In corrupt Libya, longtime warnings of the collapse of the Derna dams went unheeded
CAIRO (AP) — Experts have warned for years that floods pose a significant danger to two dams protecting nearly 90,000 people in northeastern Libya. They repeatedly called for immediate maintenance to the two structures outside the city of Derna. But successive governments in the divided and chaos-stricken North African nation did not heed their advice. Their worst predictions came true when heavy rains from Mediterranean storm Daniel caused flooding across eastern Libya. It overwhelmed the two dams, sending a wall of water through the city, killing at least 11,000 people. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed and people were swept out to sea. The Libyan Red Crescent says more than 10,000 people are missing.
As leaders convene, the UN pushes toward its crucial global goals. But progress is lagging
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The commitments were far-reaching and ambitious. Among them: End extreme poverty and hunger. Ensure every child on Earth gets a quality secondary education. Achieve gender equality. Make significant inroads in tackling climate change by 2030. Create “universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.” But halfway to that goal, progress is lagging badly — and in some cases going backward. At a two-day summit, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be trying to kick-start action to achieve the 17 goals adopted by world leaders in 2015. Developing countries in particular consider them crucial to closing the widening inequality gap between the world’s rich and poor countries.
Tens of thousands march to kick off climate summit, demanding end to warming-causing fossil fuels
NEW YORK (AP) — Tens of thousands of people in New York City have kicked off a week of demonstrations seeking to end the use of coal, oil and natural gas blamed for climate change. Sunday’s so-called March to End Fossil Fuels featured such politicians as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and actors Ethan Hawke, Edward Norton and Kevin Bacon. It was the opening salvo to New York’s Climate Week, where world leaders in business, politics and the arts are gathering ahead of a new special United Nations summit Wednesday. Protester said they were targeting their efforts at many of the leaders of nations that cause the most heat-trapping carbon pollution.
China flies 103 military planes toward Taiwan in a new high of activity the island calls harassment
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China has flown 103 military planes toward Taiwan in a new daily high for the activity the island considers harassment. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it also detected Chinese vessels in the 24 hours from Sunday to early Monday. China’s military regularly sends planes over waters south and west of Taiwan in what some see as a campaign of intimidation for the self-governing island that is claimed by China. The recent actions may be an attempt to sway Taiwan’s presidential election in January. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party leans toward formal independence for the island.
Trump refuses to say in a TV interview how he watched the Jan. 6 attack unfold at the US Capitol
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined in an interview aired Sunday to answer questions about whether he watched the Capitol riot unfold on television. He said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would “tell people later at an appropriate time.” The current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination refused to say how he spent Jan. 6, 2021, once the insurrection began, and whether he made phone calls as his supporters stormed the seat of American democracy. Trump said he might consider pardoning some of the rioters charged for their actions that day.
2 years ago, the Taliban banned girls from school. It’s a worsening crisis for all Afghans
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Two years after the Taliban banned girls from school beyond sixth grade, Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education. Now, the rights of Afghan women and children are on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly Monday in New York. The U.N. children’s agency says more than 1 million girls are affected by the ban. It triggered global condemnation and remains the Taliban’s biggest obstacle to gaining recognition as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. But the Taliban have gone further, excluding women and girls from higher education, public spaces like parks and most jobs.
As Slovakia’s trust in democracy fades, its election frontrunner campaigns against aid to Ukraine
MICHALOVCE, Slovakia (AP) — A populist former prime minister whose party is favored to win Slovakia’s early parliamentary election plans to reverse the country’s military and political support for neighboring Ukraine if he returns to power. It’s a direct challenge to the European Union and NATO. Robert Fico and his left-wing Direction party have campaigned on a clear pro-Russian and anti-American message, part of a wider trend across Europe. Analysts say his return to power could lead Slovakia to abandon its democratic course in other ways, following the path of Hungary under Viktor Orban and, to a lesser extent, the Law and Justice Party in Poland.
Republican legislatures flex muscles to maintain power in two closely divided states
RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — In North Carolina and Wisconsin, Republicans are trying to seize power over elections and redistricting. Both states are evenly divided political battlegrounds where the GOP controls an outsized number of seats in the state legislature. In Wisconsin, that’s largely due to a gerrymander that locks in a GOP majority. The state Senate there voted to fire the state’s nonpartisan elections director last week and the Legislature is threatening to impeach a newly elected state Supreme Court justice who could undo the GOP gerrymander. In North Carolina, the legislature is expected to pass an elections bill that will take power from the state’s Democratic governor.
A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. The school says it wasn’t discrimination
The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials say his dreadlocks violated the district’s dress code. Darryl George wears his hair in thick twisted dreadlocks, tied on top of his head, and therefore his mother says he isn’t violating rules about hair length for boys. The incident recalls debates over hair discrimination in schools and the workplace and is testing the state’s newly enacted CROWN Act, which took effect Sept. 1. Employers and schools are barred from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles.
Centuries after Native American remains were dug up, a new law returns them for reburial in Illinois
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois officials and Native Americans whose ancestors called the state home hope a new state law will speed the recovery and reburial of their relatives’ remains unearthed over the past two centuries. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Human Remains Protection Act last month. It updates a 1989 state law and provides methods for compliance with a federal law requiring that remains from any burial site disturbed must be returned to the associated tribe. Illinois has remains belonging to about 13,000 individuals. The law authorizes reburial on state land in Illinois. Previously tribes would receive their ancestors’ remains but have to take them home to the state to which the government forcibly relocated them in the 19th century.
