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Deadly Hurricane Ida, now a strong tropical storm, was bringing heavy rains, "dangerous" flash flooding, storm surge and extreme winds as it moved northward across southeastern Louisiana and across Mississippi on Monday morning.

The latest: Ida weakened to a tropical storm early Monday, but remained formidable with flash flooding, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes in its arsenal. Flood watches are in effect all the way to the Mid-Atlantic.

With U.S. troops departing Afghanistan after 20 years, it's now time for the Taliban to decide how it intends to run the country — and for the U.S. to decide how to work with that government.

The big pictures: The militants are offering vague assurances that they have changed with the times, while foreign powers are assessing what leverage they have to hold the insurgents-turned-rulers to those promises.

The head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, told the White House in a letter released Monday that she plans to probe mergers of retail gasoline stations in order to avert potentially anti-competitive behavior that could drive up the cost of gas, according to a letter obtained by Axios.

Driving the news: The letter indicates Khan will act on a request White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese made earlier this month.

The U.S. drone strike targeting a vehicle believed to pose an "imminent ISIS-K threat" to Kabul’s airport killed 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, family members and witnesses told the New York Times.

Catch up quick: The drone strike was the second carried out by the U.S. military in response to a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and over 170 Afghan civilians last week.

Hurricane Ida jumped from a 105-mph Category Two hurricane on Saturday to a high-end Category 4 monster by Sunday morning, in a feat enabled by climate change, seasonal timing and a dose of bad luck.

Why it matters: Understanding how Mother Nature's most powerful storms are changing is key to learning how to better protect coastal communities around the world — everywhere from the mega-cities of Southeast Asia to the small towns of the Louisiana Bayou.

Multiple rockets were fired toward Kabul's international airport on Monday — less than 48 hours before the U.S. was due to complete its full military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The latest: There were no reports of casualties and it wasn't immediately clear who fired the rockets, though the Islamic State has claimed responsibility, according to Reuters.

Fed chair Jerome Powell isn’t in a hurry to dial back loose monetary policy because he doesn't want to cause “lasting harm” to the economy.

Why it matters: With the economy progressing, everyone wants to know when the Fed will taper its monthly purchases of $120 billion worth of bonds, an emergency policy intended to keep interest rates low and financial markets liquid during the pandemic.

Social distancing popularized video dates — and they'll outlast the pandemic.

The big picture: Dating is expensive, and many people are deciding they'd rather meet virtually first in case it doesn't work out.

The antitrust scrutiny of tech giants that began during the Trump era will only intensify this fall as Big Tech critics Lina Khan, Tim Wu and Jonathan Kanter take the lead on competition policy and enforcement in the Biden administration.

Why it matters: Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple face threats from federal regulators, Congress, state attorneys general and European Union authorities.

Hospitals, drug companies, health insurers, medical device manufacturers and other health care suppliers generated record sales and profits during the second quarter, according to an Axios analysis of financial statements.

The big picture: Health care spending soared as Americans got vaccinated and resumed seeing their doctors between April and June. However, the coronavirus is raging again and may change behaviors going into the flu season.

Hurricane Ida continued to lash Louisiana overnight, as the first death from the Category 2 storm was reported and an estimated 1 million-plus customers were left without power in the state.

The latest: President Biden approved Louisiana's disaster declaration late Sunday, enabling federal funding for parishes affected by the storm, which will go toward grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs.

California's Caldor Fire triggered fresh evacuation orders for communities in Amador County, near Sacramento, as it neared the Lake Tahoe Basin on Sunday night.

Driving the news: Containment of the blaze dropped to 13% as it grew to over 168,000 acres on Sunday amid extremely dry conditions. The wildfire razed at least four cabins near Echo Summit Sunday, the Sacramento Bee notes.

Hurricane Ida lashed New Orleans Sunday evening on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina — with part of the deadly Category 2 storm pummeling the city with extremely heavy winds and rains.

What's happening: Officials confirmed that the city had lost all power "due to catastrophic transmission damage" from the storm, with the only electricity in New Orleans coming from generators amid reports of flash flooding from Ida's rains.