Oar Steele

  Sights have shifted to Afghanistan's land borders. But Afghans would have to reach those borders without Taliban interference and then be allowed to cross. Taliban fighters guard the Afghanistan side of the Torkham crossing Aug. 20 as seen from Torkham, Pakistan. The Torkham crossing, 180 miles from Kabul, is one of the nearest land routes out of the country into Pakistan. WASHINGTON — With the U.S. military now out of Afghanistan, the task of evacuating tens of thousands of Afghan allies left behind falls to nongovernmental organizations and international aid groups — who say they are unable to tell them where to go next, according to several groups who spoke to NBC News. Kabul’s airport has been the center for evacuations, but with commercial flights stopped, sights have shifted to Afghanistan’s land borders. But the odds that Afghans will reach one of those borders without Taliban interference, be allowed to cross into a neighboring country and then be resettled in the U.S. ar...

  The 25-year-old’s white 2010 Chrysler 300 was found in a wooded area of Peru, Illinois, last Thursday. An Illinois State University graduate student is still missing days after his vehicle was located abandoned in a wooded area of Peru, Illinois, last week. Authorities, along with his family, are pleading with the public for information on his whereabouts. Jelani “J.J.” Day, 25, was last in touch with his family on Monday, August 23, 2021. They haven’t heard from him since, which is very “unlike him,” his mother Carmen Day told Dateline. “I call him my ‘bill collector child,’” she said. “Because he just calls me and calls me, nonstop, several times a day. So to not hear from him in a week is very unlike him. Something’s not right.” Jelani just started his first semester of graduate school in the Communication, Science and Disorders Department at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. He lives in an off-campus apartment in nearby Bloomington, but his mother told Dateline t...

  Three other lifeguards were among those injured by the strike Monday in Berkeley Township. BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A young lifeguard was killed and seven other people, including three other lifeguards, were injured when lightning struck a Jersey Shore beach Monday afternoon, authorities said. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed that a lifeguard in Berkeley Township was killed in the afternoon. It marked the second death of a young lifeguard at the Jersey Shore in a little over a week. Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy said the others were taken to hospitals with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. “Our hearts are with the family and friends of the young lifeguard killed by today’s horrific lightning strike on the beach in Berkeley Township, and we pray for a full recovery for those injured,” Murphy, the state’s Democratic governor, wrote on Twitter. “I’ve spoken to Mayor Carmen Amato and offered the full support and assistance of our administration duri...