Hurricane Ida traps Louisianans, shatters the power grid
NEW ORLEANS — Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida’s floodwaters to safety Monday and utility repair crews rushed in, after the furious storm swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the stifling, late-summer heat. Residents living amid the...
IAEA: North Korea appears to have resumed nuke reactor operation
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea appears to have restarted the operation of its main nuclear reactor used to produce weapons fuels, the U.N. atomic agency said, as the North openly threatens to enlarge its nuclear arsenal amid long-dormant nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The annual report by the...
White House: U.S. has capacity to evacuate remaining AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States has the capacity to evacuate the approximately 300 U.S. citizens remaining in Afghanistan who want to leave before President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline, senior administration officials said, as rocket fire in Kabul and another U.S. drone strike against suspected Islamic State militants underscored the grave...
Mask, vaccine mandates have broad support, polls show. But some Pa. Republicans are campaigning against them
Bill McSwain, the former prosecutor turned potential gubernatorial candidate, went after the “radical left” for “ignoring science by forcing kids to wear masks at school.” Facebook ads paid for by Jeff Bartos’ Senate campaign feature an image meant to mock President Joe Biden’s call for a grassroots vaccine education campaign...
White House rushes to booster doses as CDC advisers bide timeVideo
U.S. public health advisers are moving slowly toward considering the nationwide plan for booster doses of covid-19 vaccines to ward off the fast-spreading delta variant, even as the Biden administration seeks a Sept. 20 kickoff. While the booster plan laid out earlier this month had targeted individuals who received their...
Texas man who worked against covid measures dies from virus
SAN ANGELO, Texas — A man who led efforts in his Central Texas community against mask wearing and other preventative measures during the coronavirus pandemic has died from covid-19, one month after being admitted to the emergency room. Caleb Wallace died on Saturday, his wife Jessica Wallace said on a...
Flames consume high-rise in Milan; residents evacuated
MILAN — Italian firefighters on Sunday battled a high-rise blaze in Milan that spread rapidly through a 20-story residential building and poured black smoke into the air. Residents were hurriedly evacuated. Mayor Giuseppe Sala said there were no reports of injuries or deaths, but that firefighters were kicking down doors,...
Weather heats up as California fire inches toward Lake Tahoe
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Spiking temperatures and increasing wind on Sunday added to the challenges faced by firefighters battling blazes across Northern California, including one that continued its march toward the Lake Tahoe resort region. “It is going to be the hottest day so far since the fire began,...
U.S. says drone kills suicide bombers targeting Kabul airport
KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. drone strike Sunday struck a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate before they could target the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport, American officials said. There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck...
Biden pays respects to U.S. troops killed in AfghanistanVideo
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — In hushed reverence, President Joe Biden stood witness with grieving families Sunday under a gray sky as, one by one, the remains of 13 U.S. troops killed in the Kabul suicide bombing were removed with solemnity from a military aircraft that brought them home....
1st death from Hurricane Ida; power out across New OrleansVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida blasted ashore Sunday as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., knocking out power to all of New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed from the Louisiana coast into one of...
Biden: Another attack likely, pledges more strikes on ISIS-K
President Joe Biden vowed Saturday to keep up airstrikes against the Islamic extremist group whose suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members. Another terror attack, he said, is “highly likely” this weekend as the U.S. winds down its evacuation. The Pentagon said...
Experts warn of dangers from breach of voter system software
Republican efforts questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential race have led to voting system breaches that election security experts say pose a heightened risk to future elections. Copies of the Dominion Voting Systems software used to manage elections — from designing ballots to configuring voting machines and tallying results...
Voting rights advocates rally for stronger elections laws
Thousands of voting rights advocates rallied across the country Saturday to call for sweeping federal laws that would wipe out voting restrictions advancing in some Republican-controlled states that could make it harder to cast a ballot. Many activists view the fight over voting rules as the civil rights issue of...
Could saving Pa.’s state tree help fix trout fishing troubles?
Pennsylvania fishermen like Russ Collins are worried about trees. He lives in Palmyra, Lebanon County, and is the vice president of Trout Unlimited’s southcentral region. He wonders whether a struggling tree species could ultimately endanger one of the top fishing grounds in the country, if not the world. He sees,...
GOP rift widens amid growing hostility to Afghan refugees
As the U.S. rushes to evacuate Americans and allies from the chaos of Afghanistan, a growing number of Republicans are questioning why the U.S. should take in Afghan citizens who worked side by side with Americans, further exacerbating divides within the party heading into next year’s midterm elections. Little more...
Taliban largely seal off Kabul airport as airlift winds down
Taliban forces sealed off Kabul’s airport Saturday to most Afghans hoping for evacuation and most NATO nations flew out their troops after two decades in Afghanistan, winding down a frantic airlift that Western leaders acknowledged was still leaving many of their citizens and local allies behind. The United States, which...
Russia’s covid deaths hit new high in July
A new report from Russia’s state statistics agency shows the country recorded a record number of deaths in July of people infected with coronavirus. The report from the Rosstat agency said 50,421 people suffering from covid-19 died during the month, sharply higher than the previous record of 44,435 in December....
Iraq brings together Mideast rivals in bid to ease tensions
Arab heads of state and senior officials from the region including archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia held a rare meeting Saturday at a conference hosted by Iraq. The meeting is aimed at easing Mideast tensions and underscored the Arab country’s new role as mediator. French President Emmanuel Macron also attended...
U.S. intelligence still divided on origins of coronavirus
U.S. intelligence agencies remain divided on the origins of the coronavirus but believe China’s leaders did not know about the virus before the start of the global pandemic, according to results released Friday of a review ordered by President Joe Biden. According to an unclassified summary, four members of the...
U.S. drone strike kills 2 Islamic State members in Afghanistan
Acting swiftly on President Joe Biden’s promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the U.S. military said it killed two members of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate with a drone strike in the group’s eastern stronghold. The attack Saturday local time came amid what the...
RFK assassin moves closer to freedom with help of 2 Kennedys
California’s parole board voted Friday to free Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin after two of RFK’s sons said they supported releasing him and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars. But the governor ultimately will decide if Sirhan Sirhan leaves prison. Douglas Kennedy was a toddler when his...
Pa.’s legislative leaders wield extraordinary power, and the election audit fight proves it
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — It’s a throwback to the hardball politics of the Capitol’s past: a powerful legislative leader stripping one of his...
Judge blocks Florida governor’s order banning mask mandates
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida school districts can legally require their students to wear masks to prevent the spread of covid-19, a judge ruled Friday, saying Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped his authority when he issued an executive order banning such mandates. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper agreed with...
Scientists manage to successfully reverse age-related memory loss in mice
A group of scientists at the University of Cambridge and the University of Leeds managed to successfully reverse memory loss in aging mice. While this may seem like an insignificant blip on the scientific radar, this breakthrough is very importantly indicative of how the same methods may be used in...
