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Kabul's fall, one year later


The disordered U.S. exit from Afghanistan one year ago has left a stain on President Joe Biden's political career. A look at DACA 10 years after the policy's initiation. Actor Anne Heche has died at 53. 

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, and here's Monday's news.

🌅 Up first: Ever get ringing in your ears? About 750 million people have this perplexing condition, a study says. In most cases, the condition known as tinnitus is a reaction in the brain to damage in the ear or auditory system. However, the American Tinnitus Association says, tinnitus can also be a symptom of roughly 200 health problems, including hearing loss, obstructions in the middle ear, and head and neck trauma. Read more

Life in Afghanistan one year after US withdrawal

Since the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan one year ago, life in the nation has been transformed for many into a daily struggle for survival – marked by unemployment, homelessness, hunger and fear. After the U.S. military exit, Afghanistan's economy and social safety net collapsed, pushing the country further into poverty after decades of continuous conflict. The Taliban's crackdown has been horrific for many Afghans, especially the middle class, minorities and women. Read more 

What it means today: Economic woes, starvation across Afghanistan and a political wound for President Joe Biden.

More news to know now:

🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, hear where Afghanistan stands a year after the U.S. withdrawal. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple PodcastsSpotify, or on your smart speaker.

DACA was supposed to be temporary. 10 years later, is it working?

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which turns 10 Monday, was introduced by President Barack Obama as a temporary relief until Congress passed more permanent solutions. It never did, and today recipients cling to the tenuous policy as a portal to opportunity. The policy has been under steady attack – from former President Donald Trump, a barrage of lawsuits and state and federal lawmakers who argue it is illegal to allow some immigrants to stay here without an act of Congress. The Paste BN Network interviewed DACA recipients to better understand how the program changed their lives. These are their stories.

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Sen. Ed Markey leads US delegation to Taiwan, China announces more military drills

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met Monday with a delegation of U.S. Congress members, led by Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, in a further sign of support among American lawmakers for the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory. China announced more military drills around Taiwan as the visit occurred, less than two weeks after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan prompted days of threatening military exercises by China. Read more 

Lawyers appeal Brittney Griner's Russian prison sentence

Lawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner on Monday filed an appeal against her 9-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession, Russian news agencies reported. Lawyer Maria Blagovolina and co-counsel Alexander Boykov said after Griner's conviction that the sentence was excessive and that in similar cases defendants have received an average sentence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole. Read more  

ICYMI: Some of our top stories yesterday

Vanessa Bryant civil trial against Los Angeles County resumes

The fourth day of Vanessa Bryant's civil trial against Los Angeles County continues Monday. On Friday, jurors heard testimony from three witnesses, including Douglas Johnson, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who took close-up photos of dead bodies from the helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others. Bryant’s legal team believes Johnson started the spread of the gruesome photos among sheriff’s personnel after taking them for dubious reasons. The trial could continue for over two more weeks. Read more

📷 Anne Heche dies at 53: See photos from her '90s film fame and Ellen DeGeneres relationship 📷

Anne Heche, an actor whose steady film and television career spanned three decades after her breakthrough role in the soap opera "Another World," has died. She was 53. Heche's death comes nine days after she was pulled from a burning car and hospitalized in critical condition following a fiery crash in Los Angeles. Heche suffered a "severe anoxic brain injury" as a result of the accident and fell into a coma, according to a statement provided to Paste BN. Read more 

Click here to see more photos from the life of Anne Heche.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN. Send her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to Paste BN here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.