Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Friday. |
| A relative looked on at the damage done after a U.S. drone had struck a house a day earlier in Kabul.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times |
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1. The Pentagon acknowledged on Friday that the U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians — including seven children — was a tragic mistake. |
Items in the trunk of a car that was struck by a U.S. missile were most likely water canisters, though the military had claimed they were explosives. The driver of the car, Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group, had nothing to do with the Islamic State, as military officials had previously asserted. |
"I offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed," said Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command. The findings of the inquiry mirrored those of a Times video investigation that questioned the government's version of events. |
| A Covid-19 vaccination event last month in Miami.Saul Martinez for The New York Times |
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2. After weeks of heated debate, an F.D.A. advisory panel voted decisively against approving a booster shot for the coronavirus for people 16 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. |
The negative vote was a setback for President Biden's booster plan, which has come under fire from experts. The White House wanted most adults who had gotten a second Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to start receiving booster shots next week. |
"It's unclear that everyone needs to be boosted, other than a subset of the population that clearly would be at high risk for serious disease," said Dr. Michael Kurilla, a committee member and official at the National Institutes of Health. |
| A coal fired power station in Boxberg, Germany. The plant is scheduled to switch off in 2038.Florian Gaertner/Photothek, via Getty Images |
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3. The U.N. warned of a "catastrophic" rise in the global temperature by the end of the century — even if every country meets its Paris Accord pledge. |
A new report from the U.N. climate agency says that, even if all countries reduce emissions by as much as they've promised, the global average temperature is poised to rise 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. That would worsen extreme wildfires, droughts and floods, increase the frequency of deadly heat waves and threaten coastal cities with rising sea levels. |
The report found a large gap between what is needed and what world leaders have been willing to do. Emissions of planet-warming gases are poised to grow by 16 percent during this decade compared with 2010 levels; the latest scientific research indicates that they need to decrease by at least 25 percent to avert the worst impacts of global warming. |
| Haitian migrants wait to seek asylum with approximately 9,000 others in Del Rio, Texas.Verónica G. Cárdenas for The New York Times |
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They carried mattresses, fruit, diapers, blankets and provisions to tide them over while they awaited their turn to plead for admission into the U.S. |
The temporary camp has grown with staggering speed in recent days, from just a few hundred people earlier in the week. The authorities and city officials said they expected thousands more to cross the ankle-deep river between Mexico and Del Rio in coming days. |
The rise in Haitian migration began in the months after President Biden took office. The Biden administration had discussed repealing a Trump-era public health rule put in place at the beginning of the pandemic that blocked many asylum seekers but ultimately put off those plans. |
| Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Less is More Act.Brittainy Newman for The New York Times |
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5. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York signed a bill to release some prisoners from Rikers Island, the site of an escalating crisis. |
The measure is intended to ease crowding at a time when severe staffing shortages have led to unsafe and unsanitary conditions for detainees and guards. Ten people have died at Rikers since December, including several by suicide, and only 36 percent of detainees at the jail are fully vaccinated. |
Even after the release of 191 detainees on Friday and the transfer of 200 more in the days ahead, Rikers will still be far more crowded than it was in spring 2020. |
| The "Navalny" app is key to a protest vote strategy that the opposition leader calls "smart voting."Natalia Kolesnikova/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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6. Google and Apple blocked an anti-Putin election app in Russia. |
The app was created by allies of the opposition leader Aleksei Navalny who were hoping to use it to consolidate the opposition vote in each of Russia's 225 electoral districts. It disappeared from both platforms just as voting got underway this week, in what an aide to Navalny's team called "a shameful act of political censorship." |
| Nasheema Miley said her son, who is autistic, has struggled without his in-person speech therapy.Nate Palmer for The New York Times |
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7. It is back-to-school season, but both children and their classrooms have changed. |
Experts say it may take months or years to fully grasp the learning loss that children suffered from remote schooling during the pandemic. Parents of the roughly 200,000 students with disabilities in New York City say they have already seen drastic damages in their children. Many are seeking out makeup services for the programs their children missed out on during the pandemic. |
| Russ Rampton marrying Andrea Almeida (in Mexico) and Michael Kelly (in Australia).Russel Daniels for The New York Times |
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8. More than 3,500 couples have been married in Utah without ever stepping foot in the state. |
Since May 2020, the Utah County clerk and auditor's office in Provo has performed weddings for thousands of international couples. It's not just the ceremony: During the pandemic, an obvious incentive to marry — aside from affirming the love two people feel for each another — is the ability to bypass visa and travel restrictions. |
One snag? Under U.S. immigration law, a virtual marriage is not considered legitimate until it is consummated, as old-fashioned as that might sound (and no, phone sex doesn't count). |
| Workers and Carpenters deployed the fabric on the facade of the Arc de Triomphe.Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris; Elliott Verdier for The New York Times |
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9. An artist's posthumous gift to Paris. |
For nearly 60 years, the artist known as Christo dreamed of wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in fabric. Just over a year after his death at the age of 84, "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped," is a reality, with about 270,000 square feet of silvery blue fabric hugging the monument. |
The polypropylene material, a nod to the city's distinctive zinc roofs, is secured by 1.9 miles of red rope, in line with the artist's meticulous instructions. "He wanted a living object that, with its moving folds, would turn the monument's surface into something sensual," said Vladimir Yavachev, Christo's nephew and the project director. The artwork will be on display for 16 days beginning on Saturday. |
| Nature Picture Library/Alamy |
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10. And finally, giraffes like a fair fight. |
But new research on sparring males showed that the animals didn't take advantage of smaller members of their herds, choosing to practice their head butts with males of similar stature. The findings could aid in conservation efforts for dwindling giraffe populations. |
Have an honorable evening. |
Bryan Denton compiled photos for this briefing. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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