About 100 Americans are still in Afghanistan following the Aug. 31 full U.S. troop withdrawal from the country, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said on CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday.
State of play: Klain said U.S. officials had been in regular contact with all of those found to be still in the country and the Biden administration was working to help those who want to leave Afghanistan.
The head of a prominent centrist advocacy group quietly seeded a news outlet that provides a steady stream of positive coverage for her organization and its board members' lobbying clients, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The fragmentation of digital media means virtually anyone can be a publisher. When public affairs intersects with political coverage, it can blur the lines between news and advocacy.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have their own "Pete Souzas," and they're also working to create a visual archive of the new administration.
Why it matters: Photographers Adam Schultz, Lawrence Jackson and their colleagues have a number of social media sites that give a look at the president and vice president when the news media isn't present.
The big picture: The Navy declared the five sailors dead Saturday after several days of rescue efforts that included 34 search and rescue flights, but held off on publishing their names until all next of kin had been notified.
South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma will be released from prison after serving only 2 months of his 15-month sentence for contempt of court, after he was found to be eligible for medical parole, the country's Department of Correctional Services said Sunday.
The big picture: Zuma has spent the last month in the hospital, where he has undergone surgery. The department did not specify the nature of his illness.
More than 24,000 camping reservations out of 3.2 million have been canceled across the United States this year because of wildfires, AP reports.
The big picture: The recent uptick of national park and forest closures, due in large part to a wave of intense wildfires, coincide with a post-pandemic boom in the number of people engaging in outdoor activities.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) condemned House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) threats to tech companies that comply with records requests from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Driving the news: McCarthy warned telecom companies that “a Republican majority will not forget" if they comply, after the committee asked them to turn over the phone records of several hundred people, including members of Congress.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Sunday on separate trips to shore up support among U.S. allies in the Arab Gulf region following a final, tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The big picture: Working together to prevent a new rise in extremist threats under the Taliban regime will be a top subject of conversation.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the Senate should abolish the filibuster in order to protect abortion rights.
Driving the news: Klobuchar's comments come after the Supreme Court last week allowed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S. to take effect in Texas. The Minnesota senator said Sunday the court had "greenlighted a law that is blatantly against Roe v. Wade."
In the centuries since Asians first arrived in the United States, the color yellow has dogged their steps. It's been weaponized as a derogatory slur and exploited to villainize Asians as the Yellow Peril. In the last few decades, however, Asian Americans have sought to reclaim the term "yellow."
Driving the news: One such campaign is "The Yellow Whistle," a self-protection program launched this year by Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, owners of Kampgrounds of America (KOA), and four others in the wake of pandemic-fueled anti-Asian hate.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell told "Fox News Sunday" that the impacts of climate change are “the crisis of our generation."
Why it matters: Criswell's comments come after Hurricane Ida devastated much of the Northeast, causing more than 50 deaths across five states.
Front-line health workers, including ICU staffers and nurses, have displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that has been heightened during the pandemic, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: The recent uptick in COVID cases in the United States, largely driven by the Delta variant, may further increase the number of health workers experiencing symptoms of the disorder.
Black Americans are more likely to get federal life sentences than whites or Latinos, a new study has found.
Why it matters: The analysis, published recently in Criminology, further illustrates the racial disparities of federal sentencing at a time when advocates are pushing for sentencing reforms for nonviolent offenders.
New Zealand officials tried "for years" to deport the terrorist who stabbed shoppers in an Auckland supermarket Friday before being fatally shot by police who were surveilling him, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Driving the news: Ardern vowed Saturday to tighten NZ's security laws by the month's end following the attack by the "ISIS-inspired" Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen, 32 — who was fighting to stay in NZ as a refugee when he injured seven shoppers, three critically.
Civil war will "likely" erupt in Afghanistan and this could lead to al-Qaeda's resurgence, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox News on Saturday.
Driving the news: He said it's too early to say whether the U.S. was safer now American troops have left Afghanistan, but it's "very likely" there'd be a renewal of terrorism in the region "within 12, 24, 36 months, and we're going to monitor that."
