Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday. 1. President Biden vowed retribution after suicide bombers killed 12 U.S. troops and dozens of Afghan civilians outside of the Kabul airport. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombings in the middle of a dense crowd of families at the airport gates who were desperately hoping to make one of the last evacuation flights out of Afghanistan. “We’re outraged as well as heartbroken,” Biden said in an address from the White House. “Know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command.” In the final days of the 20-year U.S. presence in Afghanistan, the two bombings caused one of the highest single-day American tolls of the war. He re’s the latest. Biden said he directed his military commanders to develop a plan to strike back at ISIS-K, the Afghan affiliate that claimed responsibility for the attacks. Evacuations of Americans and Afghan allies would continue, he said: “Our mission will go on.” Estimates of the death toll and wounded were rising quickly as hospitals and officials reported in. Health officials reported between 40 and 60 dead and 120 to 140 wounded. These images show the horrific scenes. The Taliban, which has held total control of the country for 11 days, condemned the attacks. 2. More people in Florida are catching the coronavirus, being hospitalized and dying of Covid-19 now than at any previous point in the pandemic. The state is averaging 228 deaths a day, by far the most in any U.S. state right now. The latest wave in Florida underscores the perils of limiting public health measures as the Delta variant rips through the state. Other states and cities are buckling down on mandates. Illinois, facing an uptick in cases, will require masks indoors for everyone, and educators there must be vaccinated or face testing. And in New York City, officials laid out their safety plans for public schools, including different sets of rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated students. 3. Fear of the Delta variant has been driving an uptick in vaccinations, especially in places with low immunization rates. The upswing in vaccinations in the U.S. comes after weeks of stagnation. Now, the least vaccinated states are seeing the greatest summer increases in first doses. Public health officials say that residents have been driven to get shots by worries that the more-transmissible coronavirus variant might make them, or their loved ones, sick.
