Good morning.
Reports are emerging of the Taliban beating women and children as they attempt to cross checkpoints set up by the insurgents, undermining their promise of “safe passage” for those who want to reach Kabul airport to flee Afghanistan.
Following chaotic scenes at Kabul airport, which has since been secured by the US, sources told the Guardian that the Taliban have been violently preventing some from reaching the airfield through the road they control. An Afghan interpreter for the Australian military was shot in the leg on Wednesday as he passed a checkpoint to board an evacuation flight.
Alongside the pledge of “safe passage”, the Taliban gave a series of assurances during the group’s first press conference on Tuesday, telling reporters that they seek no “revenge” on opponents and that “nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped” – despite reports to the contrary.
What was it all for? It’s a question on many people’s minds in the wake of the Taliban’s rapid sweep to power. The Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, delves into several perspectives in his analysis of the 20-year war.
Follow the latest developments on our Afghanistan liveblog.
Northern California fires threaten to intensify
Dangerous fire weather forecast across northern California from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday evening threatens to worsen several blazes and spark new ones.
Exacerbated by the wind, the Caldor fire blew up in size on Tuesday, destroying the small Sierra Nevada town of Grizzly Flats and forcing residents to flee.
As the blaze intensified on Tuesday night, Pacific Gas and Electric began shutting off power to 51,000 customers across 18 northern California counties. The company said the move was precautionary.
What is dangerous fire weather? The National Weather Service said fire has the potential to spread rapidly in the region due to the deadly combination of low humidity, extremely dry vegetation, and wind speeds of up to 35mph.
More than 2,500 people had been ordered to evacuate by Tuesday night and two people were injured.
The Caldor fire has burned through 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) – up from 6,500 acres reported earlier on Tuesday.
The small town of Quincy, just south of the perimeter of the Dixie fire, has become a refuge for people escaping California’s biggest blaze.
Texas governor contracts Covid after banning mask mandates
Following weeks of banning local mask mandates and meeting unmasked crowds, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has tested positive for Covid-19.
The Republican governor is fully vaccinated and is experiencing no symptoms, his office said in a statement, adding that he is isolating and that his close contacts have been notified.
What action has Abbott taken against mask requirements? The governor has restricted cities, counties, school districts and public health authorities from imposing mask and vaccine mandates. This has been met with pushback from officials in major cities, leading the Texas supreme court to ban their local mandates – at least temporarily.
How is the coronavirus situation in Texas? The state has once more become a virus hotspot as Delta spreads, with just 314 available intensive care unit beds statewide. And as children head back to class, pediatric ICUs are running out of space.
In other news …
Members of the Sackler family are refusing to contribute billions of dollars to a legal settlement unless they are protected from all lawsuits over OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s activities. The US bankruptcy trustee, nine states and the District of Columbia are objecting to the plan.
The conservative campaign to curtail voting rights is expanding its scope, election watchdogs have warned. Funded by dark money groups, the drive is aiming to spend tens of millions to restrict voting to favor Republicans, after already netting legislative victories in 18 states.
Haiti’s confirmed death toll from Saturday’s earthquake has risen to 1,941, with more than 9,900 injured and 30,000 people left homeless. Relief efforts are being hindered by flash flood and landslides as Storm Grace lashes southern Haiti.
Stat of the day: Swedish mountain shrinks by 2 metres in a year
Sweden’s sole remaining mountaintop glacier has lost another 2 metres in height in the last year due to rising air temperatures driven by climate change, Stockholm University says. The south peak of the Kebnekaise was Sweden’s highest peak until 2019, but became the second-highest after a third of its glacier melted. The peak measured 2,118 metres in the mid-1990s, but now stands at 2,094.6 metres above sea level.
Don’t miss this: Steve Martin and Martin Short on their 35-year friendship
Hadley Freeman speaks to double act Steve Martin and Martin Short about their enduring friendship, which over the decades has evolved from starring alongside each other to taking family vacations together. “Martin says that if he and his wife are planning a dinner party and Short can’t come, ‘we’ll cancel the dinner party’,” she writes. Before their forthcoming TV series, Only Murders in the Building, the pair also muse on comedy, father figures and Elvis Presley.
Last Thing: cuttlefish remember details of their last meal
Photograph: Gary Bell/Getty Images
Do you remember what you had for lunch last Wednesday? Cuttlefish do, a study has discovered. Researchers at the University of Cambridge conducted memory tests in 24 cuttlefish, which have one of the largest brains among invertebrates, finding that they can remember what, where, and when specific things happened right up to their end of their lives – including their last meals.
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