USA

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Kathy Hochul became the first female governor of New York on Tuesday, inheriting immense challenges as she takes over an administration facing criticism for inaction during Andrew Cuomo’s distracted final months in office.

Hochul, a Democrat and former member of Congress from Western New York, took the oath of office just after midnight in a brief, private event overseen by the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two months ago, the leaders of the world’s seven major industrialized democracies met in summer sunshine on England’s southwest coast. It was a happy occasion: the first in-person summit of the Group of Seven nations in two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and the welcomed appearance of President Joe Biden and his “America is back” message on matters ranging from comity to COVID-19 to climate change.

WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, has disputed a claim by a US lawmaker that Pakistani military strategy led to the defeat of the Afghan Army at the hands of the Taliban, telling him that Islamabad and Washington have in fact been working together towards an inclusive political settlement in the war-torn country.

WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on an Eritrean official it accused of being engaged in serious human rights abuse in the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, where thousands have been killed and over 2 million displaced.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it had blacklisted Filipos Woldeyohannes, the chief of staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces, accusing the forces of being responsible for massacres, sexual assaults and purposely shooting civilians in the streets, among other human rights abuses.

WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. military flew approximately 10,400 people out of Kabul over 24 hours on Sunday, and 61 coalition planes helped evacuate approximately 5,900, a White House official said on Monday.

Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has gotten 37,000 people out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, or helped with their evacuation, the official said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Outnumbered and with their party’s most powerful leaders arrayed against them, nine moderate Democrats trying to upend plans for enacting President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar domestic program face a House showdown.

All the rebellious group must do to prevail is outmaneuver the White House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and numerous progressive colleagues who’ve stood firmly against them. That’s no small task.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the “hard and painful” airlift of Americans and tens of thousands of others from Afghanistan’s capital is accelerating, but he would not rule out extending it beyond the Aug. 31 deadline he set before the Taliban’s swift takeover.

WAVERLY, Tenn. (AP) — At least 22 people were killed and rescue crews searched desperately Sunday amid shattered homes and tangled debris for dozens of people still missing after record-breaking rain sent floodwaters surging through Middle Tennessee.

Saturday’s flooding in rural areas took out roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines, leaving families uncertain about whether their loved ones survived the unprecedented deluge. Emergency workers were searching door to door, said Kristi Brown, a coordinator for health and safety supervisor with Humphreys County Schools.

WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — The slow-rolling system named Henri is taking its time drenching the Northeast with rain, lingering early Monday atop a region made swampy by the storm’s relentless downpour.

Henri, which made landfall as a tropical storm Sunday afternoon in Rhode Island, has moved northwest through Connecticut. It hurled rain westward far before its arrival, flooding areas as far southwest as New Jersey before pelting northeast Pennsylvania, even as it took on tropical depression status.

WASHINGTON, Aug 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States has administered 361,684,564 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 428,506,065 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Those figures are up from the 360,634,287 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Friday out of 426,106,115 doses delivered.

The agency said 200,947,556 people had received at least one dose while 170,406,785 people are fully vaccinated as of Saturday.