North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two members of Congress flew unannounced into Kabul airport in the middle of the ongoing chaotic evacuation Tuesday, stunning State Department and U.S. military personnel who had to divert resources to provide security and information to the lawmakers, U.S. officials said.

HONOLULU (AP) — Geologists on Tuesday said they had detected a swarm of earthquakes at Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, though it is not erupting.

The quakes began overnight and continued into the morning, The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

More than 140 earthquakes were recorded as of 4:30 a.m. The largest was magnitude 3.3. Most were less than magnitude 1.

ELY, Minn. (AP) — Ely is typically teeming this time of year with visitors heading out on or returning from excursions into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. But about the only cars in the northeastern Minnesota town with canoes strapped to their tops this week are leaving.

Several fires inside and just outside the country’s most visited wilderness area led officials to close it last weekend, dealing a blow to those who spent months planning their trips there and to the outfitters and other businesses that depend on them.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Ash rained down on Lake Tahoe on Tuesday and thick yellow smoke blotted out views of the mountains rimming its pristine blue waters as a massive wildfire threatened the alpine vacation spot on the California-Nevada state line.

Tourists ducked into cafes, outdoor gear shops and casinos on Lake Tahoe Boulevard for a respite from hazardous air coming from an erratic blaze less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) away.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Capitol Police didn’t adequately respond to frantic calls for help from officers when they pressed panic buttons on their radios seeking immediate backup as scores of pro-Trump rioters beat officers with bats, poles and other weapons, an inspector general’s report found.

The report obtained by The Associated Press offered new details about the shortcomings by law enforcement during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats passed legislation Tuesday that would strengthen a landmark civil rights-era voting law weakened by the Supreme Court over the past decade, a step party leaders tout as progress in their quest to fight back against voting restrictions advanced in Republican-led states.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Biden administration likely violated federal law in trying to end a Trump-era program that forces people to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.

With three liberal justices in dissent, the high court refused to block a lower court ruling ordering the administration to reinstate the program informally known as Remain in Mexico.

It’s not clear how many people will be affected and how quickly. Under the lower court ruling, the administration must make a “good faith effort” to restart the program.

MODESTO, Calif., Aug 24 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Army interpreter Hamidullah Ehsan saw what was coming.

Two weeks before the Taliban forces marched into Kabul this month, he managed to get his mother and two siblings out of Afghanistan. They are now registered with the United Nations refugee agency in neighboring Tajikistan.

It is a huge relief for Ehsan, who translated for multiple army units in Kandahar from 2008 to 2012 during the 20-year war against the Taliban and fears reprisals from the militants.

WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden is set to be briefed on the U.S. intelligence community's investigation into how COVID-19 started, with the report likely to disappoint in delivering clear answers about the deadly pandemic's origin in China.

Biden in May ordered aides to work to resolve disputes among intelligence agencies examining rival theories about how the novel coronavirus started, including a once-dismissed theory about the possibility of a laboratory accident in China, as well as that the virus originated naturally with animals, such as bats or birds.

WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden sent CIA Director William Burns to meet Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday in the highest level official encounter since the militant group took over the Afghan capital, a U.S. official and a source familiar with government activity told Reuters on Tuesday.

Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Biden administration has been evacuating U.S. citizens and other allies amid chaos at Kabul airport ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline to pull out of Afghanistan.