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By GARY D. ROBERTSON The use of physical restraints like handcuffs and shackles on pregnant women and new mothers in North Carolina prisons and jails would be largely barred in a measure nearing final legislative approval.  The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday for the regulations, designed by their authors to protect mother and newborns while minimizing security risks. The bipartisan measure, a version of which already passed the House, is supported by

By AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ and JOSEPH KRAUSS A firefight just outside Kabul’s international airport killed at least one Afghan soldier early Monday, German officials said, the latest chaos to engulf Western efforts to evacuate those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country. The airport shooting came as the Taliban sent fighters north of the capital to eliminate pockets of armed resistance to their lightning takeover earlier this month. The

A truck and a car sit in a creek Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021, after they were washed away the day before in McEwen, Tenn. Heavy rains caused flooding in Middle Tennessee and have resulted in multiple deaths as homes and rural roads were washed away. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) At least 22 people were killed and rescue crews searched desperately Sunday amid shattered homes and tangled debris for dozens of people

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 8, 2021 file photo, Rev. Jesse Jackson receives the Pfizer's BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from Dr. Kiran Chekka, Covid Administration Physician at the Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 according to a statement Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021. He is vaccinated against the virus and publicly received his first dose in

CRUSO, N.C. (AP) — Hundreds of searchers combed through debris Saturday looking for four people who remain unaccounted for after flooding in western North Carolina. Haywood County Emergency Services issued an update Saturday on search and rescue efforts. the number of missing individuals dropped from five to four. As recently as Thursday 20 people had been unaccounted for. The death toll remained at four, all from the town of Cruso.

U.S. experts are expected to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot, to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country. Federal health officials have been actively looking at whether extra shots for the vaccinated would be needed as early as this fall, reviewing case numbers in the U.S. as

By ROBERT BURNS  Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turned out to be the Taliban. They grabbed not only political power but also U.S.-supplied firepower — guns, ammunition, helicopters and more. The Taliban captured an array of modern military equipment when

By MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON People displaced from their earthquake destroyed homes spend the night outdoors in a grassy area that is part of a hospital in Les Cayes, Haiti, late Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. A powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southwestern Haiti on Saturday. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn) LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — Under Haiti’s burning heat, Jennie Auguste lies with a lost, thousand-yard stare on a flimsy foam

Known for its coastlines, mountains and the state that was “first in flight,” North Carolina has also developed a more dubious reputation recently: as a regional destination for adults who want to marry children.  State lawmakers are nearing passage of a bill that could dampen the state’s appeal as the go-to place to bring child brides — but would still leave it short of a national push to increase the

A former teacher in South Carolina has admitted to contacting a Georgia girl who was under 18 with the intention of engaging in sexual activity, federal prosecutors said. Jonathan Eugene Grantham, of Graniteville, South Carolina, pleaded guilty Wednesday to coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, federal prosecutors said in a news release. When he was arrested in February, he was a teacher at Ridge Spring-Monetta