U.S./World category, Page 695

BOISE, Idaho — At nearly every community meeting on firefighting efforts in the U.S. West, residents want to know why crews don’t simply put out the flames to save their homes and the valuable forests surrounding them. It’s not that simple, wildfire managers say, and the reasons are many, some...

Preparations for a storm grew more urgent Saturday as the newly upgraded Hurricane Henri closed in on the Northeast. The storm’s latest track put it on course to collide Sunday with a long stretch of coastline, with hurricane warnings extending from near the old whaling port of New Bedford, Mass.,...

LES CAYES, Haiti — Haitians left hungry and homeless by a devastating earthquake swarmed relief trucks and in some cases stole desperately needed goods Friday as leaders of the poor Caribbean nation struggled to coordinate aid and avoid a repeat of their chaotic response to a similar tragedy 11 years...

The host of a program for the right-wing website Infowars, Owen Shroyer, has been charged in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents filed Friday. Shroyer, who hosts “The War Room With Owen Shroyer” for the website operated by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones,...

CHICAGO — A Democratic senator said the U.S. Justice Department needs to look into whether the algorithm-powered police technologies it funds contribute to racial bias in law enforcement and lead to wrongful arrests. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, was responding to an investigation by The Associated Press published Thursday...

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration imposed new sanctions Friday on three Russian ships and companies involved in constructing a controversial gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. The move comes as lawmakers from both parties criticize the administration for not doing enough to halt the Nord Stream 2 project. But it...

A federal appeals court on Friday said a pause on evictions designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus can remain in place for now, setting up a battle before the nation’s highest court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The U.S. Naval Academy has expelled 18 midshipmen and sanctioned 82 more after an investigation into cheating on an online physics exam in December, officials announced Friday. When 653 midshipmen took the final exam for General Physics I through a website in December, written and verbal instructions...

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has given new urgency to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tour of Southeast Asia, where she will attempt to reassure allies of American resolve following the chaotic end of a two-decade war. The trip, which begins Friday and has stops in Singapore and Vietnam, will provide...

WASHINGTON — The Taliban face a frontal challenge in cementing control of Afghanistan: Money. Despite their dominant military blitz over the past week, the Taliban lack access to billions of dollars from their central bank and the International Monetary Fund that would keep the country running during a turbulent shakeup....

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is pledging to Americans still trapped in Afghanistan: “We will get you home.” Biden also said Friday the United States is committed to evacuating all Afghans who assisted the war effort — a potentially vast expansion of the administration’s commitments on the airlift so far,...

Harvey Sutton, or “Little Man,” as he is known on the Appalachian Trail, won’t have long to bask in the glory of hiking its full length. After all, he starts kindergarten Friday. At 5 years old, Harvey is one of the youngest — and the latest of several youngsters in...

DENVER — Anxiety in the United States over covid-19 is at its highest level since winter, a new poll shows, as the delta variant rages, more states and school districts adopt mask and vaccination requirements and the nation’s hospitals once again fill to capacity. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Friday extended a ban on nonessential travel along the borders with Canada and Mexico to slow the spread of covid-19 despite increasing pressure to lift the restriction. U.S. border communities that are dependent on shoppers from Mexico and Canada and their political representatives have...

MOSCOW — Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny marked the anniversary of a poisoning attack against him by urging global leaders Friday to put more attention on combating corruption and to target tycoons close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an article published in three European newspapers, Navalny chided Western...

LISBON, Portugal — A woman who was the only person pulled from a sinking dinghy in the Atlantic Ocean told her rescuers that the boat had left Africa a week earlier carrying 53 migrants, Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said Friday. A merchant ship spotted the inflatable dinghy on Thursday, 158...

MIAMI — Forecasters issued a hurricane watch Friday morning for Tropical Storm Henri ahead of its projected track toward the southern New England coast. Henri was expected to intensify into a hurricane by Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in advisory. Impacts could be felt in New England states...

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters tortured and killed members of an ethnic minority in Afghanistan after recently overrunning their village, Amnesty International said, fueling fears that they will again impose a brutal rule, even as they urged imams to push a message of unity at the first gathering for Friday...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — A tea party Republican who recently helped turn over the party leadership in South Carolina’s largest county has died from complications of covid-19. Pressley Stutts died Thursday, according to party leaders and his family. The U.S. Navy veteran was 64. Over the summer, Stutts led a group...

The Texas Supreme Court declined Thursday to block restraining orders against Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask mandate ban. The justices remanded Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appeal to the 3rd Texas Court of Appeal in Austin for a hearing. The court did not issue an opinion for its decision. The move came...

Calling the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a painful spectacle, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, is calling on Americans to turn down the blame game and concentrate on assisting those trying to escape the Taliban. Casey said his office alone logged 280 calls about the collapse of Afghanistan as of Wednesday...

WASHINGTON — A significant majority of Americans doubt that the war in Afghanistan was worthwhile, even as the United States is more divided over President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and national security, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Roughly two-thirds said...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Authorities combing areas of North Carolina flooded by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred said Thursday that two people have been found dead and about 20 were unaccounted for. Meanwhile, Fred — now a post-tropical cyclone — was pushing through New York and New England with drenching...

The Biden administration announced Thursday it will automatically erase student loan debt for more than 300,000 Americans with severe disabilities that leave them unable to earn significant incomes. The move will wipe out more than $5.8 billion in debt, according to the Education Department, and it marks the start of...