But the American military said its allies still didn’t have complete control of the city, which had been the de facto capital of the Islamic State. And booby traps and unexploded ordnance could take years to clear.
Analysts say the militant group is now preparing for a new phase: morphing back into the kind of underground insurgency it started as.
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3. We got the story behind the release of an American woman, her Canadian husband and their children, who were held hostage by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.
Turns out they were seen by C.I.A. drones last month near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and the Americans gave the Pakistani government a clear message: Rescue them, or we’ll send in the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 — the unit that killed Osama bin Laden.
Within hours, Pakistani forces were mobilized.
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4. On our podcast “The Daily,” we discuss the case of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off a military base in Afghanistan in 2009.
He pleaded guilty on Monday to desertion and endangering the troops sent to search for him. An Army judge will determine his punishment after sentencing hearings that begin next Monday.
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5. The fires in Northern California are still burning, but residents and public officials are beginning to grapple with the mammoth cleanup. Some of the burned debris is toxic.
Rents for undamaged homes are skyrocketing, and there’s worry that the largely immigrant work force in the vineyards won’t be able to afford to stay.
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6. Ireland is also in the middle of a big cleanup, after one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the northeastern Atlantic tore across the island, killing at least three people.
The powerful winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia carried dust from the Sahara and smoke from Iberian wildfires north, turning the sky over much of Britain — including London, above — a rusty orange.
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7. The billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros gave the bulk of his wealth to the Open Society Foundations, the group he founded to promote democracy and human rights.
In recent years Mr. Soros, 87, has moved about $18 billion of his money into Open Society, making it the second largest foundation in the U.S. (The largest is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.)
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8. George Saunders’s first novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo,” won the Man Booker Prize, making it the second year in a row that Britain’s most prestigious literary award has gone to an American.
The novel unfolds in a cemetery in 1862, where a grieving Abraham Lincoln visits the crypt that holds the body of his 11-year-old son, Willie, who died of typhoid fever.
The judges will most likely face a renewed backlash from critics who have complained that the prize has become Americanized. Until recently, it was restricted to novels written by authors from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth nations.
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9. The new N.B.A. season tips off tonight with some intriguing matchups. The Boston Celtics face the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team they traded point guards with in the off-season. And the rejuvenated Houston Rockets face the defending champion Golden State Warriors. (TNT, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.)
Here are our predictions for the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference. Above, a preseason game last week.
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10. Finally, Jimmy Kimmel’s filming his show in New York this week, and he has a very special guest tonight: David Letterman.
Mr. Kimmel started off his Monday night show with a crack about how the city has changed in recent years. “In honor of our show being here in Brooklyn, all of the jokes you will hear tonight were written in small batches, by hand, on biodegradable hemp parchment,” he said.
Have a great night.
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