The girls on Afghanistan’s national soccer team were anxious. For weeks, they had been moving around the country, waiting for word that they could leave. One wants to be a doctor, another a movie producer, others engineers. All dream of growing up to be professional soccer players. The message finally...
‘Pay to Play’ Corruption Scheme Sends Young Ex-Mayor Behind Bars
A former mayor, once a rising Democratic star in Massachusetts after being elected at just 23 years old, was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from marijuana businesses that wanted to operate in his city. Former Fall River...
Inflation Forces Homebuilders to Take It Slow, Raise Prices
Even in the hottest U.S. housing market in more than a decade, new home construction has turned into a frustratingly uncertain and costly proposition for many homebuilders. Rising costs and shortages of building materials and labor are rippling across the homebuilding industry, which accounted for nearly 12% of all U.S....
California Water Agencies Resolve Colorado River Dispute
Two major California water agencies have settled a lawsuit that once threatened to derail a multi-state agreement to protect a river that serves millions of people in the U.S. West amid gripping drought. The Imperial Irrigation District, the largest single recipient of Colorado River water, sued the Metropolitan Water District...
Homeowners Near California Wildfires Won’t Lose Insurance
Homeowners and renters in 22 Northern California counties are guaranteed not to lose their property insurance policies over the next year after the state announced a moratorium on Monday for people who live near recent wildfires. State law temporarily bans insurance companies from dropping customers who live in ZIP codes...
Mayorkas Says Images From US Border ‘Horrified’ Him
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday images of what appeared to be Border Patrol agents on horseback rounding up migrants trying to cross the southern border “horrified” him, but he stopped short of calling the new influx of migrants there a crisis. Mayorkas told CNN that “any...
Latest: More Than 800 Firefighters Battle Growing KNP Complex
Authorities have set a goal of containing the KNP Complex Fire in Sequoia National Park by Sunday, Oct. 10. On Sunday, flames reached a grove of sequoia trees as firefighters battled to keep the blaze from driving further into another grove, where the base of the world’s largest tree has...
IS Bomb Attacks on Taliban Raise Specter of Wider Conflict
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly roadside bombs targeting Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan, raising the specter of wider conflict between the country’s new Taliban rulers and their long-time rivals. A string of explosions struck Taliban vehicles in...
US Launches Mass Expulsion of Haitian Migrants From Texas
DEL RIO, Texas — The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland and blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico in a massive show of force that signals the beginning of what could be one of America’s swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants...
US Easing Virus Restrictions for Foreign Flights to America
WASHINGTON — The U.S. said Monday it will ease airline restrictions this fall on travel to the country for people who have vaccination proof and a negative COVID-19 test, replacing a hodgepodge of rules that had kept out many non-citizens and irritated allies in Europe and beyond where virus cases...