Good morning. It's Thursday, June 24, and we're covering the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, a First Amendment ruling at the Supreme Court, and much more. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Breaking news: A 12-story condo building north of Miami Beach partially collapsed early this morning, prompting a massive search and rescue response. The building was reportedly occupied at the time, but details on the number of injuries and deaths, if any, were not available as of this writing. See updates here.

Afghanistan on the Brink

The Afghanistan government could potentially collapse as soon as six months after US and international forces complete their withdrawal, according to sources familiar with a new US intelligence assessment. The reports come ahead of a Friday meeting between President Joe Biden and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. 

Biden pledged in April that US troops—minus diplomatic security and potentially some special forces units—would be fully withdrawn by Sept. 11. To date, roughly half of the 3,500 troops and their equipment have been pulled out. Amid the winddown, numerous reports have surfaced of Afghan troops surrendering to Taliban fighters. Monday, the Taliban took control of a key district in the northern Kunduz province and are said to be on the verge of capturing the provincial capital. 

See a map of who controls which areas in the country here.

Court Backs Swearing Cheerleader

The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 yesterday that a Pennsylvania high school erred in punishing a student over a profane social media post created and shared off school grounds. The case has broad implications for the degree to which educational institutions may punish students for objectionable speech. 

The case focused on a 2017 incident in which then 14-year-old Brandi Levy posted a profanity-laced message to Snapchat after failing to make the varsity cheerleading team. Despite only being seen by roughly 250 followers (and disappearing within a day), Levy was suspended from the junior varsity team for one year after coaches were alerted to the post. American Civil Liberties Union lawyers argued the punishment violated Levy's First Amendment rights, while the school district argued responding to off-campus, school-related speech was necessary. The decision came with a caveat—the court concluded schools have a compelling interest to regulate speech such as bullying and threats.

Separately, the court ruled 6-3 against a 1975 California law that had allowed union organizers access to private farms to meet with employees. 

Apple Daily Closes

Hong Kong's last remaining pro-democracy newspaper will publish its final edition today, the latest casualty in a broad crackdown on dissent by pro-Beijing officials in the city. The closure of Apple Daily comes one week after five of the paper's top staff were arrested during morning police raids at their homes. More than $2M in funds from the paper and its parent company were also frozen. 

City officials allege the paper colluded with foreign powers to undermine the Chinese government. Reportedly at issue were a series of articles dating back to 2019 which referenced the imposition of sanctions against Beijing for its stifling of pro-democracy protests over the past two years. 

The paper's closure is the biggest attempt by China to silence government criticism in the press since the passage of a controversial national security bill last year. Critics of the bill said broadly defined laws against subversion and sedition gave the government carte blanche to silence opposing views. 

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Carli Lloyd, 39, becomes oldest women's soccer player on Team USA's Olympic team (More) | Kevin Durant highlights Team USA's Olympic basketball team (More)

> NFL looking for media partners, including selling a stake of NFL Network and NFL RedZone, as it looks to expand its reach (More)

> Britney Spears asks judge to end conservatorship she's lived under for the past 13 years; Spears calls relationship with father "abusive" (More)

Science & Technology

> CDC finds likely link between rare heart inflammation in teens and mRNA COVID-19 vaccines; about 13 cases per million doses have been observed, with nine total reported hospitalizations (More) | Researcher finds genetic sequences were deleted from early analysis of the COVID-19 virus strains found in Wuhan, China (More)

> Researchers potentially identify a protein responsible for migratory birds' ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field; how animal magnetoreception works remains one of the biggest questions in biology (More)

> National Institutes of Health proposes $6.5B institute focused on accelerating high-risk, high-reward biomedical innovations; ARPA-H would be modeled after Defense Department's DARPA (More)

Business & Markets

Brought to you by The Ascent

> Antivirus software founder John McAfee dies by suicide in Spanish jail; earlier yesterday, a Spanish court ordered McAfee to be extradited to the US to face charges including fraud (More)

> Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett donates $4.1B, announces he will step down as trustee from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Buffett now 50% toward goal of giving away all of his Berkshire shares to charity (More) | Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly to step down from post next February (More)

> Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac see shares tumble more than 30% after Supreme Court ruling likely limits their return to private enterprise after 12 years of government control (More)

From our partners: Kickstart your journey to financial success. The Ascent's Personal Finance Bootcamp is designed to make personal finance decisions easier and more transparent. Sign up for free and be on your way to a smarter, happier, and richer life.

Politics & World Affairs

> White House agrees to terms on an outline of a bipartisan infrastructure deal, according to reports; package costs $1.2T over eight years, with at least $559B in new spending (More)

> Vice President Kamala Harris to make first visit to the US-Mexico border amid criticism the administration is ignoring surging levels of migrants (More) | Border Patrol reports more than 180,000 encounters in May, the highest total in two decades (More)

> Democratic Socialist India Walton upsets four-term incumbent Mayor Byron Brown in Buffalo, New York, Democratic primaries; Walton could potentially become the first major-city Socialist mayor in decades (More)

IN-DEPTH

The Boat That Broke the World

Wired UK | Alex Christian. The untold story of the Ever Given, which brought a large fraction of global trade to standstill when it wedged itself in the Suez Canal. (Read)

Hitched and Ditched

BBC | Jonah Fisher. Charity worker James uprooted his life in England to be with his fiancé in Ukraine—only to end up in a sham marriage to the wedding planner and out $250K. (Read)

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ETCETERA

Animated map reveals two decades of US droughts.

A 99-year-old veteran finally receives a purple heart.  

Customer tips restaurant staff $16K after a "really rough year." 

The 29 best planets for aliens to observe Earth.

After HBO MAX email gaffe, #DearIntern meme goes viral.

Forty escaped cows cause havoc in California.

Dating shows are running out of twists.

California's water tastes like dirt; officials say, "add lemons."

Clickbait: It's becoming difficult to ignore the elephant in the room.

Bonus Clickbait: Pope Francis meets Spiderman.

Historybook: Boxing great Jack Dempsey born (1895); First exhibit by Pablo Picasso opens in Paris (1901); HBD actress Mindy Kaling (1979); RIP comedian Jackie Gleason (1987); HBD soccer star Lionel Messi (1987).

"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't."

- Jack Dempsey

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