(NEW YORK) — Henri continues to churn across the northeastern United States after weakening from a tropical storm to a tropical depression.
The storm made landfall as a tropical storm in Rhode Island early Sunday afternoon, bringing wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and a storm surge of up to 4 feet to the surrounding regions.
The system weakened to a tropical depression on Sunday night and is expected to move northwest from upstate New York to southern Vermont on Monday.
Dangerous storm surge, hurricane conditions and flooding rain will continue in parts of the Northeast.
Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:
Aug 23, 6:46 am
Flash flood watches remain for 8 states
Henri continued to dump rain across the Northeast on Monday morning, as the storm’s remnants stalled in eastern New York.
Flash flood watches remain in effect for eight states in the region, from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. The area could see an additional 2 to 3 inches of rainfall on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
What’s left of Henri is forecast to move east later Monday before heading out of the Northeast by Tuesday.
Aug 23, 5:43 am
Over 53,000 without power in 2 states
More than 53,000 customers across two states were still without power early Monday morning as Henri slowly moved over the New England area.
As of 5 a.m. ET, there were 44,104 customers without power in Rhode Island, where Henri made landfall, while 9,737 were without power in Connecticut, according to data collected by PowerOutage.US.
Aug 22, 8:46 pm
Henri downgraded to tropical depression
Henri continued to weaken Sunday night and is now downgraded to a tropical depression, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is now located 10 miles southwest of Hartford, Connecticut and has sustained winds of 35 mph.
The National Hurricane Center warned that the storm will continue to produce heavy rainfall and flooding across portions of southern New England and Northern mid-Atlantic states through Monday.
Aug 22, 7:35 pm
Power to be restored by mid-week: National Grid
National Grid said it is deploying over 4,000 personnel in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to restore power to affected areas.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, approximately 72,600 customers in Rhode Island and 8,500 in Massachusetts were without power, according to the utility.
“The hardest hit communities in Rhode Island include South Kingstown, Narragansett, Westerly, Jamestown, Charlestown and North Kingstown,” National Grid said in a news release.
The utility said it estimates to have power restored to all affected customers by mid-week.
(NEW YORK) — Henri continues to churn across the northeastern United States after weakening from a tropical storm to a tropical depression.
The storm made landfall as a tropical storm in Rhode Island early Sunday afternoon, bringing wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and a storm surge of up to 4 feet to the surrounding regions.
The system weakened to a tropical depression on Sunday night and is expected to move northwest from upstate New York to southern Vermont on Monday.
Dangerous storm surge, hurricane conditions and flooding rain will continue in parts of the Northeast.
Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:
Aug 23, 9:18 am
Biden approves emergency declaration for Vermont after New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island
The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Vermont due to Henri, following his previous approvals for New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Biden ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts in Vermont due to the emergency conditions resulting from the storm. The move authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, according to a press release from the White House.
Aug 23, 6:46 am
Flash flood watches remain for 8 states
Henri continued to dump rain across the Northeast on Monday morning, as the storm’s remnants stalled in eastern New York.
Flash flood watches remain in effect for eight states in the region, from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. The area could see an additional 2 to 3 inches of rainfall on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
What’s left of Henri is forecast to move east later Monday before heading out of the Northeast by Tuesday.
Aug 23, 5:43 am
Over 53,000 without power in 2 states
More than 53,000 customers across two states were still without power early Monday morning as Henri slowly moved over the New England area.
As of 5 a.m. ET, there were 44,104 customers without power in Rhode Island, where Henri made landfall, while 9,737 were without power in Connecticut, according to data collected by PowerOutage.US.
Aug 22, 8:46 pm
Henri downgraded to tropical depression
Henri continued to weaken Sunday night and is now downgraded to a tropical depression, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is now located 10 miles southwest of Hartford, Connecticut and has sustained winds of 35 mph.
The National Hurricane Center warned that the storm will continue to produce heavy rainfall and flooding across portions of southern New England and Northern mid-Atlantic states through Monday.
Aug 22, 7:35 pm
Power to be restored by mid-week: National Grid
National Grid said it is deploying over 4,000 personnel in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to restore power to affected areas.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, approximately 72,600 customers in Rhode Island and 8,500 in Massachusetts were without power, according to the utility.
“The hardest hit communities in Rhode Island include South Kingstown, Narragansett, Westerly, Jamestown, Charlestown and North Kingstown,” National Grid said in a news release.
The utility said it estimates to have power restored to all affected customers by mid-week.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 628,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 60.2% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:
Aug 23, 9:49 am
NYC school staff must get vaccine
All of New York City’s nearly 150,000 public school employees must receive at least one vaccine dose by Sept. 27, Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce Monday. The new vaccination policy will not allow weekly testing as an option.
Aug 23, 9:46 am
FDA grants full approval for Pfizer vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted full approval of the Pfizer vaccine, becoming the first COVID-19 vaccine to transition from an emergency authorization status to full FDA approval.
The full approval indicates that Pfizer has shown enough effectiveness and safety data to meet the stringent Biologics License Application requirements, which includes at least six months of safety data from a majority of the volunteers in a large, final stage clinical trial.
Pfizer’s full approval will pave the way for further vaccine mandates in both the public and private sector. Some businesses and state leaders have held off thus far, signaling they’d wait for full approval before imposing tighter requirements.
Federal, state and local health officials have also expressed optimism that full approval will help dissolve some of the lingering hesitancy around taking a shot that until now has been only authorized for emergency use.
Aug 23, 7:48 am
Rev. Jesse Jackson ‘responding’ to COVID treatment
Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is in the hospital with COVID-19, is responding positively to treatment, his son told ABC Chicago station WLS.
The 79-year-old, who has Parkinson’s disease, was vaccinated for COVID-19 in January, WLS reported.
His wife, Jacqueline, 77, is also in the hospital with COVID-19 and is resting comfortably, their son, Jonathan Jackson, said.
“She is having some oxygen but is able to function and breathe on her own without a respirator,” he told WLS.
Aug 23, 4:43 am
Over 880,000 Moderna vaccine doses donated by US arrive in Kenya
More than 880,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States arrived in Kenya on Monday morning.
The 880,460 doses were given to the East African nation by the U.S. government via the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, according to a press release from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), which is leading vaccine procurement and delivery efforts on behalf of COVAX. It is the first of two shipments, totaling 1.76 million donate doses.
The donation marks the first time that Kenya has received the Moderna vaccine, widening the portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines available for the country’s ongoing rollout of its national immunization campaign. All Kenyans over the age of 18 are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Kenya aims to vaccinate 10 million of its 53 million people by the end of the year.
So far, Kenya has reported more than 229,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including at least 4,497 deaths, according to the latest data from the Kenyan Ministry of Health.
(WASHINGTON) — No one predicted that the Afghanistan government would collapse in 11 days, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in an exclusive interview with ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
“It was a very rapid, fast-moving, fast-paced evolution,” Austin said. “This all occurred in a span of about 11 days. Nobody predicted that, you know, the government would fall in 11 days.”
Austin said early U.S. intelligence estimates varied widely as to how long the Afghan government could last against the Taliban after a U.S. military withdrawal.
“There were assessments that ranged initially from one to two years to, you know, several months, but it was a wide range of — of assessments,” Austin said. “As the Taliban began to make gains, and then we saw that in a number of cases, there was less fighting and more surrendering and more forces just kind of evaporating, it was very difficult to predict with accuracy.”
Desperate scramble at the Kabul airport
Chaos immediately broke out across Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control just over one week ago.
Afghans and foreign nationals flooded Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Monday, hoping to escape, but accessing the airport proved much more difficult than anticipated, with the Taliban taking control of roads leading to the airport, stopping most who passed.
Once at there, the scene was still chaotic. Several people — desperate to escape — clung to the side of a C-17 cargo plane. Some died as the plane took off, falling from the aircraft, and human remains were later found in the wheel well.
American and NATO troops were eventually able to restore security at the airport and U.S. military commanders engaged in talks with their Taliban counterparts about Americans accessing the airport.
“If you have an American passport and if you have the right credentials, the Taliban has been allowing people to — to pass safely through,” Austin said.
“Not in all cases,” Raddatz interjected.
“There’s no such thing as an absolute,” the defense secretary conceded. “And this kind of environment as you would imagine, Martha, there have been incidents of people, you know, having some tough encounters with Taliban.”
Austin said when the U.S. hears about these incidents, they engage Taliban leadership and tell them that the U.S. expects the Taliban to let people with the appropriate credentials past checkpoints.
But even with the right credentials, some have been turned away. ABC News has previously reported that House members were told that the Taliban beat U.S. citizens attempting to evacuate. Additionally, at least 20 people have died in the past seven days in and around the airport, a NATO official told Reuters on Sunday.
Most of the 17,000 evacuees who have been flown out of the airport since this weekend are Afghans who worked with American troops over the past two decades.
According to Austin, these types of evacuations — where thousands of people need to be flown safely out, then processed and verified, all during a global pandemic — can create some of the most challenging missions.
“It’s a dynamic and challenging environment,” Austin said. “As you would imagine, you know, a noncombatant evacuation operation is one of the most challenging operations in the inventory.”
While the U.S. military has sent over 5,800 troops to secure the airport, the evacuation has been largely criticized for being too little, too late. But Austin insisted the U.S. military would get as many people out as possible.
“Martha, we’re gonna try our very best to get everybody, every American citizen who wants to get out, out,” Austin said.
“You said American citizens, what about those Afghans?” Raddatz pressed. “What about those interpreters? What about the people who are desperate?”
“Absolutely, the people that are in the Special Immigrant Visa program are very, very important to us and these would be the interpreters and many of the staff that supported our embassy and other embassies,” Austin responded.
Ernst calls evacuation efforts ‘one of the biggest debacles’
The U.S. should send more troops into Afghanistan to help evacuate American citizens and Afghans who supported the U.S., Republican senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said in a separate interview on “This Week” on Sunday.
“We should be doing everything possible to get Americans safely to the airport for evacuation,” Ernst told Raddatz. “We are the strongest military on the face of this planet, and we should be exercising those authorities to make sure that we’re flexing our military muscle, especially when it comes to evacuating Americans.”
Ernst, a combat veteran, called the effort to evacuate the Kabul embassy “one of the biggest debacles that we have seen in the last several decades.”
“We have been on the administration for months now to be working on the vetting process to make sure we’re working with those interpreters to get them safely out of the country,” Ernst said.
“If there are Afghans that need to be evacuated that aren’t fully vetted, we do have third-country partners that are working with us in this effort,” Ernst added. “We can evacuate these Afghans to those countries to continue the vetting process from there and I think we should be doing absolutely everything we can to assist those who assisted us in the past two decades in the global war on terror.”
For the most part, Americans and U.S. allies have had to find their own way to the airport. But when that proves to be impossible, Austin said they’ve used creative ways to do outreach. The U.S. military has performed at least one mission outside of the airport, flying three CH-47 Chinook helicopters to pick up 169 American citizens from a hotel in Kabul.
“I know you’ve gone 1,000 yards outside the airport and brought those 169 people in there,” Raddatz pressed Austin. “But further out into Kabul, there are people desperate to get in. We’re the most capable military in the world.”
“We are, and that most capable military in the world is going to make sure that our airfield remains secure and safe and we’re going to defend that airfield,” Austin responded.
Aug. 31 deadline rapidly approaching
The defense secretary added that the U.S. military will look for every way possible to get American citizens, third-country nationals and special immigrant visa applicants to the Kabul airport.
“What’s most important though, Martha, and I mean this sincerely, we’re going to look at every way — every means possible to get American citizens, third-country nationals, special immigrant visa applicants into the airfield, and we will work this until the very last day that we’re able to work it before we have to leave,” Austin said.
Raddatz pressed Austin on whether the U.S. would expand their mission to evacuate allies further into the city of Kabul.
“Do you think it’s possible we’ll expand the mission and go beyond that 1,000 yards to help people out?” Raddatz asked.
“I won’t forecast any option that we may take, but I will tell you that I’m going to do everything within my power to get people into the airfield,” Austin said.
Austin added that the goal is to finish the evacuation by Aug. 31, but hinted that the deadline may get pushed back.
“If we’re given more time, then we will do everything that we can to make the best use of that time,” he said.
Austin said the job of processing and issuing special immigrant visa applicants to Afghan allies primarily falls under the State Department, but is shared by many agencies.
“It’s an interagency process that’s really honchoed or led by the State Department,” he said. “But it’s all of our responsibility.”
Defending the withdrawal, Austin also points to what the administration inherited
President Joe Biden, who announced the withdrawal in April, has been pushing for the U.S. to end its longest war for years. But the withdrawal has largely been criticized as both a military and intelligence failure since so many Americans and U.S. allies were left with no means to escape once the Taliban seized control.
“What kind of planning went into that, and and do you believe — as you look at it now, and the military loves to plan for the worst case — that the planning was acceptable and appropriate?” Raddatz asked Austin of the withdrawal planning.
“I think you have to go back and look at what — what the administration inherited,” Austin responded, placing the blame on Biden’s predecessor. “I mean we came in, and as we as we came in — walked in the door, you know, we were faced with a May 1 deadline to have all forces out of the country. This deal had been struck with the Taliban.”
“At the end of the day, the president made his decision,” the defense secretary added. “But again, he was faced with a situation where there were no good options, all were very tough. And, you know, he reached his decisions based upon thorough analysis.”
The president, in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, said on Wednesday, “The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing — I don’t know how that happens.”
Austin told Raddatz that he agreed with the president’s assessment.
“I agree that if — if a government collapses to the degree that it did, if the security forces evaporate at the speed that they did, you will clearly have chaos,” he said. “And that’s what we saw.”
Raddatz asked whether he wanted to see a small force of U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, but Austin would not reveal his opinion.
“I’m not gonna tell you what my recommendation to our president was, I will just tell you that, like everyone else, the president listened to our input,” Austin responded. “He conducted a very rigorous and thoughtful process and he made a decision, and I support that decision.”
Austin told Raddatz that he was surprised the Afghan army collapsed so quickly, particularly after 20 years of U.S. military presence in the region.
“I will tell you that again, 20 years of the best training, the world’s best equipment, you know a lot of effort — you have to be surprised by what you saw and when you can measure capability you can measure capacity, but it’s difficult to measure the will to fight,” Austin said.
When asked how Gold Star families and veterans should feel about Afghanistan falling under the control of the Taliban once again, Austin said that having served himself in Afghanistan, he empathized with them.
“Some will struggle,” he said. “And as you struggle, I would ask our teammates to recognize that there is help. If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask for it.”
On what the final outcome will be in Afghanistan, Austin said he does not know.
“I’ve gotten out of the business of making predictions long, long ago, but I think that’s a chapter that’s yet to be written,” Austin said.
(HUMPHREYS COUNTY, Tenn.) — At least 16 people are dead and 51 are missing after middle Tennessee was hit with record rainfall Friday into Saturday morning.
The flooding in the region caused cars to be tossed like toys and houses ripped off their foundations.
In Humphreys County, 10 were killed and about 40 people remain missing, according to Rob Edwards, chief deputy with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office.
“We are working very hard to locate the missing persons,” Edwards said in an email to ABC News. “We are doing house to house checks in the areas hit the hardest within our county.”
Humphreys County is located along the Tennessee River, about 90 minutes west of Nashville.
“We have power outages all over the area,” Edwards added. “Complicating issues is the loss of all cell phone coverage from the major carriers. They are bringing in portable units to assist with communications. We have lost a lot of roads both rural and major highways. In my 28 years it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it.”
A preliminary rainfall total of 17.02 inches was measured at McEwen, Tennessee, Saturday, which would break the all-time 24 hour rainfall record for the state of Tennessee, according to the National Weather Service. The old record was 13.06 inches, recorded in Milan on Sept. 13, 1982.
Flash flood watches were in effect across much of central Tennessee on Saturday.
The Hardin County Fire Department, which went to assist nearby Humphreys County, called the destruction “unbelievable” and said search teams would return to the region on Sunday morning.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency warned people to avoid traveling in Humphreys, Houston, Dickson and Hickman counties.
The Red Cross said it had opened emergency shelters at the YMCA Dickson County in Dickson; the Fairfield Church of Christ in Centerville; and the Waverly Church of Christ and Waverly First Baptist Church in Waverly.
ABC News’ Max Golembo, Victoria Arancio and Matt Foster contributed to this report.
(HUMPHREYS COUNTY, Tenn.) — At least 22 people are dead and 60 are missing after middle Tennessee was hit with record rainfall Friday into Saturday morning.
The flooding in the region caused cars to be tossed like toys and houses ripped off their foundations, officials said.
A preliminary rainfall total of 17.02 inches was measured at McEwen, Tennessee, Saturday, which would break the all-time 24-hour rainfall record for the state of Tennessee, according to the National Weather Service. The old record was 13.06 inches, recorded in Milan on Sept. 13, 1982.
In Humphreys County, 10 were killed and about 40 people remain missing, according to Rob Edwards, chief deputy with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office said on Saturday. By Sunday that number grew to 22 dead and 60 missing.
Grey Collier, public information officer for the county’s emergency management agency, told ABC News Sunday evening that the number of missing persons was “nowhere near concrete” and changing rapidly.
The Waverly, Tennessee, Department of Public Safety posted a list of those who are potentially missing. The list doesn’t include missing children, Collier said.
Humphreys County is located along the Tennessee River, about 90 minutes west of Nashville.
“We have power outages all over the area,” Rob Edwards, chief deputy with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office, said. “Complicating issues is the loss of all cell phone coverage from the major carriers. They are bringing in portable units to assist with communications. We have lost a lot of roads both rural and major highways. In my 28 years, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it.”
President Joe Biden expressed his “deepest condolences” for the victims and families of the flash flooding during a news conference Sunday evening. He said the federal government has reached out to Gov. Bill Lee.
“We’ll offer any assistance they need for this terrible moment,” Biden said.
Lee was scheduled to give an update Sunday evening.
Flash flood watches were in effect across much of central Tennessee on Saturday.
The Hardin County Fire Department, which went to assist nearby Humphreys County, called the destruction “unbelievable” and said search teams would return to the region on Sunday morning.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency warned people to avoid traveling in Humphreys, Houston, Dickson and Hickman counties.
The Red Cross said it had opened emergency shelters at the YMCA Dickson County in Dickson; the Fairfield Church of Christ in Centerville; and the Waverly Church of Christ and Waverly First Baptist Church in Waverly.
ABC News’ Max Golembo, Victoria Arancio, Will McDuffie and Matt Foster contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy defended the Biden administration’s plans to begin rolling out booster shots for many Americans the week of Sept. 20, despite criticism from the World Health Organization and others that the U.S. should not offer booster shots to Americans while many countries lag in vaccine access.
“We have to protect American lives and we have to help vaccinate the world because that is the only way this pandemic ends,” Murthy told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Murthy conceded that — assuming vaccine supply does not change — “taking more vaccines for Americans in the form of boosters will take away from the rest of the world,” but said the focus has been on increasing the supply and pointed to the U.S. donation of more than 120 million vaccine doses to other countries and its 500-million-dose commitment.
While only booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna have been announced, Murthy said they are waiting on efficacy data for a second Johnson & Johnson shot.
“We anticipate the people who receive J&J will likely need a booster as well,” Murthy said.
Asked about the safety of taking a third shot, Murthy emphasized that the booster distribution plan is “contingent on the (Food and Drug Administration) and the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Advisory Committee doing their full and independent evaluation.”
“Safety is absolutely essential in this process and we would not execute a plan if the FDA did not weigh in and say that that third shot was in fact safe,” Murthy said. “But again, keep in mind this — that we have a tremendous amount of experience with these vaccines so far.”
The U.S. recorded its highest daily COVID-19 case count in nearly seven months on Thursday, with just over 163,000 new cases reported, according to the CDC.
Amid the surge, U.S. vaccination rates have also increased. White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar said Saturday marked the third day in a row that the U.S. has administered more than 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. The White House announced on Friday that at least 200 million Americans have been vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
The FDA is pushing to issue full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, further expediting an earlier timeline for licensing the shot, according to the New York Times.
Murthy said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the FDA issues full approval of the Pfizer vaccine soon and that approval may convince some individuals on the fence about vaccination to get the shot and encourage companies and schools to implement vaccine mandates.
“I think you’ll see more universities and workplaces that were considering putting in requirements for vaccines to create safer places to learn and work, you’ll see more of them likely moving forward on their plans to require vaccines in the workplace and school,” Murthy said.
Raddatz pressed Murthy on rising pediatric cases and hospitalizations.
“At the beginning of the pandemic COVID largely didn’t affect (children), we’re now seeing hospitalizations rise up, what should we think about when we look at children?” Raddatz asked.
Murthy encouraged adults to get vaccinated to protect children who are ineligible and highlighted measures schools can take to limit the likelihood of COVID transmission.
“I really feel strongly that it is our moral responsibility as this society to do everything we can to protect our children,” Murthy responded. “And that means that number one, all of us getting vaccinated as adults and adolescents is important because kids who are too young to get vaccinated.”
“But it’s also why making sure we are taking every measure possible in schools to ensure that our kids are safe is so important,” Murthy added. “Those include masks, improving ventilation, doing regular testing, and ensuring that our children are outdoors as much as possible.”
(NEW YORK) — The Taliban, an extremist militant group, has taken over Afghanistan’s capital as U.S. troops have withdrawn from much of the country.
The group has said it will rule the country based on Shariah, or Islamic law, and many Afghan nationals have said they fear that the Taliban will reimplement the harsh interpretation seen when the group last ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s.
The Taliban previously has imposed harsh penalties, including death sentences, for infractions linked to adultery, blasphemy, non-compliance with dress codes, working with the U.S. government and more.
Abed Awad, a lawyer and Shariah law expert, said that the Taliban’s use of Shariah, or “Islamic law” to describe their legal system has led to a misunderstanding of the religious practice.
“What you see in the news is the politicization of Shariah, looking at it only as a movement for political elections or for government,” Awad said. “People miss this really beautiful moral and ethical framework that is on a Muslim to conduct his daily affairs.”
What is Shariah?
Shariah is the moral guide many Muslims follow that operates based on the teaching of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, according to the Middle East Institute. Shariah helps Muslims in everyday decision making, guiding people in interpersonal conflicts, responsibilities, health-related and financial decisions.
“It guides us to be righteous humans, to be good neighbors, compassionate mothers, providing fathers, loyal spouses, protective parents, care for the elderly,” Awad said. “That’s what this really means to 1.8 billion Muslims in the world.”
For example, Awad said, some Muslim women wear hijabs and some don’t — both groups interpret the principle of modesty differently.
The teachings of the sacred texts, Hadith and Sunna, often supplement Shariah. Hadith is a collection of writings about the Prophet Muhammed’s life and Sunna is the collection of practices, deeds, words and actions. These also help guide many Muslims in their moral choices.
Awad said that the outcome of Shariah is “Fiqh,” which means “understanding” in Arabic. It refers to the moral and ethical understanding that is gained from Shariah — the rules that one sets for themselves based on the Islamic guidance.
But there isn’t a single understanding of Shariah, according to Awad.
Many Islamic researchers and experts have said that the Taliban’s interpretation is an extremist interpretation, and that it’s implemented as a strict legal system instead of a moral code for the individual.
“They use Shariah as a weapon to give them some legitimacy,” Awad said. By claiming that their strict, violent legal system is based on religious grounds, Awad said it’s seemingly used as justification.
How has the Taliban implemented Shariah in the past?
During Taliban rule in the ’90s, the group enforced harsh, dangerous interpretations of Shariah as law, experts said.
“It was a very brutal society,” said Elizabeth Neumann, an ABC News contributor and former U.S. homeland security official. “That was their way of maintaining control. If you stepped out of line — whatever the rules were — you were likely to be executed or stoned or abused in some way.”
Neumann said people accused of violating “Islamic law” could be stoned to death, have their hands cut off or subject to a public execution.
It’s unclear exactly how many people have been killed or maimed by the Taliban for perceived violations.
Many Afghan nationals currently trying to escape are afraid of what a return to power could mean for those who spoke out against the Taliban, or those who aided the Afghan and U.S. governments.
According to United Nations Assistance Mission In Afghanistan, which documents civilian casualties, the Taliban is responsible for 39% of 5,183 civilian casualties so far in 2021.
The U.S. had planned to completely withdraw American troops from Afghanistan by Aug. 31, but President Joe Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that the deadline might be extended until every American is out of the country.
How does this affect women’s rights in Afghanistan?
A member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Enamullah Samangani, said that the Taliban will provide women with the “environment to work and study” and that women will be present in their government from now on.
Taliban officials have sworn to continue to honor women’s rights “according to Islamic law,” but many Afghan women fear what actually will happen, according to refugees with family back in Afghanistan.
“They claim they are changing, but I know they are not,” said an Afghan ex-refugee named Shabnam, who could only share her first name because she feared for her family’s safety in Afghanistan. “They are just waiting for the U.S. troops to get out of the country.”
She said the Taliban has yet to show any signs of changing.
More than 18 million women live in Afghanistan, making up roughly half the population, according to data compiled by the World Bank, and the majority are under the age of 35.
Shabnam said many women in the country fear that the Taliban will revert to their oppressive tactics seen in the 1990s — keeping women at home, not letting them work or attend school, forcing them to wear burqas from head to toe, forcing them to marry and harshly punishing those who don’t comply.
“In the 1990s, when they came, I was a little kid. I was 13 years old or so, but I still remember at that time, it was a nightmare for me,” Shabnam said. “We had all these woman activists, human rights activists in Afghanistan before the Taliban came. … When the Taliban came, everybody was silenced.”
“You weren’t even allowed to leave the household without a male relative escorting you, as a woman,” Neumann said. However, since the Taliban was ousted from power in the majority of Afghanistan in the early 2000s, there have been steps taken toward equality.
“Girls have been going to school, women have been able to go to advanced universities and start careers, and be able to have freedoms,” Neumann added.
Because of this — and the Taliban’s use of the term “Islamic law” to describe its harsh rules, restrictions and policies — Awad said the misunderstanding around Shariah by people in the West has fueled Islamophobia and xenophobia.
“[People think] the idea is a totalitarian movement, that Shariah is a movement coming to take over America,” Awad said. “Shariah covers everything from the way we eat, how we treat animals, how we protect the environment, our obligation to share our wealth with the indigent and the poor. … It’s a very personal lifestyle.”
(NEW YORK) — In the exploding realm of cryptocurrencies, a new line of financial products has emerged that has caught the attention of both investors and regulators — so-called “stablecoins,” which are backed by cash or another reserve asset.
Stablecoins seek to provide the best of both worlds: the stability of a traditional government-backed currency as well as the privacy and convenience offered by crypto transactions. They are often marketed towards investors who may not have the stomach for the volatility associated with Bitcoin, Ethereum and other popular cryptos — which have been known to see-saw widely in value on a day-to-day basis.
The existing stablecoins market is worth some $113 billion, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said earlier this month during a speech at the Aspen Security Forum. He added that in July, nearly three-quarters of trading on all crypto trading platforms occurred between a stablecoin and some other token.
Even social media behemoth Facebook is trying to get in on the action, seeking to launch a stablecoin-like project of its own of its own after its initial Libra cryptocurrency efforts fizzled.
As their popularity rises, stablecoins have also recently drawn new scrutiny from authorities and regulators. Federal Reserve officials mulled over the threats posed by “new financial arrangements such as stablecoins” in a recent meeting, according to a readout released earlier this week, raising concerns over the lack of transparency and regulations.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last month also called on regulators to “act quickly” in forming new regulatory frameworks for stablecoins, raising alarms over their “potential risks to end-users, the financial system, and national security.”
Here is what experts say investors should know about the novel class of cryptos dominating headlines in recent weeks.
What are stablecoins?
Stablecoins are essentially cryptocurrencies that are backed by a reserve asset — usually a traditional currency such as the U.S. dollar. The valuations of stablecoins are therefore supposed to be less volatile than other digital currencies, because they are pegged directly to a fixed, non-virtual currency.
“Think of stablecoin as a cryptocurrency without, or with limited, volatility. That is the best way to think about it,” Haran Segram, a professor of finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business, told ABC News, adding they are sometimes looked at as “the bridge between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.” Fiat currencies are traditional currencies like the dollar, backed by the government.
“Stablecoins are backed by other central bank currencies,” Segram explained.
Bryan Routledge, an associate professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, added that this makes stablecoins more useful as an everyday currency.
“For example, the price of Bitcoin is just stunningly volatile,” he told ABC News. “That makes it harder to use as a currency.” In 2021 alone, Bitcoin’s value has seen swings of 100% — starting the year at a price of less than $30,000, reaching a peak of over $63,000 in April, before receding back to the $30,000 mark in July. As of Friday, Bitcoin was trading at a little over $46,000.
“When I tell you a latte cost $2.50, you know what that means — but if I quote a price of a latte in Bitcoin, it’s just really hard to keep track of because one day it’s the equivalent of $2.50, the next day it’s equivalent to $25,” he added.
Pegging cryptocurrencies to a fixed exchange rate relative to the U.S. dollar, as stablecoins attempt to do, makes them “more useful as a currency,” according to Routledge.
‘It’s a stablecoin because they call it a stablecoin’
While this may sound like an overall positive development for everyday investors interested in crypto, experts and authorities have warned of lurking risks associated with the largely unchecked stablecoin market.
Segram noted that one of the most popular stablecoins out there is Tether, which claims to be backed one-to-one to the U.S. dollar.
“The issue with that is some research was done into that, and then actually they found that one unit of that stablecoin is backed by .74 of the U.S. dollar,” Segram said. “So things like that, what people put out saying it’s a stablecoin, it might not be truly a stablecoin.”
“That’s something that investors and your audience should be aware of,” he told ABC News. “Because people don’t know exactly what’s happening in the background, and I would really encourage your readers to be aware of that.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office led an investigation into Tether that said there were periods of time when Tether did not have access to banking and “held no reserves to back tethers in circulation at the rate of one dollar for every tether, contrary to its representations.” As part of a settlement reached with James’ office, Tether is barred from doing business with New Yorkers but admitted no wrongdoing and pledged increased transparency. The Hong Kong-based entity still maintains on its website, however, that Tether tokens are “100% backed by Tether’s reserves” at a conversion rate of one Tether token equaling one U.S. dollar.
“Under the terms of the settlement, we admit no wrongdoing,” Tether said in a statement on its website in response to the investigation. “The settlement amount we have agreed to pay to the Attorney General’s Office should be viewed as a measure of our desire to put this matter behind us and focus on our business.” The company added that it is pleased by the “loyalty” customers have shown, saying that the market capitalization of tethers grew from $2 billion to an excess of $34 billion during the past two years, while the investigation was ongoing.
“Tether is complicated because it’s an international business,” Routledge added in regards to who regulates it. “Cryptocurrencies, one of their either charms or weak points, is they don’t sort of fall under anybody’s direct jurisdiction.”
For most stablecoins, “it’s a stablecoin because they call it a stablecoin,” Routledge added.
Despite assurances of cash reserves, there is a risk that some stablecoins might operate under the assumption that the likelihood of having to liquidate all at once is slim if confidence remains high.
“If everybody thinks Tether is going to be a stablecoin, it will work as a stablecoin and the few people that need to exchange it at the ‘Tether store,’ to be colloquial, would do that,” he said. “The trouble with that policy is that you can get what the foreign exchange economists would call like a speculative attack, which is that we don’t think Tether has enough money, and I think everybody thinks that, they’re all going to show up and demand those currencies — It’s a bit like a run on the bank.”
“That’s what makes it really hard to stabilize, because your credibility as a stablecoin is the thing that makes it stable, and that’s inherently flighty,” he said.
Why the Fed and Yellen are so concerned about stablecoins
Yellen’s calls for quick action on creating regulatory frameworks for stablecoins have been echoed by other lawmakers.
Stablecoins were also recently debated by Fed officials, who “highlighted the fragility and the general lack of transparency associated with stablecoins,” at their most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting. “The importance of monitoring them closely, and the need to develop an appropriate regulatory framework to address any risks to financial stability associated with such products.”
Segram said that while stablecoins can “regulate themselves to some extent by being transparent with the public, I think Yellen is calling for more top-down regulations rather than let it be voluntary.”
This could mean having the reserve currency kept somewhere independent, or having claims be regularly audited, he added.
Segram added that the Fed, meanwhile, might have other concerns around stablecoins’ growth.
“If stablecoins become popular, the central bank loses its control,” Segram said, noting that there have been discussions of stablecoin-like “Central Bank Digital Currency” to be issued by the Federal Reserve.
A Central Bank Digital Currency would give the Fed more control “over how we manage demand, supply and all other means,” Segram said.
Routledge added that the Fed may also have worries about a “banking panic” situation if a lot of assets are flowing through a specific stablecoin.
“If for whatever reason that stablecoin has a shock to it — that can be a systemic event to the financial system,” he added. “That is what’s on the Fed’s radar.”
SEC Chair Gensler, meanwhile, signaled a regulation crackdown could be looming during his remarks earlier this month in Aspen.
Gensler said the use of stablecoins on crypto trading platforms “may facilitate those seeking to sidestep a host of public policy goals connected to our traditional banking and financial system: anti-money laundering, tax compliance, sanctions, and the like.”
“This affects our national security, too,” he added. Gensler said he looks forward to working with regulators and lawmakers on these matters.
Despite the risks, Segram sees cryptocurrencies as the future, which may be in part why regulators are raising alarm bells and why there is so much discussion over a potential central bank digital currency. Major U.S. companies including Amazon and Walmart have recently announced they are hiring cryptocurrency experts, and a growing number of firms have started accepting cryptos as a form of payment.
China’s central bank has already launched its digital Yuan, he added, saying that the U.S. most likely will at some point in if it does not want to lose its status as the “reserve currency of the world.”
“If a stablecoin is issued by a private authority, it is not 100% fail-proof,” he said. “In a democracy like ours, or other democracies where there’s some political stability and currency stability, a central bank digital currency might be the way to go.”
“I think of stablecoin sort of as a link between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies, this takes that to another level,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — A festival in New Orleans. Concerts in Nashville, Tennessee. A comic book convention in Atlanta. As the delta variant surges across the country, states with low COVID vaccination rates are reeling from a loss in tourism dollars due to large-event cancellations and postponements.
Of the 11 states with vaccination rates under 50%, Louisiana, Tennessee and Georgia have cancelled staple events, costing an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars for local and state economies, according to officials.
On Aug. 9, organizers of New Orleans’ Jazz and Heritage Festival announced that the annual festival would be canceled for the second consecutive year, citing “the current exponential growth of new COVID cases in New Orleans and the region.”
The Louisiana Department of Health seconded this concern in a recent interview with ABC News.
“Down here in Louisiana, we are in our fourth and most dangerous surge to date, fueled by our insufficient vaccination rate and the highly transmissible Delta variant. Our hospitals are overwhelmed,” a Louisiana Department of Health spokesperson said.
As of Aug. 20, less than 39% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated.
In an emailed statement to ABC News, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser estimated that the cancellation of the festival will cost the region more than $300 million compounding the $5 billion the state has lost in tourism revenue over the course of the pandemic.
“The second postponement of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will have a long-lasting negative impact on tourism, not only the $300 million in direct economic impact but also for events leading up to and during the two week event,” Nungesser wrote.
“It means bands and musicians who perform in the evening at local hot spots and ‘mom and pop’ businesses that rely on Jazz Fest for a large amount of their annual income for the year, will not have the opportunity to earn that money again this year,” he added.
In Tennessee, the urban economies of Nashville and Memphis continue to dampen due to the decline of conventions, business and international travel, and concerts, according to the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.
In the past year, Tennessee’s tourism revenue decreased by 26%, resulting in the loss of over $4.1 billion in the leisure and hospitality industry, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue and Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
“Lodging was the most-impacted category, followed by recreation. Lodging of course relies on group travel in our larger metro areas, so the big cities felt that impact much more than our areas that rely on leisure travel,” a Tennessee Tourist Department spokesperson said.
Earlier this year, large indoor events like the annual Country Music Awards were canceled in Tennessee but large outdoor events like Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival will carry on with special precautions in place, such as proof of vaccination or a negative test 72 hours before the event.
In Georgia, organizers of Fandemic Dead — a comic book convention for fans of television series, “The Walking Dead” — announced on Aug. 13 that the convention will be postponed to March 2022 due to concerns about the delta variant.
“While this decision was not made lightly, it was made in an effort to help keep our community safe,” the organizers explained in a press statement. “The health and safety of fans, panelists, exhibitors, artists and staff is our top priority.”
In an emailed statement to ABC News, the Georgia Department of Economic Development said the state’s tourism industry was “devastated” by COVID-19, leaving travel-generated state and local tax revenues down by more than $640 million over the course of the pandemic.
Despite these losses, Georgia Department of Economic Development tourism Deputy Commissioner Mark Jaronski praised the support Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has shown to the tourism industry.
“The leadership of Governor Brian Kemp and our General Assembly has given our tourism industry the license to operate,” Jaronski said. “We’re not immune to the challenges faced by destinations across the globe, but we have been successful in maximizing the travel business that does exist and leveraging it to grow Georgia’s share of domestic travel and economic position.”
