WASHINGTON — U.S. officials on Monday are expected to declare the first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West, triggering cuts to some Arizona farmers next year amid a gripping drought. Water levels at the largest reservoir on the Colorado River — Lake Mead...
Taliban Take Over Afghanistan: What We Know and What’s Next
The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war. The insurgents stormed across the country, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the U.S. and...
California Fire Threatens Homes as Blazes Burn Across West
QUINCY — Thousands of homes in Northern California remain threatened by the nation's largest wildfire as unstable weather creates a high danger of new blazes erupting across the West. Weekend thunderstorms across the northern Sierra didn't produce much rain, instead whipping up winds and unleashing lightning strikes that that bedeviled...
US Probing Autopilot Problems on 765,000 Tesla Vehicles
DETROIT — The U.S. government has opened a formal investigation into Tesla's Autopilot partially automated driving system after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles. The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles, almost everything that Tesla has sold in the U.S. since the start of the 2014 model year. Of the...
Afghan President Flees the Country as Taliban Move on Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country Sunday, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan. The Taliban entered the capital early Sunday and an official in the militant group...
Moderate Dems Demand Quick Passage of Infrastructure Bill
WASHINGTON — Moderate House Democrats say they would sink a crucial fiscal blueprint outlining $3.5 trillion in social and environment spending unless a separate infrastructure bill is approved first, a new complication for the divided party's drive to enact President Joe Biden's domestic agenda. The centrists' threat directly defies House...
Census Data: US Is Diversifying, White Population Shrinking
No racial or ethnic group dominates for those under age 18, and white people declined in numbers for the first time on record in the overall U.S. population as the Hispanic and Asian populations boomed this past decade, according to the 2020 census data. The figures released Thursday by the...
US Rushes in Troops to Speed Up Evacuations in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — Three thousand fresh U.S. troops were rushing to Kabul on Friday in a temporary deployment to speed evacuation flights for some American diplomats and thousands of Afghans, as the Taliban pressed a lightning offensive that has captured much of the country and risks isolating Afghanistan's capital city. The...
San Francisco to Require Vaccine Proof at Indoor Venues
Worried that the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus could derail San Francisco’s economic rebound, Mayor London Breed announced Thursday that the city will require proof of full vaccination at indoor restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues to help keep businesses open. “This is to protect kids, is to...
Merced Man Charged for Making, Using Shrapnel Bombs, Impersonating Agent
A Merced man was charged Thursday with making 10 shrapnel bombs, including one that was thrown at a home and burned a fence, authorities said. A federal grand jury indicted Wes Parker McDaniel, 52, on charges of making and possessing unregistered destructive devices, destroying property with an explosive, impersonating a...