Good morning. It's Tuesday, Aug. 31, and America's war in Afghanistan comes to an end as the final evacuation flights depart the country. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Final Departure

The last US evacuation flights from Afghanistan finished yesterday afternoon, meeting the Biden administration's Aug. 31 deadline for a full withdrawal. The exit, a symbolic end to America's two-decade war in the country, follows a furious effort to evacuate Americans and eligible Afghan citizens since the Taliban seized control Aug. 15. 

The number of Americans remaining is difficult to estimate. State Department officials said Sunday that roughly 250 US citizens who wanted to evacuate were stuck in the country, along with thousands of Afghan citizens. Military officials said no Americans were on the final five flights.

President Joe Biden has stuck to today's deadline despite bipartisan criticism; his administration says 122,000 people have been evacuated by US forces since mid-August (see breakdown), including 5,600 Americans.  

Despite the deadline, the US and 97 other nations announced a deal with the Taliban, who claimed they would allow safe passage of citizens and Afghan allies out of the country in the future. 

See a timeline of the war in Afghanistan here.

Theranos Trial Begins

Jury selection in the criminal trial of Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of the blood-testing startup Theranos, begins today in a San Jose, California, courtroom. The 37-year-old Holmes faces allegations of defrauding investors and patients by intentionally misrepresenting the capabilities of her company's diagnostics machines.

Theranos, started by a then 19-year-old Holmes, marked one of Silicon Valley's biggest scandals in recent memory. The Stanford dropout raised more than $700M from investors, promising to develop machines capable of cheap, comprehensive, and highly accurate blood tests via a single finger prick.

Despite reaching a $9B valuation, and tremendous public hype, the machines failed to generate remotely accurate data in many cases. Holmes and ex-boyfriend Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani increasingly tried to cover up results—including using diluted samples in other commercially available equipment. Many patients reported erroneous results, including false-positive tests for HIV, diabetes, and miscarriages.

Take a deeper dive into the Theranos saga in this "60 Minutes" segment.

Ida's Aftermath

More than 1 million people in Louisiana remain without power this morning, one day after Hurricane Ida wiped out transmission lines in the city of New Orleans. Officials say it could take weeks to fully restore power across the city. The total extent of damage is still being assessed; see photos of the aftermath here.

Four deaths—two in Louisiana, two in Mississippi—have been reported as of this morning, though state officials said they expected the death toll to rise considerably in the coming days. In Mississippi, the deaths came after a highway collapsed under heavy rain. 

The storm brought heavy rains and tornado threats across the Mid-South overnight and is expected to impact the Mid-Atlantic and lower Northeast through the end of the week (see trajectory). 

In the Pacific, Hurricane Nora left one person dead and seven others missing as it crawled up Mexico's west coast yesterday.

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Paralympics: American swimmer Mallory Weggemann breaks record in 100-meter backstroke to win second gold medal of the Games (More) | China has big lead in medal count with 127; Great Britain is second with 73 (More)

> "Candyman" leads US domestic box office with a $20.4M opening weekend, making Nia DaCosta first Black female director to debut a film to top of box office (More)

> Kanye West's "Donda" tops Olivia Rodrigo's "Sour" to become 2021's most streamed album in 24-hour period on Spotify (More)

Science & Technology

Brought to you by Eight Sleep

> Israeli COVID-19 study suggests those previously infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus were six to 13 times more resistant to the delta variant than uninfected but vaccinated patients; health officials still urge vaccinations for the previously infected (More)

> Rewarding life experiences are replayed and consolidated by the brain during sleep, neurological study finds (More)

> Researchers finish the most complete genetic analysis of the bowfin fish to date; considered a "living fossil," the bowfin is the last surviving member of a fish family dating back to the Jurassic period (More)

From our partner: Do you sleep hot or cold? There’s a new way to sleep at the perfect temperature for you, all night long: the Pod Pro Cover by Eight Sleep. It's the most innovative solution on the market, controlling the temperature of your bed to help you sleep better and more restfully. Save $150 on the Pod Pro Cover today.

Business & Markets

> Videoconferencing giant Zoom beats earnings expectations and tops $1B in quarterly revenue, but shows signs of slowing growth; shares down double-digits in after-hours trading (More)

> Shares of Robinhood, the free stock trading provider, drop 7% after news PayPal may start an online brokerage and regulators may ban payment for order flow, which accounts for majority of company’s revenue (More)

> WHOOP, the personal fitness wearable provider, raises $200M at $3.6B valuation (More) | Eight Sleep, the connected mattress maker, raises $86M at $500M valuation; company’s mattresses monitor the body to improve sleep and health (More) 

Politics & World Affairs

> Education Department opens civil rights investigation into statewide school face mask bans in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah (More) | Explore current US COVID-19 stats here (More)

> FBI reports hate crimes rose to their highest level in 12 years in 2020, primarily driven by incidents involving Black and Asian Americans (More) | Explore the data here (More)

> California's Caldor Fire approaches Lake Tahoe, with the resort town of South Lake Tahoe evacuated; firefighters moving to protect neighboring area of Christmas Valley (More)

IN-DEPTH

Bad Blood: The Final Chapter

Three Uncanny Four | John Carreyrou. (Podcast) Follow along with the Theranos fraud trial with the Wall Street Journal reporter who originally broke the story—and hear about new evidence uncovered over the past three years. (Listen)

Treasure Trove

Popular Science | Andrew Curry. How Scotland has forged a rare alliance between amateur treasure hunters and professional archaeologists in an effort to uncover the country's history. (Read)

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ETCETERA

Charting every type of known cognitive bias.

The best photos from the 2020 Paralympic Games. (paywall, Atlantic)

China limits children to three hours of video games per week.

Fall's 45 most anticipated music albums.

Armenian lawmakers can't stop fighting—literally.

Eleven-year-old music prodigy Nandi Bushell joins the Foo Fighters onstage​. 

The delta variant is hammering air travel.

Hostages tied to cars in Brazilian bank robbery.

Clickbait: Cows airlifted from Swiss Alps. 

Historybook: HBD Richard Gere (1949); RIP boxing legend Rocky Marciano (1969); Princess Diana dies in car crash in Paris (1997); 953 die in bridge stampede in Iraq (2005); RIP baseball great Tom Seaver (2020). 

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward."

- Princess Diana

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