Flash floods from heavy seasonal rains in the province of Ghor in western Afghanistan have killed at least 50 people, a Taliban official said, adding the death toll was based on preliminary reports and might rise. Dozens others remain missing, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for Ghor’s provincial governor, on Saturday. He also said the province suffered significant financial losses after thousands of homes and properties were damaged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed following Friday’s floods, including the capital city Feroz Koh. Last week, the U.N. food agency said the unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people, mostly in the province of Baghlan.
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Competition is fierce at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, where pitmasters are sweating and smoking to see who will be crowned best in pork. Considered one of the premiere cooking contests in the U.S., teams from around the country and internationally spend days working on huge whole hogs, massive slabs of shoulder and cuts of ribs in the heat and sometimes rain of Memphis, Tennessee. Brad Orrison and Brooke Lewis, a brother and sister-led team from Mississippi, have won the grand championship twice and say the competition is friendly, but fierce at the same time. Orrison says that at “the Super Bowl of Swine,” this is the trophy that everybody wants.
The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling and desegregation orders were only the first steps toward the elusive goal of equitable education. For many Black families, school choice has been critical to finding at least the option that works best for them. And that has not necessarily meant the school with the highest levels of racial integration. Some families describe being torn between schools where their children will feel more included on one hand or schools where they might have better academic opportunities on the other hand.
States have for decades been using foster children's federal Social Security benefits to help cover the costs of state services. The practice has saved states millions of dollars. But that's beginning to change in some states under pressure from child advocates who contend it is immoral and detrimental to kids. Since 2018, at least a dozen states have taken some steps to either halt, scale back or provide greater notice of their use of children's benefits to cover required foster care costs. Some states have enacted laws requiring those funds to instead be set aside for the child's future needs as they transition to adulthood.
As the Houston area works to clean up and restore power to thousands after deadly storms, it will do so Saturday under a smog warning and as all of southern Texas starts to feel the heat. The National Weather Service in Houston warned that with temperatures hitting around 90 degrees this weekend, people should know the symptoms of heat exhaustion and not “overdo yourself during the cleanup process.” The balmy weather is a concern in a region where more than 555,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity Friday night. The area was hit with fierce storms Thursday with winds of up to 100 miles per hour.
A decades-old landslide that’s rapidly accelerating has forced the dismantling of an iconic Southern California chapel known for its glass frame built among soaring redwoods and sweeping Pacific Ocean views. The earth beneath The Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes is moving an unprecedented 2 feet or more each month. Intended to celebrate the natural world, the chapel is instead being destroyed by it. The chapel was designated as a National Historic Landmark in December 2023 and closed just two months later from the worsening effects of the 1956 Portuguese Bend landslide. Restoration is expected to cost at least $20 million.
Police in Japan who were busy tracking thousands of yakuza members just a few years ago have set their eyes on a new threat: unorganized and loosely connected groups they believe are behind a series of crimes once dominated by yakuza. Police call them “tokuryu,” anonymous gangsters and tech-savvy young people hired for specific jobs. Experts say they often cooperate with yakuza, obscuring the boundary between them and making police investigations more difficult. The National Police Agency describes “tokuryu” as “anonymous and fluid” groups that repeatedly form and disband via social media to carry out swindling, illegal betting, prostitution and other crimes often remotely, including from overseas.
Even before kicking off a three-day visit to Madrid, Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has stirred controversy, accusing the socialist government of bringing “poverty and death” to Spain and weighing in on corruption allegations against the prime minister’s wife. In such circumstances, a typical visiting head of state may strive to mend fences with diplomacy. Not Milei. The brash economist has no plans to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during his three days in the Spanish capital — nor the Spanish king or any other government official. Instead, he’ll attend a far-right summit Sunday hosted by Sánchez’s fiercest political opponent, the Vox party.
Texas officials say power outages could last weeks in parts of Houston after thunderstorms with hurricane-force winds tore through the city and killed at least four people. The outages come as residents face 90-degree temperatures. To avoid overheating without fans or air conditioning, it's key to stay hydrated, avoid the sun and refrain from exertion. Experts say people can wet their clothes with water, or spray themselves, to cool off. To preserve phone batteries, people can use solar-powered chargers or charge their phones in their car. But experts urge people to run their car outside, to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning in an enclosed space such as a garage.
World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler’s arrest and prompt release from a Kentucky jail is rankling some who question whether he was given preferential treatment because of his fame. They recall what they consider malfeasance by the Louisville police department, which a national report last year found has used excessive force and invalid search warrants. And they wonder why Scheffler was released so quickly. Scheffler was arrested outside the Valhalla Golf Club on Friday morning after allegedly injuring a police officer who was directing traffic. Scheffler was charged with felony assault but released without posting bond. Soon he was teeing off at the PGA Championship before a cheering crowd.
