Month: August 2021

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been sworn in, bringing back the rule of the country’s longest-governing political party. But he faces a tall task in uniting a polarized society and reviving a slumping economy amid a worsening pandemic. Ismail was the deputy

By AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ, KATHY GANNON and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. official says potential Islamic State threats against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the U.S. military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul. The official says small groups of Americans and possibly

The Associated Press NEW DELHI — An Indian official says an air force transport plane has left Kabul for New Delhi carrying 168 people on board. Arindam Bagchi, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, says the plane took off from Kabul on Sunday morning and the passengers include 107 Indian nationals. He didn’t give the nationalities

BEIJING (AP) — China will now allow couples to have a third child as the country seeks to hold off a demographic crisis that threatens its hopes of increased prosperity and global influence. The legislature on Friday amended the Population and Family Planning Law as part of a decades-long effort by the ruling Communist Party

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam’s government says it is sending troops to Ho Chi Minh City to help deliver food and aid to households as it further tightens restrictions on people’s movements amid a worsening surge of the coronavirus. The army personnel will be deployed to help with logistics as the city of 10 million

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For senior military and Pentagon leaders, this week’s news was profoundly personal. The photos and videos pouring out of Afghanistan hit a nerve, and triggered searingly vivid flashbacks to battles fought, troops lost and tears shed during their own deployments there. And in a response shaped

PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Crews are digging in and burning out fire lines amid fears that another round of high winds will bring renewed fury to a Northern California wildfire. The Caldor Fire in the northern Sierra Nevada has destroyed dozens of homes and on Friday authorities closed down a 46-mile stretch of Interstate 50,

By FÉLIX MÁRQUEZ and FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Grace hit Mexico’s Gulf as a major Category 3 storm and moved inland, drenching coastal and inland areas in its second landfall in the country in two days. Authorities said at least eight people died when the storm came ashore early Sturday.

By JONATHAN LEMIRE and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden actually made up his mind a long time ago about Afghanistan. For more than a decade, Biden advocated for an end to American involvement in the war there. But he did so as something of an outsider, a senator whose ultimate

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ROBERT BURNS, JAMES LAPORTA and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is pledging firmly to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan — and all Afghans who aided the war effort, too. He made that commitment Friday as other officials confirmed that U..S. military helicopters had flown into Taliban-held