Author: Carlton Simpson

The US government has shutdown ten times over the past 40-plus years. Meanwhile, in other countries, governments keep functioning, even in the midst of wars and constitutional crises. So why does this uniquely American phenomenon keep happening? For most of the world, a government shutdown is very bad news – the result of revolution, invasion or disaster. That leaders of one of the most powerful nations on Earth willingly provoked a crisis that suspends public services and decreases economic growth is surprising to many. In a last-minute deal on Saturday, Congress’s managed to avoid a shutdown by passing a stop-gap…

Residents and authorities assess damage after tropical storm brings flooding but is less disastrous than feared. Tropical Storm Idalia has left a trail of flooding and devastation across the southeastern United States, where authorities and residents are assessing the damage and beginning cleanup efforts. The storm descended on South and North Carolina on its way out to the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, a day after making landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Idalia crashed ashore on Wednesday morning as a powerful Category 3 hurricane at Keaton Beach in Florida’s northern Big Bend region, lashing the coast with sustained winds of up…

State and federal firefighting agencies have been providing reports on wildfire smoke blanketing Interior Alaska over the past few weeks. Agency officials say the public has shown a lot of interest in the reports so they may become a regular feature, during especially smoky fire seasons in Alaska. Seth Morphis is a U.S. Forest Service air-resources adviser from Montana who’s been compiling reports on the smoke we’ve all been putting up with since late last month, when dry-lightning thunderstorms rolled through the Interior, sparking dozens of wildfires. He says firefighting agencies brought him up here when smoke from the surge in wildfires began…

Two years ago, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul closed and the U.S. military evacuated more than 100,000 Afghans in a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. A significant number of evacuees who worked for the U.S. government during the war are still going through immigration proceedings to allow them to permanently live in the United States. For those still waiting in third countries, if they have an immediate family member who has legal U.S. status, that person can petition to have their relative resettle in the U.S. Others can take advantage of pathways within the…

Just over 11,000 acres have burned in Alaska this year, marking a huge increase from the roughly 2,000 acres we were at early this week. The surge of activity is thanks to the hot and dry conditions through Interior Alaska, combined with an increased chance for thunderstorm activity. Just this week, the state has seen well over 20,000 lightning strikes, leading to 18 new fires reported in the last 24 hours. Most of the thunderstorms have been through the Interior, although few have been a bit further west across the state. In addition to the wildfires, abnormally dry conditions continue…

As co-captain of the United States, Lindsey Horan is setting a feisty tone for the team at the Women’s World Cup. Lindsey Horan is setting a feisty tone for the United States at the Women’s World Cup. Horan, the U.S. co-captain, steadied herself after an angry exchange with Dutch midfielder Danielle van de Donk and scored to give the United States a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands on Thursday. Frustrated by the Netherlands’ first half lead, Horan went from exasperation with van de Donk to elation for her tying goal in a span of just two minutes in the second half. “To…

For Putin, the problems posed by the mercenary Wagner Group – and the subsequent challenges to his rule – remain frustratingly present. President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to bring to heel the Wagner Group mercenary front have not succeeded in the weeks since its bellicose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin marched his forces on Moscow in an apparent challenge to the Russian leader. Efforts to defang Prigozhin and undercut his ability to lead have – for reasons that are not immediately apparent – largely failed. The most recent example comes amid reports, which the Kremlin on Monday confirmed, that Putin met in Moscow…

More young Arabs see China as an ally of their countries than the United States, a survey of regional youth has found. The US ranks seventh among nations considered as friendly, compared to China, which ranked second in the Arab Youth Survey conducted by Dubai-based public relations firm ASDA’A BCW. The findings show that support for China has gradually risen over the years as Beijing expands its footprint in the region. But they also reveal that as much as Arabs want the US to play a smaller role in the Middle East, many believe the superpower will continue to be the most influential actor. Eighty percent…

The award-winning film “20 Days in Mariupol” made its premiere in Ukraine on Saturday, when it was seen for the first time by some of the Ukrainian medics and first responders who were chronicled in the documentary about how Russian forces bombed and blasted their way into the port city last year. Repeated standing ovations in a packed Kyiv cinema, mixed with tears and hugs, greeted the civil servants who toiled nearly non-stop in and around a Mariupol hospital that was a centerpiece of the film that documented the early days of the fight for the city, which eventually fell to Russian hands. For…

Three decades after the US closed its last military base in Southeast Asia, the tide is turning in favor of a greater American presence in the region, spurred by mounting tensions with China. That’s particularly evident in the Philippines, where Rodrigo Duterte, the former firebrand president, had made a habit of casting doubt on the future of defense ties with the US, usually in response to what he perceived as slights or meddling in domestic affairs from Washington. But under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded him last year, the US is getting several new footholds in the country —…