Rahmat Gul/AP
“The Taliban appeared closer to forming a government in Afghanistan, a week after seizing Kabul.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the Taliban’s key leaders, arrived in the capital to begin talks with former President Hamid Karzai and other politicians.
As talks got underway, scenes of havoc played out near Kabul’s international airport, where thousands of Afghans are desperate to find space on an evacuation flight. Panic and desperation rose after the U.S. warned that Afghanistan’s Islamic State branch could attempt an attack to hurt Americans and damage the Taliban’s sense of control.
President Biden had promised an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan. Interviews with key participants in the last days of the war show a series of misjudgments and failures that led to the current chaos.
The Pentagon is moving toward compelling major American airlines to help transport tens of thousands of evacuees.
The Taliban face economic shock as sanctions replace foreign aid that now accounts for nearly half its legal economy. They also face the first armed challenge to their rule.” Read more at New York Times
“Hurricane Henri is on track to make landfall in the U.S. Northeast.
The Category 1 storm was expected to hit Long Island or southern New England on Sunday afternoon, while being ‘at or near hurricane strength when it reaches the coasts’ of those areas, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is expected to bring several inches of rain across the Northeast, possibly producing a storm surge of up to five feet in some areas, but it is not expected to be another Superstorm Sandy. We’re tracking Henri’s path with regular updates.
In Mexico, Hurricane Grace made landfall early on Saturday as a Category 3 storm near the resort town of Tecolutla, leaving eight dead. It then quickly weakened to a tropical storm.
In other climate news, Athens has a new ‘chief heat officer,’ in charge of giving one of the world’s most ancient cities a habitable future.” Read more at New York Times
“Multiple people are missing across Tennessee and North Carolina amid heavy rainfall that brought on severe flooding. North Carolina was recently battered by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred, causing at least four deaths in Haywood County.
At least eight people are dead and 40 missing in Humphreys County, Tennessee, after severe flooding Saturday. Sheriff Chris Davis told The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, the flooding is the worst he has seen in 28 years with the department.
Rainfall in middle Tennessee has shattered records for water levels on the Piney River, according to the National Weather Service. More than 11 inches of rain was dumped on parts of Hickman County early Saturday morning. A state of emergency is in effect through Saturday afternoon in Dickson, Hickman, Houston and Humphreys counties.” Read more at USA Today
"In the U.S. — farmworkers, construction workers, trash collectors, tree trimmers — in more danger.Heat-related worker deaths have doubled in the past 30 years, but there are no federal regulations for preventing them, and the fines afterward are rarely more than $10,000.” Read more at NPR
A Covid patient at Ocean Springs Hospital in Mississippi on Sunday.Rory Doyle for The New York Times
“As some U.S. hospitals reach a breaking point in the face of the Delta variant, nursing is in crisis.
Bedside nurses are depleted and traumatized, their ranks thinned by early retirements or career shifts. The shortages are complicating efforts to treat coronavirus patients, who often require exacting, round-the-clock attention, leading to longer emergency room waiting times and rushed or inadequate care.
‘We’re exhausted, both physically and emotionally,’ an emergency room nurse in Mississippi said, choking back tears. One in five I.C.U.s have at least 95 percent of their beds full, according to an analysis by The Times.
In other virus news, the F.D.A. could give full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine as early as Monday. Orlando residents were asked to cut back on water use for several weeks to preserve the city’s supply of liquid oxygen for treating patients. Here are the latest updates.” Read more at New York Times
“If you got the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, you'll likely need to go get a third shot in the coming months. Officials say that those vaccinations are still effective, but that the move will help the U.S. healthcare system stay ahead of the virus. Here's who should get it first, and the potential drawbacks of the government's plan.” Read more at NPR
“Facebook said Saturday evening that an article raising concerns that the coronavirus vaccine could lead to death was the top performing link in the United States on its platform from January through March of this year, acknowledging the widespread reach of such material for the first time.
It also said another site that pushed covid-19 misinformation was also among thetop 20most visited pages on the platform.
Facebook earlier this year faced a torrent of criticism from President Biden and others who have alleged that the company has allowed misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to flourish. White House officials have alleged that many Americans are reluctant to take the coronavirus vaccine, in part, because of false or misleading information they have read on social media services, including Facebook.” Read more at Washington Post
“Battles over voting rights are nearing critical points in Texas and Washington.
In mid-July, more than 50 Texas Democrats fled the state, shutting down a special session of the Legislature called by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, to pass new laws on voting and other priorities of his party’s base.
This week, three Houston-area representatives came back to the Capitol. As they returned, the passage of sweeping voting restrictions — to undo last year’s expansion of ballot access during the coronavirus pandemic in places like Houston, and to empower partisan poll watchers — appeared quite likely in the coming days.
On Capitol Hill, House Democrats are renewing their voting rights push. This week, they hope to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which focuses on restoring the power of the Voting Rights Act. But it faces a bleak future in the Senate.” Read more at New York Times
“Nearly four years ago, moving with resolve after the global #MeToo explosion, some of the country’s most famous women formed a new charity, Time’s Up, to fight sexual harassment in the workplace. Their collective power, funds and aspirations offered the promise of real progress.
Now the organization is in an ‘existential crisis,’ its vice chairwoman told the staff. A group of abuse victims said they felt betrayed. Some board members are privately questioning whether Time’s Up will survive.
The turmoil was set off by the sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a Time’s Up ally, and revelations that his office had relied on the counsel of the group's leaders as the accusations emerged.” Read more at New York Times
“The host of a program for the right-wing website Infowars, Owen Shroyer, has been charged in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents filed Friday.
Shroyer, who hosts ‘The War Room With Owen Shroyer’ for the website operated by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, said on air Friday that his lawyer informed him there’s a warrant out for his arrest and that he will have to turn himself into authorities Monday morning.” Read more at USA Today
“He guarded Haiti’s slain president, and he’s a suspect in a drug inquiry. Officials are looking for a connection.
Dimitri Hérard, the commander in charge of guarding the home of President Jovenel Moïse, who was killed last month, has been a suspect in the disappearance of hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds of cocaine and heroin whisked away by corrupt officials before law enforcement agents could seize the drugs.
Now, some international officials assisting with the investigation into the president’s assassination say they are examining whether those criminal networks help explain the killing.” Read more at New York Times
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Saturday that the lower chamber is "hard at work" to pass both a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a larger, Democrat-backed spending package by Oct. 1.
In a "Dear Colleague" letter distributed Saturday night, the speaker stated that the ‘Build Back Better’ plan laid out by President Biden enjoys ‘a broad and bipartisan level of public support throughout the country.’
Pelosi stated that the $3.5T price tag for the larger infrastructure package, a legislative priority for the Biden administration, will remain the topline number for the bill.” Read more at The Hill
“Silicon Valley divorces are usually done behind closed doors. Allison Huynh and Scott Hassan are going public.
In 2014, Hassan — who is known by some as the ‘third Google founder’ because he did some early, vital work for the company and bought $800 worth of its stock, which is now worth more than $13 billion — texted Huynh that their marriage was over. Nearly seven years later, they’re still locked in litigation.
They are headed to court on Monday, bereft of the secrecy that money can buy. The trial will offer an unusual, public peek into the details of a big-money Silicon Valley divorce.
Separately, in a Brooklyn courtroom, jurors will hear more testimony this week focused on accusations that the R&B star R. Kelly used his fame — and a sizable group of employees and associates — to recruit women and girls for sex. Here are the key moments from the first week of the trial.” Read more at New York Times
Michele Crippa whiffing scented extracts at a workshop.Fabio Bucciarelli for The New York Times
“Covid took a supertaster’s sense of smell. He’s helping others get it back.
Michele Crippa’s palate was renowned in Italy’s gastronomic circles. In March 2020, his gift vanished, and when it returned, it came back warped. Spoiled milk tasted fine. Peaches tasted like basil.
He retrained himself over months, with the help of sensorial-analysis experts who train winemakers and truffle hunters. For those with his malady, he has organized a course of therapy with a group of food science professors that uses memories connected to smell to try to reactivate the neural pathways disrupted by the virus.” Read more at New York Times
“These past 10 years have brought dramatic change to science fiction and fantasy, and NPR's readers helped celebrate the rush of new voices, new perspectives, new styles, by highlighting 50 great recent titles. We also went back and made some much-needed additions to the all-time list we made a decade ago.” Read more at NPR
“Affirmative action, which for 60 years has increased the number of students of color at American universities, is on the chopping block, Axios' Erica Pandey writes.
A case accusing Harvard of discriminating against Asian applicants has made it to the Supreme Court, and the court could elect to get rid of affirmative action.
Why it matters: While that's an unlikely outcome, it could push colleges to come up with better ways of promoting diversity on campus rather than just looking at race, says Mitchell Chang, an education professor at UCLA.
One possible alternative would be for colleges to admit applicants from a diverse range of high schools: rich and poor, as well as predominantly non-white.
Here's a hard truth: If we did away with affirmative action, higher education would be a lot more homogenous — primarily dominated by white and Asian students.
The effect was immediate after a California ballot proposition in 1996 that banished affirmative action from the UC system, The New York Times reports. Black and Latino enrollment at the top UC schools — Berkeley and UCLA — fell sharply. Those students were replaced by white and Asian students.
When UCLA Law went with a race-neutral admissions system, enrollment of Black and Native American students fell more than 70%.
The state of play: College campuses are more diverse than they were a few decades ago, but there's still a wide racial enrollment gap.
In 2019, 89.9% of recent Asian high school graduates, 66.9% of recent white graduates and 63.4% of Latino graduates were enrolled in college, compared with 50.7% of Black graduates.” Read more at Axios
“Down and discouraged 10 years ago, Yashana Rivera thought a rough freshman year was about to bring her college days to an end. But like a growing number of students of color, a community college wound up restoring her confidence and providing the means to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse, Russell Contreras reports.
Why it matters: As college tuition and application fees skyrocket, community colleges offer working-class students, immigrants and students of color like Rivera a more affordable, flexible path to middle-class careers.
From the Navajo Nation to struggling former factory towns in New England, community colleges help people out of poverty.Their programs offer diverse faculty and prepare students quickly for health care, tech and education jobs. Community college students enter four-year universities with less debt than they'd carry if they paid full university tuition.Flexible schedules and online courses allow working students and single parents to attend part time, taking classes around child care needs and at night.
People of color represent the majority of students attending around 1,000 or so community colleges in the U.S., according to the American Association of Community Colleges.
What we're watching: Community colleges sometimes serve areas dealing with population declines and face cuts, highlighting the schools' shaky financial models based on enrollment growth, a 2021 report from the Association of Community College Trustees found.” Read more at Axios
“The average published college tuition and fees have more than doubled for public two-year schools and private, nonprofit four-year schools — and close to tripled for public four-year schools between the 1990-1991 and the 2020-2021 school years, according to the College Board, Hope King finds.
A bachelor’s degree can mean close to $3 million in lifetime earnings, according to a Georgetown report. But the best-educated Black Americans and Latinos will fall nearly $1 million short of their white and Asian counterparts over a lifetime.” Read more at Axios