On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: The Taliban marks Afghanistan’s Independence Day as challenges rise. Food shortages there are already an acute concern. Plus, booster shots are coming (for some), dozens are missing in North Carolina after Fred flooding, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer continues to face a civil hearing on alleged abuse and Mark Zuckerberg has a big announcement.
Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Morning, I’m Taylor Wilson. And this is 5 Things you need to know, Thursday, the 19th of August, 2021. Today, early days of Taliban rule plus booster shots are coming, but only for some, and more.
Taylor Wilson:
Here are some of the top headlines.
Washington state is expanding its COVID-19 vaccine mandate to include all teachers and staff, including in public and private schools, and universities. Those who are not fully vaccinated by October 18th risk losing their jobs.
Turkey-backed Syrian forces and Syrian Kurdish fighters shelled one another in Northern Syria on Wednesday. At least five people were killed and a dozen injured.
And Disney World is getting rid of its FastPass. The park, along with Disneyland, will instead shift to a new tool that allows guests to join virtual queues.
Taylor Wilson:
It’s Independence Day in Afghanistan. The Taliban celebrated Thursday by declaring they had defeated the United States. But amid their celebrations, there are new challenges for the Taliban. There are food concerns and ATM’s are out of money in major cities. The Taliban now must run an already complicated civilian government, without the same international aid the overthrown government had. On Thursday, the Taliban said, “Today we are celebrating the anniversary of independence from Britain. We, at the same time, as a result of our jihadi resistance, forced another arrogant power of the world, the United States, to fail and retreat from our holy territory of Afghanistan.” But similar to pass Taliban rule, their words aren’t quite matching their actions.
Taylor Wilson:
They have not acknowledged their violent suppression of a protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad. At least one person was killed after demonstrators lowered the Taliban flag and replaced it with Afghanistan’s tri-color. And there are reports of 24-hour curfews in some rural parts of the country. A drought has also destroyed about 40% of the country’s food, and it appears the vast majority of Afghanistan’s $9 billion in foreign reserves is frozen in the US. The head of the Afghan Central Bank said there are nearly no physical US dollars left in the country, which could mean devastating inflation for its currency, the Afghani.
Taylor Wilson:
There has been no armed opposition to the Taliban’s weeks-long blitz through the country, but new videos appear to show a stronghold of Northern Alliance militants who allied with the US during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. They’re gathering in the Panjshir Valley part of the only province in the country that has not fallen to the Taliban. Meanwhile, the US is still in the country, continuing its work at Kabul’s airport before leaving at the end of the month. State Department Spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday that the US is in contact with the Taliban.
Ned Price:
So we know that time is of the essence. We will do everything we can, in the first instance, to make the most of the time we have, but to potentially even explore if there is more time that we may have. And we will do that in any number of ways. You’ve heard the Deputy Secretary, you’ve heard me talk about the channels of communication we have, excuse me, with the Taliban. That, at first, was primarily conducted through Doha. That channel continues to exist. Now, we have an additional channel, the US Military has a channel with the Taliban as well. These channels have been constructive. We have used these channels to good effect. It is our intent to continue to use these channels, to pursue what is in our interest, of course, but also what is in the interest of the Afghan people.
Taylor Wilson:
As for immediate US actions over the next few weeks, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the US can no longer extend security forces beyond the airport to help get more Afghan civilians out of the country.
Lloyd Austin:
We will continue to deconflict issues with the Taliban, and we will stay focused on securing the airfield. We cannot afford to either not defend that airfield or not have an airfield that’s secure, where we have hundreds or thousands of civilians that can access the airfield at will and put our forces at risk. But we’re going to do everything we can to continue to try to deconflict and create passage ways for them to get to the airfield. I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul.
Speaker:
You have the capability to go out and collect Americans.
Lloyd Austin:
We don’t have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people. We’re really working hard to get as many people through as possible. And quite frankly, it’s obvious we’re not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through, so we’re going to work that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we’re going to get everyone that we can possibly evacuate evacuated. And I’ll do that as long as we possibly can, until the clock runs out, or we run out capability.
Taylor Wilson:
President Joe Biden said Wednesday, that US troops will stay in Afghanistan beyond the end of the month if necessary, to make sure all Americans are evacuated. Stay with usatoday.com for the latest from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.
Taylor Wilson:
Booster shots are coming. President Joe Biden said Wednesday, that booster doses will be offered, beginning September 20th, for American adults who received the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, at least eight months after their second dose. mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna are still extremely effective at reducing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death from the virus. But federal officials said that new data does show the vaccine’s effectiveness decreases over time. People who got the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will probably also need a booster shot, but health officials said Wednesday, that they’re still collecting data because the federal rollout of that vaccine didn’t begin in the US until March. Like early rounds of vaccinations earlier this year, initial booster doses will go to people who were fully vaccinated first. They include healthcare workers and older Americans. Booster shots for now will also only be offered to Americans aged 18 and older. Officials are waiting on an FDA review before giving guidance on vaccinated people aged 12 to 17.
Taylor Wilson:
The move to offer boosters is not without criticism, particularly abroad. The World Health Organization has called for a booster shot moratorium to allow poorer under vaccinated countries to catch up. But Biden said the US will continue to ship huge amounts of vaccine doses around the world. He said the US will administer some 100 million booster shots to Americans in the coming months, but will donate more than 200 million doses abroad in that same timeframe.
Taylor Wilson:
At least 35 people are missing in North Carolina after Fred tore through the state on Wednesday. That’s in Haywood County, in the western part of the state, near Tennessee. The Pigeon River there is still flooding and around 100 people were rescued this week. The County’s Sheriff, Greg Christopher, also said that some homes in the area have been completely destroyed. Fred is next expected to move from Central Pennsylvania to Southern New York State, and then east onto New England. Behind it, Grace was upgraded to a hurricane on Wednesday in the Caribbean. It’s the second hurricane of the 2021 season and heading for Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a popular tourist destination. It could make landfall Thursday with up to a foot of rain.
Taylor Wilson:
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer continues to face a civil hearing this week. A woman has given more than nine hours of testimony in front of him. A warning, the following details are graphic. She says Bauer punched her face and vagina during a sexual encounter at his home in May. She then sought a temporary restraining order in June because she feared what he might do after he learned she went to the hospital with injuries, including scratches on her face and bruises on her buttocks. Bauer has not been arrested or charged. His representatives have said the encounter was consensual, and that she’s motivated to get a money settlement. They cited text messages between the two that show she was asking for rough sex. But the accuser said text messages don’t mean consent, and that she did not consent to bruises all over her body, or things done to her while unconscious. Pasadena, California Police and Major League Baseball are still investigating the matter. And Bauer has been on paid leave since July 2nd.
Taylor Wilson:
At the civil hearing, a judge will decide whether to erase the restraining order or extend it up to five years. Bauer has not yet spoken in the hearing. The question of whether or not he will, could be answered on Thursday. The woman’s legal team has said they will call Bauer to the stand, but his lawyer say he’ll decline using the Fifth Amendment.
Taylor Wilson:
Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, will make a big announcement on Thursday about the company. He’ll do so on CBS This Morning. And before his appearance, he already told host Gayle King, that the social media giant has removed some 18 million posts for misinformation about COVID-19. It’s been a profitable year for the company so far, but as Money and Tech Editor Brett Molina says, Facebook has its sights set well beyond 2021.
Brett Molina:
Facebook recently reported quarterly earnings and shocker, they made a ton of money. Specifically, as the Associated Press reports, second quarter profits doubled thanks to a massive increase in advertising revenue. More interesting though than the tons of money Facebook’s pulling in, are comments made by Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently, on the metaverse, which many people believe will ultimately replace the internet. In a conference call with analysts, Zuckerberg called the metaverse, the “next generation of the internet and next chapter for us as a company”, and he talked a little bit more about how he thinks the metaverse will create entirely new experiences, and new economic opportunities. So new ways to make money for Facebook.
Brett Molina:
But that’s not all, Zuckerberg has talked quite a bit about the metaverse in recent weeks. He conducted an interview with tech site, The Verge, where he explained his vision of what the metaverse looks like. “You can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content, you are in it. And you feel present with other people as if you were in other places, having different experiences that you couldn’t necessarily do on a 2D app or webpage, like dancing, for example, or different types of fitness.” We’ve already seen hints of what the metaverse might look like in various forms. For example, if you play the video game Fortnite, or if you know people that play Fortnite, they have hosted multiple live concerts within the game, featuring stars such as Marshmello and Travis Scott. And what happens is, players will log into the game as if they’re going to play and they’ll go attend this virtual event.
Brett Molina:
We’ve also seen other experiences do this too, Roblox, for example, has talked a lot about pushing into this area where it works kind of similarly, where players use their avatar and they go attend events that are within the Roblox universe. It’s a very interesting space. I think people are still trying to figure out what exactly the metaverse is. It’s definitely very different than what we’re used to. But again, a lot of people see this as the next step past the internet.
Taylor Wilson:
You can hear more of Brett on the Talking Tech podcast. Find the show wherever you’re listening right now. And same goes for 5 Things, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your pods. Thanks as always to Shannon Green and Claire Thornton, for their great work on the show. 5 Things is part of the USA TODAY Network.
source:usatoday.com
