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The Texas House of Representatives officially met quorum Thursday night over a month after state House Democrats fled the state in an attempt to prevent a GOP voting law from passing.

The Texas Constitution states that each chamber of the legislature must have two-thirds of its members present to do business. Enough house Democrats walked out of the house chamber at the end of the regular legislative session in May to break the quorum and prevent a GOP voting bill from passing.

 

Gov. Greg Abbott declared a special legislative session soon after, but a large coalition of house Democrats had already fled from the state to Washington, DC, in July to petition congressional leaders into passing election reform to no avail. Still, it was enough to prevent the house from ever meeting quorum and passing legislation in the first special session.

Abbott began a second special session on August 7, leading Speaker of the House Dade Phelan to issue a "Call of the House" order commanding representatives to return to the chamber at risk of detainment. No Democrats were ever arrested and each reentered the chamber of their own volition.

Now that a quorum in the house has been restored, the state legislature will begin debating and voting on legislation that fits Abbott's second session agenda which includes:

• Election and voting reform
  
  • Prohibits drive-through voting
  • Bans 24-hour voting sites
  • Prevents counties from sending out absentee ballots without a request
  • Lowers the threshold to overturn and challenge election results
• Banning transgender children from playing on a school sports team that corresponds with their gender identity
• Banning critical race theory from being taught 
• Re-funding the legislature and legislative staff 

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Around two dozen State Department officials warned last month that the US-backed Afghan government could collapse soon after the August 31 withdrawal of American forces, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The July 13 cable was sent via the department's dissent channel, where diplomats are invited to share constructive criticism of US policy, The Journal reported.

Although US intelligence had determined the Afghan government's grip on power was tenuous, few — dissenters included — expected it would fall even before US soldiers left the country. The sudden collapse, which saw the Taliban take over the capital, Kabul, this week, left thousands of US citizens and many more vulnerable Afghans stranded.

According to The Journal, the dissent cable had "offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and speed up an evacuation."

Ned Price, a spokesperson for the department, told Insider that each cable sent through the dissent channel is read by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"We value constructive internal dissent. It's patriotic. It's protected. And it makes us more effective," Price said. He did not comment on the contents of the dispatch itself.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

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An ally of former President Donald Trump who has been trying to bring an Arizona-style "forensic audit" to Pennsylvania says he's been thwarted by "the powers that be."

Earlier this summer, Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano sent letters to three Pennsylvania counties demanding materials related to the 2020 election. That came after the lawmaker endorsed a campaign led by QAnon conspiracy theorists to pursue a statewide "audit" over claims that China rigged the election for President Joe Biden — a campaign thus far rejected by Pennsylvania's GOP leaders.

Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes in what state and national officials, including those who worked for the Trump administration, described as an election that was "the most secure in American history."

In a video streamed on Facebook, Mastriano indicated Thursday that Republican leaders were standing in the way of his go-it-alone audit and blocking him from issuing subpoenas to elections officials in York, Philadelphia, and Tioga counties, all of whom have refused to comply with his previous requests. Local radio station WHYY suggested he needs quorum for his committee to meet.

"The powers that be made sure that didn't happen," Mastriano said in the video, as reported by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Mastriano is chair of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, which has subpoena power but does not oversee elections, the newspaper noted.

"I would say we're not in a very good spot right now," the lawmaker said in the video, which has since been deleted. "I put my name out there to get it done and I've been stopped for the time being."

Mastriano — who paid for buses to bring protesters to Washington, DC, on January 6 — added that he had "burned a lot of bridges," but also asserted that this latest obstacle was only a "momentary impediment."

Mastriano also claimed he had been the victim of "betrayal" from the leaders of the Audit the Vote PA, the group that has sought a statewide review, the Capital-Star reported. Its founders have promoted conspiracy theories such as PizzaGate, falsely accusing Democrats of running pedophile rings.

"I've warned these ladies — don't let it get to your head. Watch out for pride. Remember those who helped you get there," he said.

The cause, at least for now, "is weakened and diminished," he said.

The senator did not respond to a request for comment.

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

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Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert revealed this week that her husband earned nearly a million dollars over 2019 and 2020 for consulting work he did for an energy firm. 

The freshman Colorado congresswoman failed to disclose her husband's income, which was $478,000 in 2020 and $460,000 in 2019, during her campaign last year, the Associated Press first reported. This failure is a violation of ethics and campaign finance laws, which require candidates to disclose their spouse's and children's income or assets. 

"It is not common for members to not disclose their spouse's income because it's just a very clear requirement under the law," Kedric Payne, senior director of ethics for the Campaign Legal Center, told Insider. 

In her 2020 financial disclosure statement, Boebert said her income came from a restaurant, Shooters Grill, and smokehouse she owns with her husband, Jayson. She also listed "Boebert Consulting — spouse" and recorded her husband's source of income as "N/A," according to the AP. 

Payne said Boebert should provide a "very public explanation" of the discrepancy. He expects the Office of Congressional Ethics will open an inquiry if they have questions about whether the violation was intentional. The required disclosures are designed to ensure that the public can evaluate a candidate's potential conflicts of interest.

The energy industry is a major player in Colorado's vast 3rd Congressional District and Boebert, who sits on the House Natural Resources Committee, has taken aggressively pro-oil and -gas positions. She introduced legislation earlier this year seeking to reverse President Joe Biden's ban on oil and gas leasing and permitting on some federally-owned land. 

Her deputy chief of staff, Ben Stout, told the AP that Jayson Boebert "has worked in energy production for 18 years and has had Boebert Consulting since 2012."

But Boebert Consulting hasn't filed required regular reports to the state of Colorado and is classified as delinquent, The Washington Post reported. And there is no company called Terra Energy Productions registered in Colorado. There is a Texas firm called Terra Energy Partners, claiming to be "one of the largest producers of natural gas in Colorado." The congresswoman has previously said her husband is a drilling foreman on a natural gas rig and posted an Instagram photo of him wearing a "Terra" helmet in September 2020. 

It's unclear whether the congresswoman's failure to disclose her husband's work and income was intentional or accidental, but the matter could be investigated by congressional ethics officials. 

Boebert's office didn't respond to Insider's request for comment.

On Wednesday, the Federal Election Commission sent Boebert a letter demanding more information about four payments amounting to more than $6,000 that Boebert's campaign paid the congresswoman between May 3 and June 3. Stout told CNBC "the Venmo charges were personal expenses that were billed to the campaign account in error" and that Boebert has already reimbursed her campaign. 

"If it is determined that the disbursement(s) constitutes the personal use of campaign funds, the Commission may consider taking further legal action," Shannon Ringgold, an FEC analyst, wrote.

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Three senators, who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, announced on Thursday that they've tested positive for COVID-19.

Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, and Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado revealed their positive diagnoses in statements from their offices.

Wicker and Hickenlooper reported experiencing mild symptoms of the virus. King said that he'd been "mildly feverish."

King and Hickenlooper lauded the COVID-19 vaccine and encouraged people to get the shot if they had not already.

"While I am not feeling great, I am definitely feeling much better than I would have without the vaccine," King, 77, said in a statement.

Hickenlooper, 69, echoed the sentiment.

"I'm grateful for the vaccine (and the scientists behind it) for limiting my symptoms," he said.

The senators said they are self-isolating and following the medical advice of their doctors. 

The breakthrough infections come as the Senate is out of session this week. Senators left for recess following extensive legislative debate to advance Democrats' $3.5 trillion social infrastructure package. The chamber is due to return on September 13.

Earlier this month, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina became the first fully-vaccinated senator to publicly report a breakthrough infection.

The Republican lawmaker recovered from mild symptoms and returned to the Senate after quarantining for 10 days. 

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OnlyFans said it plans to block its users from posting sexually explicit content on its site.

The company said on Thursday that it would implement the new policy in October, Bloomberg first reported. The company told Insider it will share more on the policy in the coming days.

"In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of our platform, and to continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines," the company said in a statement. "These changes are to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers."

OnlyFans will still allow users to post nude photos and videos, so long as they do not violate OnlyFans' acceptable use policy, which bars users from posting illegal content, including footage of minors or content that is not their own.

The decision to ban sexually explicit content reflects a major branding change for the site that has gained much of its success from pornographic content. To date, the site hosts over 130 million users and has paid creators over $5 billion since it was created in 2016.

The decision could affect over 2 million creators who use the site, the company's numbers indicated. It's unknown exactly what share of creators make money solely from explicit content. The site has long been known as a source of income for sex workers, especially during the pandemic when many had to pivot from in-person roles.

In recent months, OnlyFans has faced difficulty drumming up investor interest, a report from Axios said. The decision to eliminate sexually explicit content could help the platform lure in investors who may be wary of the site's NSFW brand.

It's not the first time the platform has attempted to shift its image away from pornographic content to cater to more mainstream celebrities and creators as opposed to sex workers. On Tuesday, OnlyFans launched a free streaming service called OFTV, an on-demand site that focuses on topics such as fitness and cooking instead of sexually explicit content.

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Capitol Police investigated a report of an explosive device outside the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, on Thursday. A suspect surrendered to law-enforcement officials at about 2:20 p.m. and was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff, the police said.

Officers evacuated the area around the building, near the US Capitol and the Supreme Court, shortly after 9 a.m. in response to what they said was a suspicious device in a pickup truck.

"This is an active bomb threat investigation," the Capitol Police tweeted at about 10:30 a.m. "Please continue to avoid the area around the Library of Congress."

The Metropolitan Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the FBI assisted. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she'd been briefed on the situation and advised people to avoid the area.

Law-enforcement officials had told The Associated Press they were determining whether the device in the truck was an "operable explosive" and whether the man was holding a detonator.

Officials told NBC News they had not identified anything resembling an explosive device in the truck. They told NBC the driver had said he had explosives and was writing on a dry-erase board to communicate with officials.

"Around 9:15 this morning, a man in a black pickup truck drove onto the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress," Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said in a news conference at about noon.

"We responded to a disturbance call," Manger said. "The driver of the truck told the responding officer on the scene that he had a bomb and what appeared, the officer said, appeared to be a detonator in the man's hand."

Manger added: "We're trying to get as much information as we can to find a way to peacefully resolve this. We are in communication with the suspect."

Manger said officials had not determined a motive. Law-enforcement officials identified the suspect as Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, believed to be from Grover, North Carolina.

The man had livestreamed himself on Facebook expressing anti-government views, officials and reporters said, but the video and his account appeared to have been taken down on Thursday. "I'm ready to die for the cause," he said in a clip that HuffPost's Ryan Reilly tweeted.

Capitol Police set up a perimeter around the Capitol, and congressional staffers were asked to shelter in their offices. The Cannon House Office Building and the Library of Congress' Jefferson and Madison buildings were evacuated, Capitol Hill reporters said.

Congress is not in session this week, meaning most lawmakers are not in the city, though people are still working in the buildings.

"Due to the nature of the incident, this will likely be a prolonged law enforcement response," the House's sergeant-at-arms, William Walker, told staffers.

The Republican National Committee building near the Capitol was evacuated as well, The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey reported. The Supreme Court was evacuated, CNN said.

Washington, DC, has been on high alert since rioters stormed the Capitol complex on January 6, resulting in numerous injuries and several deaths.

That day, two pipe bombs were found outside the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees. No one got hurt, though the identity of the person who planted the devices remains unknown, and the FBI has called on the public to come forward with details.

This story is developing and will continue to be updated.

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The University of Virginia has disenrolled 242 students for the upcoming semester because they are not vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Charlottesville CBS affiliate WCAV. 

These students amount to roughly 1% of the school's student body, she noted. The institution has previously warned students they may risk disenrollment if they fail to get vaccinated or submit a request for exemption. 

Only 49 of the 242 disenrolled students had actually registered for on-campus classes this fall. 

In April of this year, the state's Attorney General officially decided Virginia colleges and universities "may condition in-person attendance on receipt of an approved COVID-19 vaccine" during the pandemic, according to a statement from the Attorney General's office. 

Currently, 55.3% of the total population of Virginia is fully vaccinated, while 62.5% of the population has had at least one dose of the COVID-19 shot, according to the Virginia Department of Health. 

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For the second year in a row, enormous wildfires are creating clouds of smoke big enough to generate their own weather, blanket entire continents, and turn faraway skies orange or grey.

Smoke is billowing from blazes in the western US, Canada, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Algeria, and Siberia — so much, in fact, that astronauts on the space station can see it. The wildfires in California and Oregon have darkened skies and led to air-quality warnings in New York City and Boston, as they did last summer. The Siberian fires, meanwhile, have sent clouds of smoke and ash to the North Pole, nearly 2,000 miles away, then down to Canada and Greenland.

Each time a big fire burns, its smoke can rise high in the atmosphere, where winds can catch it and carry it for thousands of miles until it hits a weather system that pushes it back towards the ground. That's when it poses a health risk. Many people see wildfires as a local problem — a danger to people in Greece or California, say, but not for them personally. That's incorrect, according to environmental epidemiologist Jesse Berman.

"Every one of these wildfire events is an opportunity for that smoke to travel long distances and affect not only the people nearby, but also those very far away," Berman told Insider. "People who live in areas that have relatively good air quality are going to be all of a sudden subjected to levels of pollution that are many times higher than what's normally seen, and at levels that are very harmful to health."

These mega-clouds of world-traveling smoke may become a regular, annual occurrence, according to Berman — "if not multiple times every single year," he said.

Climate change is expected to lead to more frequent, larger, more intense wildfires in the coming decades. A new report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that "fire weather" will probably increase through 2050 in North America, Central America, parts of South America, the Mediterranean, southern Africa, north Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. That means more days where conditions are warm, dry, and windy enough to trigger and sustain wildfires.

The amount of fuel available to burn in those places — dry vegetation — is also likely to increase as rising temperatures cause the air to absorb more moisture and bring about more droughts.

"When these events cover hundreds or thousands of miles, everybody is at risk," Berman said. "It doesn't matter where you're living. You can be affected by these events the same as anyone else."

Particles in wildfire smoke can strain your lungs, heart, and immune system

Wherever it goes, wildfire smoke fills the air with microscopic particles from the material that has burned and the resulting chemical reactions.

Known as PM2.5, these particles measure no more than 2.5 micrometers across (that's about 30 times smaller than a human hair), allowing them to penetrate deep into your lungs and enter your bloodstream. When you inhale these particles — as millions of people have in the last year — they can damage the lining of your lungs and cause inflammation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that smoke can "make you more prone to lung infections" including COVID-19, since any breach in the lungs' lining offers more opportunities for a virus to infiltrate.

Indeed, a recent study linked about 19,000 cases of COVID-19 on the West Coast to wildfire smoke last summer. The paper, published last week, found a correlation between high levels of PM2.5 pollution and spikes in coronavirus cases in counties across California, Oregon, and Washington.

Experts suspected as much. Previous research had already shown that wildfire smoke leaves people more vulnerable to disease. In the short term, smoke can irritate the eyes and lungs and cause wheezing, coughs, or difficulty breathing, even in healthy people. Longer-term studies have connected PM2.5 pollution to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and premature death. PM2.5 particles can also impair the immune system, possibly by disabling immune cells in the lungs.

Wildfire smoke can have the most severe effects on people who are already highly vulnerable to COVID-19: the elderly, children (many of whom are unvaccinated against the coronavirus), and people with asthma or chronic lung disease.

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Protests defying Taliban rule spread to cities across Afghanistan on Thursday.

According to Reuters, witnesses said several people were killed when Taliban fighters opened fire on a crowd in Asadabad, in the eastern province of Kunar.  

"Hundreds of people came out on the streets," witness Mohammed Salim told the news outlet.

In Jalalabad, witnesses and media said militants also fired at protesters and killed three, according to the report.   

"Salute those who carry the national flag and thus stand for dignity of the nation," said Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan's former vice president, who declared himself the acting president of the country after former president Ashraf Ghani fled, the report said.  

The protests come as many across the country celebrate Afghanistan's Independence Day on Thursday, where crowds in Kabul waved the country's black, red and green flag in the face of Taliban soldiers, who use a white and black flag. 

A crowd of men and women waving the national flag in Kabul was seen in videos on social media chanting, "Our flag, our identity," Reuters said. 

The militant group, however, used the day to declare the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the same name it used during its harsh regime from 1996 to 2001.

Trying to rebrand, the Taliban have sought to ensure people that they are more moderate and less violent than they were in the past, though the claims have been met with significant skepticism. 

During a Wednesday protest in Jalalabad, militants opened fire on a protest, killing several. Just the day before, a Taliban spokesperson promised no one in Afghanistan would be harmed. 

Scenes of protest and defiance in some cities were matched by scenes of fear and desperation outside the Kabul airport, where massive crowds attempt to make it onto a civilian or military evacuation flight.  

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The Bay Area real estate market may be hot, but one property was especially so.

In spite of being "stripped to the studs" because of a two-alarm fire last year, a four-bedroom, two-bath house in Walnut Creek, California, closed for $1 million, just two weeks after it was listed for $850,000, Realtor Melinda Byrne of Key Realty told Insider.

"This one is ready to start fresh," the listing said. "Opportunities like this are rare to make dramatic changes to a home and floor plan."

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"Great neighborhood, large lot, and close to shopping and conveniences," it continued. "Bring your contractor, architect, and designer: this is more than a fixer."

Byrne said she had thirteen offers before she could mark the listing "pending," and that was still getting requests from buyers who wanted a spot on the backup list. The property is no longer available.

The median list price in Walnut Creek — about 28 miles east of San Francisco — is $1.2 million, according to Redfin, but Byrne said houses routinely go for $2.1 million, depending on size and condition.

As the daughter of a contractor, Byrne said the property is actually a better bargain than it might first appear, due to the location and the fact that the mid-century floor-plan is in need of a significant update.

"Fixer-uppers usually have walls," she said. "In the case of this property, it's literally transparent."

With a good school system, lots of local shops, access to recreational trails, and an hour's drive to San Francisco, suburbs like Walnut Creek are seeing extraordinary demand over the past year.

Byrne said listings are now down 50% compared with 2020, and that there is effectively zero available inventory in her market — the one house for sale already has three offers.

Previously in June, a heavily vandalized "house from hell" in Colorado Springs was listed for $590,000 and got 72 offers in five days. Both are signs that buyers are willing to look past severe defects in order to get their hands on a promising property in an unprecedentedly tight market.

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Governments around the world are deciding whether or not to accept the Taliban as a legitimate government after the terrorist-affiliated group seized control of Afghanistan. Now, social media companies are racing to decide, too. 

Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are enforcing varied bans against Taliban content on their platforms. But as the extremist group attempts to use social media as a means of governance — instead of glorifying violent content — the rules aren't clear as to who or what should be banned from the sites. 

According to a New York Times report, the social media bans currently in place have not stopped the extremist group from growing their audience online. An analysis conducted by the Times found that over 100 new pro-Taliban accounts have popped up across Twitter and Facebook since August 9. 

Followers of the Taliban's official Facebook pages have grown by 120% to 49,000 users, and tens of thousands of users are viewing the group's YouTube videos, the Times reported on Wednesday. On Twitter, Taliban videos amassed half a million views in one day.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has over 300,000 followers on Twitter, his bio reading: "Member of Negotiations Team and Polit. Office Spokesman for International Media." Mujahid easily circumnavigated Facebook's ban of his WhatsApp account by connecting with journalists through the account of a fellow Taliban leader, the Times said. 

A Facebook spokesperson told Insider the company was "proactively" taking down content praising the Taliban, and that it had deployed a team of Afghanistan experts to monitor the situation.

Across platforms, Taliban-related users are avoiding posting content that explicitly breaks platform rules such as "the glorification of violence" and "hateful conduct" in order to avoid getting kicked off. 

Ayman Aziz, a researcher who studies Afghanistan and Pakistan, told NYT that social media's current approach toward moderating the Taliban has allowed the group to grow a "new regime" online. 

"The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving," a Twitter spokesperson told Insider. "We're also witnessing people in the country using Twitter to seek help and assistance. Twitter's top priority is keeping people safe, and we remain vigilant."

On Tuesday, a YouTube spokesperson told Insider that all accounts believed to be owned or operated by the Taliban would be terminated from the platform, and said this was a longstanding policy.

"The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under US law and they are banned from our services under our Dangerous Organization policies. This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them," a Facebook spokesperson told Insider.

"Facebook does not make decisions about the recognized government in any particular country but instead respects the authority of the international community in making these determinations. Regardless of who holds power, we will take the appropriate action against accounts and content that breaks our rules."

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Macy's has seen an uptick in toy sales during the coronavirus pandemic, and the department store chain is doubling down on the trend by partnering with iconic toy retailer Toys 'R' Us, expanding its footprint in the toy market.

Macy announced Thursday it plans to include in-store Toys 'R' Us shops in over 400 of its locations by next year with access to the toy giant's private brands. Toysrus.com, now powered by Macy's, is currently online with an assortment of toy collections just in time for the 2021 holiday season. The news is especially exciting for nostalgic Millennials, who remember growing up with the toy brand at its peak.

"Our partnership with Macy's marks the greatly anticipated return of Toys"R"Us in the US," said Yehuda Shmidman, chairman & CEO of WHP Global and Toys "R" Us. Macy's partnered with brand management company WHP Global to revive the stores.

During its second quarter earnings call, Macy's revealed it was reviving Toys 'R' Us after seeing a "standout" performance in toy sales at their discounted Macy's Backstage stores. 

Macy's expects to quintuple the size of its toy business through this partnership, CEO Jeff Gennette said in the earnings call on Thursday.

"Our toy business grew exponentially for Macy's in the past year," said Nata Dvir, Macy's chief merchandising officer. "Our partnership allows Macy's to significantly expand our footprint in that category."

Toys 'R' Us shuttered in 2017 after failing to refinance its rising debt, with its last two stores closing at the beginning of 2021. In March, WHP Global acquired controlling stakes in Toys 'R' Us parent company Tru Kids Brands, which bought out the toy company in 2019.

The partnership and in-store integration also signals a reinvestment in the brick-and-mortar retail model, even after Macy's itself announced it was closing 45 stores at the beginning of this year. In-store retail sales were especially hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some retailers transitioning to eCommerce models. 

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A Colorado man who said he traveled to Afghanistan to help his sick father described in an interview with a local news station how a soldier attacked him amid this week's chaos at the airport in Kabul.

Haroon Zarify told Denver7 that he went to Kabul with his family so that he could take his father, who is sick, to India.

"Some people think we went for vacation, that we deserve this," Zarify said.

Zarify said he and his family made their way to the airport after Taliban forces began entering the city. Videos have shown people storming the tarmac at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in recent days to try and board planes as they leave the country.

Amid that chaos, Zarify was attacked by a soldier, he told Denver7. It's unclear which forces the soldier was with.

"He broke my phone because I was checking a video, he just crushed and hit it on the ground," Zarify told the news station. "Then he kicked me and I was like 'OK, I can't do anything.'"

He added that he didn't feel safe enough to tell the soldier he was a permanent American resident because of the crowds around him.

"I cannot tell them I am an American and I'm a permanent resident of America," Zarify said. "I cannot say that because there's a lot of people around me, how do I know who they are? So, it's about the trust. I cannot trust anyone."

President Joe Biden on Wednesday defended the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, telling ABC News' George Stephanopoulos there was no way to pull troops out without "ensuing chaos." He also said Wednesday that US forces may stay in Afghanistan longer than the August 31 withdrawal deadline to help Americans leave the country. 

Zarify begged the Biden administration to help his family flee the country, telling Denver7 that he has been trying to talk to someone about helping his family evacuate, but hasn't able to reach anyone for two days. 

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Shortly after departure from New York on May 24, a JetBlue passenger was accused of throwing his carry-on luggage, lying down in the aisle and refusing to get up, and grabbing a flight attendant by the ankles and sticking his head up her skirt.

After the crew restrained him with zip-ties, the plane made an emergency landing in Richmond, Virginia, where he was removed.

He may be fined $45,000, according to the latest announcement of proposed civil penalties released today from the Federal Aviation Administration.

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The JetBlue passenger was just one of 34 against whom the FAA proposed fines against on Thursday for a total of $531,545, bringing the total for 2021 to more than $1 million.

The FAA report is a litany of the antisocial behavior that flight crews across the US have been tasked with managing during an already difficult year.

Another JetBlue passenger on a cross-country flight was accused of refusing to comply with the mask mandate, assaulting passengers, and snorting "what appeared to be cocaine from a plastic bag" before the flight was diverted to Minneapolis, where he was removed by law enforcement. He received a $42,000 fine.

While the vast majority of incidents were with male passengers, some women behaved badly too. One woman was accused of intentionally bumping into a seated passenger, then punching that passenger in the face when they protested.

Another woman was accused of throwing corn nuts at passengers and crew and shoving her middle fingers in the faces of crew members who asked her to stop.

Several passengers received $13,000 fines for incidents that included their refusal to stop drinking alcohol that the airline did not serve them.

On an Alaskan Airlines flight, one man was alleged to have harassed the crew and "acted as though his hand was a gun and made a 'pew-pew' noise as if he was shooting a fellow passenger." He was kicked off the flight and received a $10,000 fine.

Interfering with aircraft crew is against Federal law, as is physically assaulting or threatening assault crew or anyone else on an aircraft. Penalties can include fines and prison time if a person is found guilty. Passengers have 30 days to respond after the agency notifies them of an enforcement decision.

The FAA said it had received nearly 4,000 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, including nearly 3,000 passengers refusing to wear a mask properly.

Flight attendants from several major US carriers previously told Insider's Allana Akhtar that they'd experienced increased levels of aggression from passengers this year. Others report having been punched, groped, spat at, and verbally abused by passengers for doing their jobs.

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The Delta variant has thrown a wrench in the US's pandemic exit plan. Delta now accounts for more than 90% of cases in the US after spurring a dramatic surge in infections and hospitalizations over the last two months. A growing number of breakthrough cases has led to questions about how well COVID-19 vaccines hold up against the variant. 

Some research shows that the Delta variant can partially evade vaccine-induced antibodies, which means vaccinated people have lower levels of antibodies that can protect against Delta compared to other variants.

So Insider reviewed more than a dozen studies and releases from vaccine makers, public-health organizations, and researchers across several countries to parse out how well the vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca work against Delta.

The results are promising. While vaccine effectiveness against infection is declining over time, protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death remains high.

"We have been fortunate to have safe and effective vaccines that offer outstanding protection against the worst outcomes of this virus — severe disease, hospitalization, and death," Vivek Murthy, the US Surgeon General, said in a White House briefing on Wednesday. 

The chart below summarizes what we know so far.

 

Vaccines prevent hospitalization and death

Our understanding of how well shots stack up against Delta is changing with time, which is why the chart above lists large ranges for some types of protection. Research completed in the spring suggested a higher level of vaccine protection against Delta than the data from the last few months.

More comprehensive data is available for Pfizer and AstraZeneca, because public-health agencies in Israel and the UK — where these shots dominate — are constantly surveilling clinical outcomes among their populations.

A May analysis from Public Health England found that Pfizer's and AstraZeneca's vaccines were 88% and 60% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, respectively. However, a study from Israel using data collected in June and July found that two Pfizer doses were only 64% effective at preventing infection and symptomatic illness.

Both of these studies, though, found that the vaccines were more than 90% effective in preventing hospitalization. And the Israeli data found Pfizer's shot to be 93% effective against severe disease.

The vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson showed similarly strong performance against the worst outcomes associated with Delta, though the shots are less studied thus far. 

One Canadian study, which has not been peer-reviewed, suggested Moderna's vaccine is 72% effective against a symptomatic Delta infection after just one dose. Johnson & Johnson's shot, meanwhile, is 71% effective against hospitalization from Delta, and up to 95% effective in preventing death, Yale Medicine reported. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unvaccinated people are about twice as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than vaccinated people. The unvaccinated have accounted for about 97% of hospitalizations in the US in this recent surge. More than 1,900 children — many of whom are too young to be vaccinated — have been hospitalized with COVID-19. 

In the last month, the average number of new daily cases in the US has more than quadrupled, from about 32,300 on July 18 to 140,900 on Wednesday. About 99.5% of new cases are among the unvaccinated.

Vaccine effectiveness is waning over time, which is why the US plans to roll out boosters

The Delta variant isn't the only reason vaccine protection seems a little weaker than it was a few months ago, though.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday that rising rates of breakthrough cases are " likely due to both waning immunity and the strength of the widespread Delta variant." 

Think of it as a one-two punch.

Indeed, researchers have found that protection against a mild or moderate coronavirus infection decreases over time. For example, data from the Israeli Health Ministry showed that Pfizer's vaccine was 75% effective against infection in people who'd gotten their shots in April, whereas that protection dropped to 16% in those who got the vaccine in January.

A University of Oxford study published Thursday looked at people who had breakthrough infections with high viral loads — meaning more virus in their test samples, a metric linked to higher infectiousness. The results showed Pfizer's shot was 92% effective in preventing infection with a high viral load two weeks after the second dose, but 78% at the three-month mark. AstraZeneca's effectiveness fell from 69% to 61% during the same time frame.

Such findings, coupled with recent data from Pfizer suggesting a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine boosts protection against the Delta variant, informed the Biden administration's decision to recommend booster shots after eight months. The Pfizer data showed that a third shot produced five to eight times more antibodies against the Delta variant.

If the Food and Drug Administration authorizes booster shots in the coming weeks, the US booster campaign will begin September 20 for people who received Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. People who got the J&J shot will probably need boosters too, but officials are still evaluating data for that vaccine.

Andrew Dunn contributed reporting. 

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US military fighter jets are flying armed overwatch missions over Kabul as US forces continue round-the-clock evacuations, defense officials said at the Pentagon Thursday.

In the last 24 hours, "F/A-18s from the Ronald Reagan carrier strike group flew armed overwatch flights over Kabul to ensure enhanced security," US Army Maj. Gen. William "Hank" Taylor, the Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations, told reporters.

"We maintain a watchful eye and are continuously conducting in-depth assessments to protect the safety of Americans," he said. "We will use all of the tools in our arsenal to achieve this goal."

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that these flights were not low-pass flights or shows of force, but were, instead, at-altitude overwatch missions in line with those conducted as the US steadily withdrew its forces.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan arrived in the US Central Command area in late June to support the withdrawal.

The Navy said at the time that the carrier "provide airpower to protect US and coalition forces as they conduct drawdown operations from Afghanistan."

"Force protection is a high priority," Kirby said Thursday. "We're going to have at our disposal all the assets and resources necessary to make sure we can accomplish this mission safely and efficiently just like we were accomplishing the previous mission of drawdown safely and efficiently."

"The Ronald Reagan has been there providing support," Taylor said. "These F/A-18s are flying more than just yesterday."

Asked if the US was prepared to conduct airstrikes in Kabul, Kirby said that he "is not going to talk about potential future operations." He did, however, say that "we've made it very clear to the Taliban that any attack upon our people in our operations at the airport would be met with a forceful response."

The US has been working to evacuate US personnel and Afghan partners and their families following the capitulation of the Afghan armed forces and the collapse of the Afghan government in the face of a sweeping Taliban offensive that reached Kabul on Sunday.

The US has more than 5,200 troops on the ground providing security and supporting the ongoing evacuation operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in the Afghan capital. So far, roughly 7,000 evacuees have been moved out of Afghanistan.

"We're ready to increase throughput," Taylor said. The Pentagon has indicated that it hopes to ramp up operations to the point that it could move as many as 5,000 to 9,000 people out per day.

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Starlink satellites will ultimately be involved in 9 in 10 near misses between spacecraft that are orbiting Earth, a scientist and space debris expert has predicted.

Once the "megaconstellation" of Starlink satellites has reached its intended size of 12,000, it will be responsible for 90% of these close encounters, research by Hugh Lewis, of the University of Southampton, published by Space.com, suggests.

Starlink, which is owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, aims to create "the world's most advanced broadband internet system." It has already launched around 1,700 satellites into Earth orbit, which are responsible for about half of all near misses presently, Professor Lewis' research suggests.

Near misses in Earth orbit occur when two spacecraft pass within 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of each other. With a rapidly growing number of satellites being sent into orbit, scientists are concerned about the increased likelihood of collisions, and the potential for a chain reaction that leads to multiple collisions.

Lewis examined data from the Satellite Orbital Conjunction Reports Assessing Threatening Encounters in Space (Socrates) database, which tracks satellite orbits and models their trajectory to assess collision risk. He looked at data back to May 2019, when Starlink launched its first batch of satellites.

Lewis said that Starlink satellites were responsible for 1,600 close encounters between two spacecraft a week. Excluding near misses involving two Starlink satellites, the figure was 500, he said.

He told Space.com that the number of encounters picked up by the Socrates database "has more than doubled and now we are in a situation where Starlink accounts for half of all encounters."

OneWeb, a Starlink competitor, has 250 satellites in orbit, which are involved in 80 near misses with other operators' satellites each week, according to data that Lewis provided to Space.com.

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A small Afghan girl was lifted from a crowd over a high fence along the perimeter of the Kabul airport and into the hands of US soldiers, highlighting the sense of urgency and desperation of many trying to flee a new Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

The scene was filmed and shared on social media, Reuters reported. American soldiers are stationed at the airport to prevent scenes of chaos as military and civilian evacuation flights continue.

According to the report, it wasn't immediately clear if the girl was reunited with her family on the other side of the fence. Though many Afghans and foreigners were able to successfully flee the country, massive crowds outside the airport are a reminder that scores are still trapped.

Thursday marked Afghanistan's Independence Day, which featured crowds of people in Kabul chanting and waving flags in defiance of the Taliban.

The militant group used the occasion to declare the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the same name it used during its strict regime from 1996 to 2001.

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