Afghans face hunger crisis, adding to Taliban’s challenges. The United Nations’ stockpiles of food in Afghanistan could run out this month, a senior official warned Wednesday, threatening to add a hunger crisis to the challenges facing the country’s new Taliban rulers as they try to restore stability after decades of war. About one third of…
In another dispiriting setback for the nation’s efforts to stamp out the coronavirus, scientists who studied a big COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts concluded that vaccinated people who got so-called breakthrough infections carried about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots. Health officials on Friday released details of that research,…
Students in Wichita, Kansas, public schools can ditch the masks when classes begin. Detroit public schools will probably require them unless everyone in a room is vaccinated. In Pittsburgh, masks will likely be required regardless of vaccination status. And in some states, schools cannot mandate face coverings under any circumstances. With COVID-19 cases soaring nationwide,…
It’s an Olympics like no other — and the Tokyo Games are surely that — but this is an event that has persevered through wars, boycotts and now a pandemic over its 125-year modern history. The Tokyo Olympics have already broken new ground because of the 12-month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic, pushing it…
The American West is baking, burning and drying in intertwined extreme weather. Four sets of numbers explain how bad it is now, while several others explain why it got this bad. The West is going through “the trifecta of an epically dry year followed by incredible heat the last two months and now we have…
Toyota plans to hire more people and invest heavily in its subsidiary Woven Planet to work on mobility technology so the Japanese automaker stays competitive amid the global shift to using artificial intelligence and robotics in everyday driving. “Toyota’s traditional strength in hardware is something we never want to lose. To make safe mobility we…
Japan is set to place Tokyo under a state of emergency that would last through the Olympics, fearing an ongoing COVID-19 surge will multiply during the Games. At a meeting with experts Thursday morning, government officials proposed a plan to issue a state of emergency in Tokyo from next Monday to Aug. 22. The Summer…
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO on Monday, handing over the reins as the company navigates the challenges of a world fighting to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. Andy Jassy, who ran Amazon’s cloud-computing business, replaced Bezos, a change the company announced in February. Bezos, Amazon’s biggest shareholder with a stake worth about…
The Associated Press recently spoke with young people across the globe, several who first shared their views of the pandemic in the first half of 2020, just as it gripped the world. A young woman in California, newly vaccinated, flashes a smile and a peace sign as she poses for a prom photo with her…
President Joe Biden has filled about 56% of his senior White House staff positions with women, including about 36% who come from racially and-or ethnically diverse backgrounds, according the White House. The Biden administration published the gender and pay analysis of its staff on Thursday as it delivered a required annual report to Congress listing…