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| 📝 Good afternoon and welcome to Notes on the News. Here's what you should know today, Aug. 30: The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete after the longest war in American history, Louisianans are facing days or even weeks without power after Hurricane Ida made landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the E.U. recommends halting non-essential travel from the U.S. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. Thanks for reading. | |
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| |  | | A man looking Monday at a house that collapsed during the height of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans. PHOTO: MICHAEL DEMOCKER/USA TODAY/REUTERS | | | | |
| 1. Hurricane Ida left more than 1 million without power in Louisiana. The Category 4 hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm with sustained winds of about 40 miles an hour as it moved north toward Mississippi. Some of the hardest-hit areas around New Orleans could face power outages for weeks, and service outages at 911 centers persisted today as emergency responders raced to provide aid and assess damage. | |
| 2. Dozens of United jets might not fly until next year. After a Hawaii-bound United Airlines 777 flight from Denver lost its engine cover mid-air in February, returning the planes to service has taken longer than expected as federal regulators consider potential new requirements for certain aircraft, including 52 in United's fleet. | |
| 3. The Caldor Fire is forcing evacuations in South Lake Tahoe. The blaze grew by 25,000 acres in 24 hours as it headed toward a region popular with tourists. Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe said late Sunday it would evacuate all patients to other facilities in the area. Containment dropped from 19% to 14% on Sunday as a change in weather caused the fire to expand rapidly. | |
| 4. Disney held unsuccessful meditation talks with alleged sexual-assault victims in June. The claims surfaced in a lawsuit last week against former "Good Morning America" producer Michael Corn, who denies the allegations. The complaint, which also names the Disney-owned TV network as a defendant, was filed by ABC News producer Kirstyn Crawford, one of two women who have accused Mr. Corn of assault. Disney held the mediation talks after completing a probe of the allegations, people close to the company and the alleged victims said. | |
| 5. A new federal office will treat climate change as a public-health issue. The new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, which will report to a White House climate task force, is likely to spur initiatives touching on many aspects of healthcare, Health and Human Services officials said Monday. It is expected to offer protections for populations most at risk—including the elderly, minorities, rural communities and children. The office could eventually compel hospitals and other care facilities to reduce carbon emissions. | |
| 6. Uzbekistan says Afghan pilots and their families can't stay there. The country, which lies just north of Afghanistan, is urging Washington to act quickly to take the pilots to a third country to avoid inflaming relations with the Taliban now wielding power from Kabul, officials say. Uzbekistan has maintained ties with the group for years while hedging between powers vying for influence in Afghanistan. | |
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| 3 — The number of hours Chinese kids 17 years old and younger will be allowed to play video games each week under a new government regulation taking effect Wednesday. In restricting online game play for younger people, Beijing is trying to "effectively protect the physical and mental health of minors," China's state-run Xinhua News Agency said. $9 million — The amount of money Atlanta Public Schools is spending to hire 10 additional school psychologists, 25 new social workers and eight support staff to deal with an expected jump in the need for mental health services for students who are struggling because of the pandemic. 5,000 — The number of Afghan refugees who were moved out of Afghanistan in one of the most successful known private evacuation efforts. The operation was conducted by Zach Van Meter, a private-equity investor from Naples, Fla., and a group of veterans, Afghan diplomats, wealthy donors, defense contractors, nonprofit workers and off-duty U.S. officials. Private citizens said they volunteered time and money in the effort to bolster an American evacuation they saw as inadequate. | |
| | What Everyone Wants To Know | | |
| |  | | U.S. soldiers boarded an Air Force aircraft in Kabul on Monday as the American withdrawal from Afghanistan concluded. PHOTO: AAMIR QURESHI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES | | | | |
| Last U.S. troops leave Afghanistan after nearly 20 years. A U.S. military aircraft carried the last American troops out of the country on Monday, marking the formal end of the longest war in U.S. history but leaving hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghans to face a future of uncertainty and danger. The final U.S. withdrawal came a day before the Aug. 31 deadline set by President Biden with the threat of further terrorist attacks persisting days after an Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for killing 13 American service members and more than 200 Afghans in a bombing at Kabul's airport. While the Biden administration had promised all U.S. citizens would be evacuated, some Americans and Afghan allies were left behind, though the State Department couldn't provide precise figures. The threat of attacks lasted until the final hours of the U.S. withdrawal, after military officials said five rockets were fired at the airport Sunday evening. Ending the U.S. involvement was a campaign promise of Mr. Biden's, and while polls show most Americans back the decision to withdrawal, most disapprove of how the exit was handled. In all, 2,461 U.S. troops were killed since the campaign began in 2001, and tens of thousands of Afghans have died in fighting during the nearly two-decade war. | |
| It remains to be seen whether the Taliban can keep the Islamic State in check. It's likely that the Taliban leaders now in charge in Afghanistan do want to stop Islamic State fighters—who are, in fact, their sworn enemies—as well as other Islamic extremists who could create further instability and threaten their power. But the Taliban's ability to keep those adversaries at bay is very much in question. The Afghan arm of Islamic State, known as ISIS-K—which was responsible for a deadly attack on Kabul's airport last week that killed hundreds of civilians—isn't interested merely in imposing Islamic law on Afghanistan, as the Taliban itself aims to do. The rival extremist group also wants to incorporate parts of the country into a broader Middle East caliphate, directly threatening America's friends and allies in the region. | |
| EU officials back halting non-essential travel from the U.S. The move ends a summer-vacation reprieve for American tourists as the Delta variant of Covid-19 continues to spread through the U.S. The European Union's decision comes as U.S. vaccination rates have now fallen behind those in EU countries. The bloc's recommendation is non-binding but sets a tone across the region. EU member states still retain control over all the rules for tourist travel, such as whether to impose quarantines on unvaccinated travelers and which certificates to accept as proof of vaccination. The EU stressed the decision doesn't take away "the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on nonessential travel…for fully vaccinated travelers." In addition to the U.S., the EU also singled out Israel, Lebanon, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro, leaving only 18 countries on its list of "safe countries." That includes China—when and if Beijing permits EU citizens to visit. | |
| More than a third of millennials say they plan to look for a new job post pandemic. According to a survey by Prudential Financial, many millennials, most of whom launched their careers following the 2007-09 recession and, in many cases, only recently hit their stride in earning power, are now quitting their jobs with no Plan B. With several years in the workforce and some savings in the bank, they are taking a breather to learn new skills, network and develop their creative potential. These workers say they are both chastened by pandemic-era burnout and optimistic about a rebounding job market that has left some employees newly empowered. | |
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| |  | | A still from the music video for Take My Breath, by the Weeknd. COURTESY: THE WEEKND | | | | |
- Go listen to: "Take My Breath," by the Weeknd, one of WSJ Magazine's best new pop releases for the month. The latest single will appear on the pop singer's forthcoming album. The dance-floor-ready tune takes cues from the Bee Gees and Prince, with its four-on-the-floor beat, suspenseful synths and falsetto harmonies.
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