USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least 50,000 Afghans are expected to be admitted into the United States following the fall of Kabul as part of an “enduring commitment” to help people who aided the American war effort and others who are particularly vulnerable under Taliban rule, the secretary of homeland security said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday directed the declassification of certain documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a supportive gesture to victims’ families who have long sought the records in hopes of implicating the Saudi government.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s governor and legislative leaders on Friday requested $16.7 million in state money to help resettle Afghan refugees in the state.

The request to use general fund money to help those fleeing the Taliban takeover signals “that California stands ready to assist those in need,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “As the nation’s most diverse state, we don’t simply tolerate diversity, we celebrate it.”

LAPLACE, La. (AP) — Giant trees knocked sideways. Homes boarded up with plywood. Off-kilter street signs.

Less than a week after Hurricane Ida battered the Gulf Coast, President Joe Biden walked the streets of a hardhit Louisiana neighborhood and told local residents, “I know you’re hurting, I know you’re hurting.”

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With power due back for almost all of New Orleans by next week, Mayor LaToya Cantrell strongly encouraged residents who evacuated because of Hurricane Ida to begin returning home. But outside the city, the prospects of recovery appeared bleaker, with no timeline on power restoration and homes and businesses in tatters.

WASHINGTON, Sept 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A British-born man who was a member of a team of Daesh militants in Syria nicknamed “The Beatles” and accused of beheading American hostages pleaded guilty to eight US criminal charges including lethal hostage taking and conspiracy to support terrorists.

London-born Alexanda Kotey is one of two Daesh members who were held in Iraq by the US military before being flown to the United States to face trial on terrorism charges.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The intensive care rooms at St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center are full, each a blinking jungle of tubes, wires and mechanical breathing machines. The patients nestled inside are a lot alike: All unvaccinated, mostly middle-aged, paralyzed and sedated, reliant on life support and locked in a silent struggle against COVID-19.

But watch for a moment, and glimpses of who they were before the coronavirus become clear.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is calling for greater public resolve to confront climate change and help the nation deal with the fierce storms, flooding and wildfires that have beset the country as he makes a sojourn to hurricane-battered Louisiana on Friday.

“My message to everyone affected is: We’re all in this together,” Biden said in a speech Thursday at the White House, where he addressed the multiple natural disasters that have unfolded this week. “The nation is here to help.”

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana officials launched an investigation into the deaths of four nursing home residents who had been evacuated to a warehouse ahead of Hurricane Ida, as state residents struggling in the wake of the storm sought financial relief and other help amid small signs of recovery.

NEW YORK (AP) — A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers and tornado damage Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning more than 40 people in their homes and cars.

In a region that had been warned about potentially deadly flash flooding but hadn’t braced for such a blow from the no-longer-hurricane, the storm killed at least 46 people from Maryland to Connecticut on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.