ where viral aerosol particles can build up and become highly concentrated.” Read more at New York Times
“The U.S. administered more than one million coronavirus vaccine doses in 24 hours for the first time in almost seven weeks.” Read more at New York Times
“Alabama ran out of available I.C.U. beds on Wednesday. Only 36 percent of the state’s residents are fully vaccinated.” Read more at New York Times
“The Texas Education Agency yesterday suspended enforcement in public schools of the ban on mask mandates by Gov. Greg Abbott (R).” Read more at Axios
“Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Angus King (I-Maine) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) separately announced on Thursday that they tested positive this week for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated.” Read more at The Hill
“Schools in Palm Beach County, Fla., that didn't require masks had to quarantine 440 students — just two days into the school year.” Read more at Axios
“A school board meeting in Tampa lasted four hours, with a parade of emotional people trying to shoehorn elaborate political philosophy into one-minute speaking slots, Axios' Ben Montgomery reports.
Anti-mask moms wore T-shirts that said ‘Freedom Over Fear’ and called masks ‘tyranny’ and ‘oppression.’
The big picture: The major issues dividing the country have dropped like an anvil on schools, The New York Times reports.
‘From mask mandates to critical race theory and gender identity, educators are besieged.’” Read more at Axios
“The Biden administration is erasing student loan debt for over 323,000 borrowers who have permanent, severe disabilities and have limited incomes as a result. Go deeper.” Read more at Axios
“The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement that swept the nation and beyond last summer after the Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, according to a new report.
Movement leaders and experts said the prosecution of protesters over the past year continued a century-long practice by the federal government, rooted in structural racism, to suppress Black social movements via the use of surveillance tactics and other mechanisms.
The report was released by the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 50 activism and advocacy civil rights groups and professional associations representing Black communities and published in partnership with the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (Clear) clinic at City University of New York (Cuny) School of Law.” Read more at The Guardian
“The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was the result of an organized plot, law enforcement officials tell Reuters.
Federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants. But the FBI believes the violence wasn't centrally coordinated.” Read more at Axios
“Heat-related deaths around the world increased by 74% from 1980 to 2016, Axios' Marisa Fernandez writes from a study published yesterday in The Lancet.
More than 356,000 people died from extreme heat-related causes in just nine countries in 2019, a death toll that's expected to grow as temperatures increase worldwide.
1.3 million deaths were related to cold — a 31% increase since 1990.
Heat stress can lead to stroke, organ and brain damage. A pair of studies out of the University of Washington found it also causes several types of heart disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.” Read more at Axios
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A North Carolina man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol surrendered to law enforcement after an hourslong standoff Thursday that prompted a massive police response and the evacuations of government buildings in the area.
Authorities were investigating what led the suspect, identified as 49-year-old Floyd Ray Roseberry, to drive onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress, make bomb threats to officers and profess a litany of antigovernment grievances as part of a bizarre episode that he live-streamed for a Facebook audience. Police later searched the vehicle and said they did not find a bomb but did collect possible bomb-making materials.
The standoff was resolved peacefully after roughly five hours of negotiations, ending when Roseberry crawled out of the truck and was taken into police custody. But even in a city with a long history of dramatic law enforcement encounters outside federal landmarks, this episode was notable for its timing — Washington remains on edge eight months after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — and for the way the suspect harnessed social media to draw attention to his actions in the hours before his arrest.” Read more at AP News
“WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission filed a new version of its antitrust lawsuit against Facebook Inc. on Thursday, seeking to jump-start its case with bolstered allegations that the company is abusing a monopoly position in social media.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“AUSTIN — The Texas House reached a quorum Thursday for the first time since July, clearing the way for new voting restrictions to pass after a record-breaking Democratic boycott had stalled the bill for weeks, creating a standoff with Republicans who sought the arrest of absent members.
Thursday’s session effectively ended the months-long Democratic protest over the voting measure — at least for now. To stop the bill from advancing, Democrats staged a walkout in May and a mass exodus to Washington in July, breaking the record for longest quorum break in Texas history and forcing Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to order a second special session.
The House had a quorum as of 6:13 p.m. local time after several more Democrats returned to the floor. House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) gaveled the session to order and welcomed one of the Democrats — Rep. Garnet Coleman — by name, inviting him to deliver the opening prayer.” Read more at Washington Post
“Minneapolis is again considering sweeping changes to the city's police department more than a year after the failed push to disband the department in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Residents will vote in November on a ballot question that would change the city's charter and create a department of public safety, a proposal that has attracted thousands of local supporters but also fierce community opposition as well as national attention and money. City officials must finalize the ballot question and submit it by Friday. The department would use a ‘comprehensive public health approach’ and include licensed peace officers ‘if necessary.’ It would also no longer be under the sole control of the mayor’s office, giving greater oversight to the city council.” Read more at USA Today
“The judge overseeing the Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy case said the youth group can press ahead with a proposed settlement of sex-abuse claims, while requiring that certain provisions be removed….
It is up to the Boy Scouts and the abuse survivors whether to file a chapter 11 plan consistent with her ruling, she said. The restructuring agreement is designed to lock in support for the bankruptcy plan from the bulk of the 82,500 men who stepped forward to seek compensation after the youth group filed for bankruptcy last year.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“BEIJING (AP) — China is tightening control over data gathered by companies about the public under a law approved Friday by its ceremonial legislature, expanding the ruling Communist Party’s crackdown on internet industries.
The data protection law follows anti-monopoly and other enforcement actions against companies including e-commerce giant Alibaba and games and social media operator Tencent that caused their share prices to plunge.
The law, which takes effect Nov. 1, follows complaints companies misused or sold customer data without their knowledge or permission, allowing it to be used for fraud or unfair practices such as charging higher prices to some users.
The law curbs what information companies can gather and sets standards for how it must be stored. The full text of the law wasn’t immediately released, but earlier versions also would require customer permission before data can be sold to another company.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency plans to bring soil samples back from the Mars region ahead of the U.S. and Chinese missions now operating on Mars, in hopes of finding clues to the planet’s origin and traces of possible life.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, plans to launch an explorer in 2024 to land on the Martian moon Phobos to collect 10 grams (0.35 ounce) of soil and bring it back to Earth in 2029.
The rapid return trip would put Japan ahead of the United States and China in bringing back samples from the Martian region despite starting later, project manager Yasuhiro Kawakatsu said in an online news conference Thursday.
NASA’s Perseverance rover is operating in a Mars crater where it is to collect 31 samples that are to be returned to Earth with help from the European Space Agency as early as 2031. China landed a spacecraft on Mars in May and plans to bring back samples around 2030.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Malaysia’s next prime minister. Malaysia’s longest-ruling party looks set to return to power if former Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is confirmed as the new premier. Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as prime minister on Monday after just 17 months in office, having lost coalition support. Ismail Sabri’s United Malays National Organization party had dominated Malaysian politics since 1957 until suffering a surprise 2018 defeat that came on the heels of a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Australia’s COVID-19 outbreak. Australia recorded its biggest-ever single day COVID-19 caseload, with 758 new cases on Thursday—a drop in the bucket in the United States, but a significant number in a country that has kept its national borders closed throughout the coronavirus pandemic, stranding its own citizens. The delta variant outbreak has surged in Sydney, where officials expect to ramp up vaccinations among those under 40 in the coming weeks.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Aid arrives in desperate Haiti. Relief for the victims of Haiti’s double disaster—a major earthquake followed by a tropical storm—began trickling in on Thursday, but the country still faces major challenges when it comes to distributing food and medical care. The kidnapping of two doctors from a hospital in the capital Port-au-Prince, where many of the injured were being sent, has made matters worse. The hospital has closed for two days in protest.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Lives Lived: Chuck Close’s striking Photorealist portraits — which one gallerist called ‘inextricable from the greatest achievements of 20th-century art’ — catapulted him to prominence. Several women later accused Close of sexual harassment. He died at 81.” Read more at New York Times
“‘A true action legend’: Japanese actor Sonny Chiba, who wowed the world with his martial arts skills in more than 100 films, including "Kill Bill," has died. He was 82.” Read more at New York Times
“Pitcher will remain out of action: Major League Baseball has extended the leave of the Los Angeles Dodgers' Trevor Bauer another week after a judge rescinded a protective order in place against the pitcher.” Read more at New York Times
“OnlyFans, the online creator platform known for its adult content, announced today that it will prohibit creators from posting ‘sexually explicit’ content starting in October.
The company said it made the decision at the request of its banking and payout partners, Axios' Dan Primack and Jacob Knutson write.
It's unclear how it will decide what content is sexually explicit.
The big picture: The platform, which has 130 million users and over 2 million creators, has been one of the creator economy's largest and most successful platforms, according to company financials leaked to Axios.
But it's been strugglingto find outside investors, multiple sources say, in part because some venture capital funds are prohibited from investing in adult content that is ubiquitous on its platform.” Read more at Axios
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