ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

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August 30, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

WORLD  

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S.

Last U.S. troops leave Afghanistan after 20 years of war (Time)

The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan late Monday, ending America’s longest war and closing a chapter in military history likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic final exit that cost the lives of more than 180 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, some barely older than the war.

U.S. winds down Kabul mission after helping evacuate 116,000 people in just over 2 weeks (CNBC)

About 122,300 people have been evacuated since the end of July, including about 5,500 U.S. citizens and their families.

Hurricane Ida left over 1 million still without power, thousands without water and at least 3 dead (ABC News)

Hurricane Ida battered Louisiana as a fierce Category 4 storm on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, bringing a new wave of devastation to the South…Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards warned the death toll will rise "considerably."

Biden faces unfinished mission of evacuating Americans (The Hill)

The Biden administration is shifting its resources to a difficult diplomatic mission aimed at facilitating the safe exit of American citizens and Afghan allies after the U.S. ended its 20-year military engagement in Afghanistan on Monday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said officials believe that between 100 and 200 Americans seeking to leave the country remain there and were not evacuated on military flights out of Kabul, which came to a halt on Monday evening to meet President Biden’s Tuesday deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces.

The Food Stamp Program SNAP Gets A 25% Increase, The Largest In Its History  (NPR)

The Biden administration has approved a significant and permanent increase in the levels of food stamp assistance available to needy families — the largest single increase in the program's history. Starting in October, average benefits for food stamps — officially known as the SNAP program — will rise more than 25% above pre-pandemic levels. The increased assistance will be available indefinitely to all 42 million SNAP beneficiaries.

Senate passes a blueprint for transforming America  

(CNN)

Senate Democrats approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution early Wednesday morning, setting the stage in the weeks and months to come for the party to craft and attempt to pass a sweeping economic package expanding the social safety net that President Joe Biden has made a signature agenda item without the threat of a filibuster from Republicans who oppose it.

Schumer sets September voting rights fight after GOP blocks quick debate (The Hill)

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is setting up a new voting rights and election reform fight for September after Republicans blocked quick action on a series of measures. 

 

Judge Sanctions Trump Allies And Orders Legal Education For Failed Election Lawsuit  (NPR)

Nine attorneys aligned with former President Donald Trump who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging Michigan's 2020 presidential election results will have to pay financial penalties and face other punitive actions for their legal effort, a district court judge ruled on Wednesday. "This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process," U.S. District Judge Linda Parker wrote in her scathing decision on the case."It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election," she wrote. "It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here."

Exclusive: FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated - sources (Reuters)

The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.

WORLD  

With U.S. Out, Taliban Claim Victory as Afghans Confront Their Future   (New York Times)

From the tarmac where the last American plane had departed from Afghanistan’s capital around midnight, the Taliban’s spokesman declared victory Tuesday in their two-decade fight against U.S. occupation…But celebrations by the Taliban are likely to be short-lived. The group now faces the daunting challenge of governing a desperately poor and polarized country, plagued by food and cash shortages, terrorist threats and an intensifying humanitarian crisis. A third of all Afghans face what the United Nations calls crisis levels of food insecurity.

US troops disabled 73 aircraft, weapons systems before leaving Kabul, then the Taliban came (India Today)

Before leaving Afghanistan, the US military disabled 73 military aircraft, weapons systems, choppers and armoured vehicles at the Kabul airport hangar.

These Female Afghan Politicians Are Risking Everything For Their Homeland (NPR)

The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan, but there are still forces of opposition attempting to maintain human rights in the country. Many Afghan political leaders, including former president Ashraf Ghani, fled the country, but several female politicians stayed to resist the Taliban on the ground.

At least 304 dead, 1,800 hurt as powerful quake slams Haiti (AP News)

A powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southwestern Haiti on Saturday, killing at least 304 people and injuring at least 1,800 others as buildings tumbled into rubble. Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he was rushing aid to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals overwhelmed with incoming patients. The epicenter of the quake was about 125 kilometers (78 miles) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and widespread damage was reported in the hemisphere’s poorest nations as a tropical storm also bore down.



 


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