News

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A boy who recently hiked the Appalachian Trail is preparing for his next adventure in kindergarten. Five-year-old Harvey Sutton tagged along with his parents over more than 2,100 miles to complete the feat. He was 4 years old when he and his parents began their walk

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has vowed to hold officials accountable over mistakes during recent floods that led to the deaths of hundreds of people in a major provincial capital, including 14 who were trapped when the city’s subway system was inundated. More than than 300 people were killed in last month’s floods

By KELLI KENNEDY and CODY JACKSON Associated Press JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Hospitals are overflowing with COVID patients in northeast Florida, the hot zone in the state’s latest surge. But the patients rapidly filling wards in Jacksonville are younger than last summer’s peak outbreak. And they’re getting sick faster. The caseload is more than double

By WILSON RING and ROY NKOSI Associated Press DEDZA, Malawi (AP) — The Peace Corps is beginning the process of returning its volunteers to countries across the globe, but how quickly that happens will depend on the pandemic. The U.S. government program is marking its 60th anniversary this year. But in March 2020, more than

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer The U.S. is planning booster doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, but if you got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot instead, stay tuned. Health authorities say a booster probably will be needed for that vaccine as well — but they don’t have enough data yet to

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is giving new urgency to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tour of Southeast Asia. There, she will attempt to reassure allies of American resolve following the chaotic end of a two-decade war. The trip will provide a forum for Harris to assert herself

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

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh is suffering through its deadliest surge of the pandemic, but you wouldn’t know it looking at its factories, markets and malls. The South Asian nation has done away with most virus restrictions, allowing businesses to reopen to enthusiastic crowds following weeks of strict measures put

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s wildfires have already made plenty of news this summer, and the worst may be yet to come. Some of the state’s most devastating fires have started in the fall when powerful, dry winds blow out of the desert. More land has burned this year than

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press TULUM, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Grace has rapidly strengthened into a major Category 3 storm as it bears down on a second landfall in Mexico. This time it’s taking aim at the Gulf coast after crashing through the country’s main tourist strip. The storm had lost punch as it zipped

By MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON Associated Press LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s unusually close relationship between the living and the dead has helped hide, in part, the huge toll of Saturday’s earthquake: people in Haiti want to be close to their deceased relatives, to the point of sometimes burying themselves in their front

By ETHAN SWOPE and JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Millions of acres of national forest in Northern California are being closed because of dangerous fire conditions that already have sent a score of blazes raging through the area and destroyed hundreds of homes. The U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday that beginning on

By MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON Associated Press LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — As if Haiti’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake, a tropical storm and the coronavirus pandemic weren’t enough, the temblor has also damaged the only medical oxygen plant in southern Haiti. The building that housed the oxygen concentrator machines that the region depended on partially