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| Welcome to Thursday, Daily Briefing readers! Good morning! Afghanistan continues to be at the top of mind for many as the Taliban, basically, is trolling the United States on the country's Independence Day. In Florida, more school districts are ignoring Gov. Ron DeSantis and implementing mask mandates. |
| Steve is here with Thursday's news. |
| 🌎 New this morning: A new study says babies and toddlers are more likely than teenagers to transmit the coronavirus. |
| 🛢Plan didn't include mitigation measures for polar bears: A federal judge threw out Trump administration approvals for a large oil project in Alaska, saying the federal review was flawed. |
| 👶 "Ok Ok we had a baby. His name is Cosmo": Surprise! Actress Scarlett Johansson and "Saturday Night Live" star and writer Colin Jost welcomed their first child together. |
| 🚗 "The truth is that new cars depreciate at a quicker rate": The average cost of new vehicle ownership is approaching $10,000, according to a new study. |
| ⚾ "Obviously I hurt his feelings": Chicago White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn, perhaps the leading candidate for the AL Cy Young Award, was ejected from Wednesday's game in Oakland after he threw his belt toward an umpire during a mid-inning equipment check. |
| 📺 "America's Got Talent" results: Seven acts moved on to the NBC show's semifinals, including 9-year-old singer Victory Brinker, and five saw their million-dollar dream end abruptly. |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, hear tech editor Brett Molina break down Facebook and the metaverse. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| What else is happening today: |
Taliban marks Afghanistan's Independence Day as challenges rise |
| Thursday is Afghanistan's Independence Day as it commemorates the 1919 treaty that ended British rule. The Taliban celebrated by declaring it had beaten "the arrogant of power of the world" in the United States. However, challenges to their rule have begun to emerge. From cracking down on a rarely seen protest to ATMs being out of cash and worries about food across a nation reliant on imports, the Taliban now face all the challenges of the government they dethroned without the international aid it enjoyed. On the U.S. side, the U.S. military had evacuated about 2,000 people from Kabul in the previous 24 hours and the Pentagon anticipates evacuating about 2,000 more people per day, press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday. Also, President Joe Biden told ABC News George Stephanopoulos U.S. troops will stay in Afghanistan beyond the end of the month, if necessary, to ensure all Americans are evacuated. |
More on what is unfolding in Afghanistan |
| 🌏 Fraud, waste and abuse: The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) concluded the gains were neither commensurate with the investment nor sustainable after U.S. troop withdrawal. |
| 🌏 What went wrong in Afghanistan? Five people, representing both sides of the aisle and both sides of the world, share their perspectives in their own words. |
| 🌏 Exclusive analysis from USA TODAY's Susan Page: This is President Biden's biggest defeat, fair or not. |
| 🌏 Fact check: A viral image of a Taliban punishment is tied to theft, not Christian faith. |
| 🌏 What you can do: This is how to help the people fleeing Afghanistan and the families who are still in the country. |
Newsmakers in their own words: Veterans react to the Taliban taking over Afghanistan |
 | | U.S. veteran Cristian Garcerant speaks to USA TODAY. | | USA TODAY graphic | |
| This week, the world watched as the Taliban seized back control of Afghanistan. Many people are experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, but the news is even more disheartening for veterans, like Cristian Garcerant who was there from 2013 to 2014. |
| Our instinct may be to check in with the veterans in an effort to talk to them about how they are feeling, but doing so can be triggering, and experts say it's important to be mindful of how you approach a topic that may be a source of trauma, anxiety or PTSD. Reaching out and giving veterans a chance to talk about their feelings "can make all the difference in the world." One suggestion is to broach the subject with a general question to see how your loved one is doing. |
📸 Photo of the day: Ex-Afghan president meets with the Taliban 📸 |
 | | In this handout photograph released by the Taliban, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center left, senior Haqqani group leader Anas Haqqani, center right, and Abdullah Abdullah, head of Afghanistan's National Reconciliation Council and former government negotiator with the Taliban, right, meet in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. The meeting comes after the Taliban's lightning offensive saw the militants seize the capital, Kabul. | | Handout photo from Taliban via AP | |
| Afghanistan's former president has met with a senior leader of a powerful Taliban faction who was once jailed and whose group has been listed by the U.S. as a terrorist network. The U.S. branded the Haqqani network a terrorist group in 2012, and its involvement in a future government could trigger international sanctions. |
| The Taliban have pledged to form an "inclusive, Islamic government," although skeptics point to its past record of intolerance for those not adhering to its extreme interpretations of Islam. |
| Click here to see more images from Afghanistan as the Taliban takes over the country. |
Big Florida school districts defy Gov. DeSantis over mask mandate |
| Three more Florida school districts adopted stricter mask mandates Wednesday, a day after school boards in two counties faced threats of severe penalties for defying Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration. The Hillsborough County school board, which oversees the state's third-largest district with over 206,000 students in the Tampa area, voted to adopt a 30-day mask mandate with a medical opt-out for students, teachers and staff. The policy takes effect Thursday. The Miami-Dade school board, representing Florida's largest district with 334,000 students, passed a similar mandate that will begin next week. And under a new Palm Beach County School Board policy enacted late Wednesday and going into effect Monday, all students will have to wear a facial covering at school unless they have a disability exemption. DeSantis said Wednesday districts imposing mask mandates are violating a law stating it is up to parents to make health decisions. |
What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 Goodbye FastPass and MaxPass: Walt Disney World and Disneyland are getting rid of their old reservation systems, which have been out of commission throughout the pandemic. This fall, they will introduce a free new planning tool called Disney Genie. |
| 🔵 "We aren't ruling anything out at this point": An investigation into the deaths of a missing California family is being treated as a "hazmat situation." |
| 🔴 "It was traumatic and scary": A former sports reporter says she was raped by an MLB player in 2002. She kept silent about it for 18 years. |
| 🔵 Outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo has put in for retirement: This is how much his pension may be and what comes with it. |
| 🔴 "A zero-tolerance policy for bias or discrimination": Detroit Tigers announcer and Baseball Hall of Famer Jack Morris has been suspended after making a racist comment about Japanese star player Shohei Ohtani during a broadcast. |
| 🔵 "I must do my part": Country star Garth Brooks has canceled five stadium tour dates amid rising COVID-19 cases. |
 | | Garth Brooks performs on stage | | USA TODAY graphic | |
Will Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer take the witness stand? |
| Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltmann could decide Thursday if Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Trevor Bauer should take the witness stand as this week's hearing about whether a restraining order should remain in force against Bauer nears its conclusion. "We have one more witness left … Mr. Bauer himself," said Marc Garelick, an attorney for the woman who has accused Bauer of assault. Garelick said Wednesday that the woman's legal team wanted to call Bauer to the witness stand Thursday morning, drawing a response from Bauer's attorney, Shawn Holley. "I would like to restate what I indicated previously, which is that Mr. Bauer is going to take the Fifth Amendment," Holley said at the end of Wednesday's hearing. |
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg to make a major announcement |
| Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will reveal a major company announcement exclusively on "CBS This Morning" Thursday, CBS News said. Leading up to the company announcement, Zuckerberg told "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King the social media giant has removed 18 million posts containing misinformation about COVID-19, but would not say how many times those posts had been viewed or shared. Facebook recently reported its second-quarter profits doubled thanks to a massive increase in advertising revenue. But Zuckerberg has set his sights far beyond the last part of 2021, exalting what he sees as the next big thing and the new phase of how people experience the internet. Zuckerberg and others are focused on "the metaverse," a futuristic and somewhat vague notion that encompasses augmented reality, virtual reality and new, yet-to-be-imagined ways of connecting to one another via technology. |
 | | CEO Mark Zuckerberg says 'the metaverse' is the future of Facebook | | Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images | |
ICYMI: Some of our top stories published Wednesday |
| 💉"It will increase your protection from COVID-19": A booster shot for Pfizer, Moderna vaccines will be available Sept. 20. |
| ⛈ Storm tracker: Dozens are missing after Fred sweeps North Carolina. In addition, Hurricane Grace has formed and Henri eyes New England. |
| 📱 Got your COVID-19 vaccination pass? If you're interested, you can store it in your Samsung Galaxy and your iPhone. |
Women's British Open sets new benchmark for women's golf |
| The AIG Women's British Open starts Thursday in Scotland. The championship set a new standard for prize money at the LPGA Tour majors by announcing a record purse of $5.8 million, with plans to boost it by an additional $1 million for next year. "We hope this will inspire other events to follow our lead and help us to take a collective leap forward for the women's game," said Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A. The winner this week will receive $870,000, compared with the $675,000 that Sophia Popov won last year at Royal Troon. The overall purse this year will increase by $1.3 million to $5.8 million. |
| The Daily Briefing is free, but several stories we link to in this edition are subscriber-only. Please support our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today. |
| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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