Go for the gold: Your Weekend Briefing

August 29, 2021

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We're covering the latest from Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida and the U.S. Open.

Taliban special forces members responsible for securing the Kabul airport prayed on Saturday.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times

1. Evacuation flights from Kabul's airport are winding down as President Biden warned of another attack in the closing days of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

In a statement on Saturday, just days after a suicide bomber had killed 13 American troops and as many as 170 Afghan civilians, Mr. Biden said another Kabul attack was "highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours." This is how Thursday's attack unfolded.

The Pentagon said that two "high-profile" Islamic State militants had been killed and one had been wounded in a drone strike Friday that targeted those involved in planning attacks against Americans. Mr. Biden, in his statement, said that the U.S. retaliatory strike would not be the last.

Among the troops who died were two women on the front lines and servicemen who were still babies when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. Here's what we know about them.

On Saturday, few people were getting through the Kabul airport gates. Britain and France ended their evacuations of Afghan allies. In total, over a dozen countries have evacuated 240,000 people, most of them Afghans, since the Taliban took control of the country.

As American troops work to complete their withdrawal by their Tuesday deadline, the fear among Afghans is palpable. Much of the nation is cringing in anticipation of coming reprisals. Two nonprofit groups are making a last-minute attempt to help Afghan women escape.

A worker boarded up a business in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Saturday.Eric Gay/Associated Press

2. Hurricane Ida is swiftly heading for landfall in the U.S., with Louisiana in its path.

Ida could strike the state today as a Category 4 hurricane — with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour — on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. We're tracking the storm's path here.

On Saturday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans warned city residents who were intending to leave to do so immediately, and she ordered all residents outside the city's levee system to evacuate. A storm surge warning prompted local officials to raise concerns about water overflowing some of the levees that protect parts of New Orleans, which were shored up after Katrina. This is how the two storms compare.

Junior Perrilloux, 2 months old, at the pediatric intensive care unit at Children's Hospital in New Orleans this month.Erin Schaff/The New York Times

3. Children's hospitals around the country are experiencing a surge in Covid-19 patients.

As the Delta variant grips the country, children who are not yet eligible for vaccination are at higher risk of being infected — especially in places where the virus is surging. A New Orleans children's hospital had so many Covid-19 patients that a federal "surge team" was called in to bolster an exhausted staff.

While children under 12 may have to wait until the end of the year to get vaccinated, a new study by the C.D.C. is bound to fuel debate about vaccine mandates for teachers and staff members in schools. The report found that an unvaccinated schoolteacher infected with Delta had spread the virus to half of the students in a classroom.

People waited for Covid-19 tests in North Miami, Fla., in late July.Marta Lavandier/Associated Press

4. Florida offers a cautionary tale for dealing with the Delta variant: Even a state that made a major push for vaccinations can be crushed.

While leaders in Florida refused lockdowns and mask orders, they made it a priority to vaccinate vulnerable older people. But it wasn't enough — Florida has so many older people that even vaccinating a vast majority of them left more than 800,000 unprotected. Vaccination rates among younger people were uneven, so clusters of people remained at risk. Now, cases in Florida are reaching their highest peak of the pandemic.

In Britain, the public has moved on, even if the virus has not. The country is reporting more than 30,000 new Covid cases a day, but public observance of measures to contain the spread seems to be slipping. Experts say this could be a glimpse into the future for other countries.

Natalie Hayes, 69, being fitted for top dentures in Hardwick, Vt.Kelly Burgess for The New York Times

5. Tens of millions of older Americans who cannot afford dental care may soon get help.

Democrats are maneuvering to add dental benefits to Medicare for the first time in its history, a proposal that is part of the large budget bill moving through Congress. The impact would be enormous: Nearly half of Americans 65 and over didn't visit a dentist in the past year, and nearly one in five have lost all their natural teeth.

But first, lawmakers must overcome resistance from a key group: dentists themselves, who want the dental benefits to be offered only to poorer patients and face a potential hit to their income. So far, no Republicans have endorsed the plan.

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Christian Sunt examining some Clinton vines, a grape variety banned in France since 1934.Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times

6. France outlawed six American vine varieties in 1934, mainly on the grounds that they produced poor wine. So why do renegade winemakers still grow them?

In a year when an April frost has ravaged France's wine production, growers vaunt the hardiness of the American grapes as climate change wreaks havoc on vineyards across Europe. The pest-resistant varieties are also helping vintners meet the growing popularity of natural wine. Guerrilla winemakers in the southern Cévennes region now hope the forbidden grapes will be legalized.

"France is a great wine country," one grower said. "To remain one, we have to open up. We can't get stuck on what we already know."

Novak Djokovic serving at the U.S. Open last year.Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

7. The U.S. Open begins in New York on Monday, and Novak Djokovic is on a treasure hunt.

Win this tournament, and he will break his tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and take the record for Grand Slam men's singles titles with 21. Win this tournament, and he completes a Grand Slam by winning all four major tournaments in the same calendar year. No man has done so in singles since 1969 (Steffi Graf did it in 1988).

Here's what Djokovic's path to victory might look like. His success may be made easier by Federer and Nadal's absence from the U.S. Open because of injuries. Serena Williams is also out.

Ash Barty, the No. 1 female player in the world, is coming off a big win at Wimbledon. She talked to us about her relaxed approach to tennis and life.

The author Sally Rooney in Dublin.Ellius Grace for The New York Times

8. Sally Rooney's first two books made her more famous than she liked, and she thought she would never write again. Then she had a reckoning with why she writes at all.

The result is "Beautiful World, Where Are You," which focuses on the friendship between two women as they enter their 30s and develop romantic relationships. "It was with this book that I sat down and thought, wait a minute, what is a novel?" Rooney said.

Her book, out Sept. 7, is one the most anticipated titles for September. Here are 18 other books to look out for.

A summertime twist on peach Melba calls for sliced ripe peaches, instead of cooked peach halves.David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

9. It's the last Sunday of August: Time to savor summer foods before they're gone.

A creamy corn soup, a peppery stew with chicken and a fresh take on peach Melba round out what David Tanis calls "a last-gasp menu, a chance to savor the joy of sun-kissed summer produce that is bound soon to end." The Veggie newsletter recommends celebrating the zucchini, and Five Weeknight Dishes has more ideas.

For another dreamy treat, try this riff on an icebox cake from a New York City ice cream parlor. Wash it all down with one of these 13 delicious drinks, or as TikTokers call it, beveragino.

An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset the impact of its production.Suzie Howell for The New York Times

10. And finally, enjoy a great read.

How some female hummingbirds avoid harassment. The complexities of painting 50,000 miles of lines. The cotton tote crisis. These stories and more can be found in The Weekender.

Our editors also suggest "Wicked in Concert" tonight on PBS, John Coltrane's unearthed live version of "A Love Supreme" and these 11 new books.

Then it's time to test your knowledge. Think you know how to survive a bear attack? Take our quiz. And if you pass Bear Survival 101, move on to our weekly news quiz.

Take a glance at the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our games here.

Have an inquisitive week.

David Poller compiled photos for this briefing.

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