Nation

Biden defends departure from ‘forever war,’ praises airlift

Published on Wed, 09/01/2021 - 4:50pm
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A defensive President Joe Biden called the U.S. airlift to extract more than 120,000 Americans, Afghans and other allies from Afghanistan to end a 20-year war an “extraordinary success,” though more than 100 Americans and thousands of others were left behind.

Twenty-four hours after the last American C-17 cargo plane roared off from Kabul, Biden spoke to the nation and vigorously defended his decision to end America’s longest war and withdraw all U.S. troops ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline.

COVID recession pushes Social Security insolvency up a year

Published on Wed, 09/01/2021 - 4:49pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sharp shock of the coronavirus recession pushed Social Security a year closer to insolvency but left Medicare’s exhaustion date unchanged, the government reported Tuesday in a counterintuitive assessment that deepens the uncertainty around the nation’s bedrock retirement programs.

Victorious Taliban focus on governing after US withdrawal

Published on Tue, 08/31/2021 - 3:49pm
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban reveled in their victory after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, reiterating their pledge Tuesday to bring peace and security to the country after decades of war. Their anxious citizens, meanwhile, are waiting to see what the new order looks like.

Ida’s aftermath: No power, no flights, scant drinking water

Published on Tue, 08/31/2021 - 3:47pm

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the dispiriting prospect of weeks without electricity in the oppressive, late-summer heat. 

Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of other Louisiana residents in the dark with no clear timeline on when the electricity would come back on. Some areas outside New Orleans also suffered major flooding and damage to homes and businesses.

Ida traps Louisianans, kills power

Published on Mon, 08/30/2021 - 4:05pm
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Rescuers set out in hundreds of boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters Monday, and utility repair crews rushed in, after a furious Hurricane Ida swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the sticky, late-summer heat.

People living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along the state’s Gulf Coast retreated desperately to their attics or roofs and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them.

Thousands flee South Lake Tahoe as massive wildfire approaches

Published on Mon, 08/30/2021 - 4:04pm
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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of people rushed to get out of South Lake Tahoe as the entire tourist resort city came under evacuation orders and wildfire raced toward the large freshwater lake of Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada. 

Evacuation warnings issued for the resort city of 22,000 on Sunday turned into orders Monday. Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats snaked through thick, brown air that smelled of campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by. 

US presses on with evacuations

Published on Fri, 08/27/2021 - 3:27pm
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States pressed on into the final days of the chaotic airlift from Afghanistan amid tighter security and warnings of more possible attacks Friday, a day after a devastating suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed well over 100 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. 

The U.S. said more bloodshed could come ahead of President Joe Biden’s fast-approaching deadline Tuesday to end the evacuations and withdraw American forces. The next few days “will be our most dangerous period to date,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Alone in the sky, pilot and fiancée save 17 people in Tennessee flood

Published on Fri, 08/27/2021 - 3:26pm

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville-based helicopter pilot Joel Boyers had just finished helping his fiancée earn her pilot’s license on Saturday morning, and they were heading home to celebrate, when he received a frantic call from a woman in Pennsylvania. Her brother’s home in Waverly, Tennessee, was underwater and he was trapped on a roof with his daughters. Could Boyers help?

Kabul attack kills 60 Afghans, 12 US troops

Published on Thu, 08/26/2021 - 3:28pm
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. At least 60 Afghans and 12 U.S. troops were killed, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

U.S. officials said 11 Marines and one Navy medic were among those who died. They said another 12 service members were wounded and warned the toll could grow. More than 140 Afghans were wounded, an Afghan official said.

Virus surge breaks hospital records amid toll on children

Published on Thu, 08/26/2021 - 3:27pm

Kentucky and Texas joined a growing list of states that are seeing record numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a surge that is overwhelming doctors and nurses and afflicting more children.

Intensive care units around the nation are packed with patients extremely ill with the coronavirus — even in places where hospitalizations have not yet reached earlier peaks.