123movies: Your Monday Briefing

August 30, 2021

By Amelia Nierenberg

Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We're covering a U.S. reprisal strike in Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida in Louisiana and Palestine's vaccination push.

U.S. military personnel secure the Kabul airport, hours before the evacuation deadline.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times

The U.S. fights back in Kabul

After a bombing at the Kabul airport killed about 170 civilians and 13 American service members, the U.S. struck back.

A drone strike on Sunday blew up a vehicle laden with explosives, a Defense Department official said, hours after President Biden had warned that another terrorist attack at the airport was "highly likely." Here are live updates.

On Friday, the Pentagon said that two senior Islamic State militants were killed and one was wounded in a reprisal drone strike. Many Afghans fear that revenge from the Taliban will follow soon after the last American soldiers leave.

When Taliban fighters seized control of Kabul two weeks ago, the invading units made a beeline for the headquarters of the National Security Directorate and the Ministry of Communications. Their aim was to secure the files of intelligence officers and their informers, and to obtain the means of tracking the telephone numbers of Afghan citizens, a potential disaster for hundreds of thousands of people who once worked against them.

Evacuations: Hundreds of thousands of Afghans are still thought to be seeking to flee the country, as the evacuations wind down. The U.S. and 97 other countries will continue to take in refugees after the deadline, and over 110,000 Afghans have already been evacuated. Many are now in limbo in overflowing processing centers, fearful of what comes next.

Analysis: Biden has insisted that he had no choice but to withdraw under the deal he inherited from Donald Trump. But were there other options?

Quotable: "I knew — everyone here knew — that an era of hope, however uneven and misplaced, was about to end," wrote Mujib Mashal, my colleague who grew up in Kabul, reflecting on the final days of life in the Afghan capital without the Taliban.

New Orleans' Bourbon Street was mostly empty as the effects of Hurricane Ida began on Sunday.Edmund D. Fountain for The New York Times

Ida threatens New Orleans

Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 storm. Here are live updates and a map tracking the storm's path.

The storm is expected to hit New Orleans exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Ida is one of the most powerful systems to assault the region since 2005.

The impacts of Ida's storm surge are expected to be less severe than Katrina's, but Ida's winds and rain are predicted to be stronger. The storm will be a test to improvements to the levee system following Katrina.

Details: In some places the surge from Ida could be as high as 16 feet. Officials said it was now too late to evacuate and urged residents to hunker down.

Hospitals: During Katrina, the city's hospitals were overwhelmed by water and patients. Now, they are already strained by the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Climate: The storm intensified quickly, in part because of unusually warm surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic hurricane season of 2020 was the busiest on record, and Louisiana is still struggling to claw its way back from the hard blows it was dealt by two hurricanes then that followed a nearly identical path.

Several people at a vaccination center in Bethlehem said they were getting vaccinated only because they had to.Samar Hazboun for The New York Times

Palestine's vaccine push

For months, the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and in the blockaded Gaza Strip struggled to get Covid-19 vaccine doses. Now they have the shots, but disinformation and conspiracy theories have led to widespread hesitancy.

Only 37 percent of eligible West Bank residents and 18 percent in Gaza have received at least one dose, according to health officials.

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas — the militant group that rules Gaza — have imposed vaccine mandates on public employees, despite reservations from human rights advocates.

In Gaza, private-sector employees whose work brings them into direct contact with the public must be vaccinated as well. In the West Bank, where the government is the largest employer, officials said that the number of vaccinations increased after the government order.

Cases: The number of new infections jumped significantly over the past week, reaching 868 in the West Bank on Thursday and 1,021 in Gaza on Friday, the highest single-day figures in months. The number of hospitalizations in both territories has roughly tripled in the past two weeks.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

India has given at least one vaccine shot to more than half of its eligible population.
The European Union is set to advise member states that they should reintroduce travel restrictions for visitors from the United States.

A large study found that people were at substantially higher risk of blood clots from coronavirus infections than from taking an AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
A spokesman for Myanmar's junta said that the Rohingya people would be vaccinated.

THE LATEST NEWS

From Asia

Critics see President Rodrigo Duterte's vice-presidential run as a plot to avoid prosecution for the killings in his drug war.King Rodriguez/Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, via Associated Press

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines will run for vice president next year, a move that could maintain his vice grip on power.
Buddhist monks, who led earlier revolts in Myanmar, are split over whether to side with the military junta.

What Else Is Happening

A giant puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian girl has been traveling across Greece and Turkey to highlight the plight of refugees. But some have objected, saying it could encourage more migrants.
Limestone slabs recovered in a 2013 police raid in Brazil have revealed the most complete fossil of a species of pterosaur ever found.
A video of abuse levied against a dying Indigenous woman in Canada has prompted outrage and underlined systemic discrimination.

A Morning Read

Regulators accused Zheng Shuang, a popular actress, of tax evasion. Costfoto/Barcroft Media, via Getty Images

For years, China's online censors have relentlessly silenced political dissidents. Now, they're turning their attention to celebrity fan clubs, as officials fear that a quest for online attention is poisoning the minds of the country's youth.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

Novak Djokovic's treasure hunt

The U.S. Open begins in New York on Monday, and Novak Djokovic is going to try to break some records.

If he wins this tournament, he will break his tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and take the record for Grand Slam men's singles titles with 21. He would also complete a Grand Slam by winning all four major tournaments in the same calendar year. No man has done so in singles since 1969, although Steffi Graf did it in 1988. And, perhaps, he will even gain a share of the adoration that has followed Federer and Nadal.

Here's what Djokovic's path to victory might look like. His success may be made easier by Federer's and Nadal's absence from the U.S. Open because of injuries. His biggest challenge is likely to come from the generation that is following the great trio: Alexander Zverev (who defeated Djokovic in Tokyo), Matteo Berrettini, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsisipas.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

David Malosh for The New York Times

Use juice from macerated berries, instead of store-bought flavored gelatin, for the richest, silkiest and most flavorful strawberry icebox pie imaginable.

What to Watch

Our latest picks for the best international films to stream include an Indian boxing film, a French romantic comedy and a horror film about refugees in London.

What to Read

Jo Hamya's debut novel "Three Rooms" follows a young, well-educated woman of color fighting for economic stability in contemporary London.

Now Time to Play

Here is today's Mini Crossword.

And here is today's Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That's it for today's briefing. See you next time. — Amelia

P.S. During Fashion Week, our journalists will speak with designers, editors, chief executives and influencers. Join us for the first virtual event on Sept. 7.

The latest episode of "The Daily" is about the deadly bombings in Kabul, Afghanistan.

You can reach Amelia and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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